Home > Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game

1 Editions

In Japan, there are two editions of the game. Bandai released one version, and Konami released another edition. Worldwide, only Konami's version is played. Some cards are exclusive to the Konami version.

In Bandai's version, some of the cards were not rereleased to Japanese audiences after the Bandai edition ended distribution. This included cards that did nothing more than describe characters from the 1st series of the Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. Yugi Mutou (Yugi Moto), Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi), Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler), Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor), Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner), Miho Nosaka (Melody in the English Dungeon Dice Monsters video game), Seto Kaiba, and Shadi were on the cards.

2 Game play

Duel Monsters cards are separated into three categories:

• Monster cards, which allow players to attack opponents and defend from an opponent's attacks
• Spell cards (or Magic cards), cards with various special effects, and
• Trap cards, similar to spell cards but are triggered by an event. (In the first edition of Magic and Wizards shown in the manga, there are no trap cards.)

3 Product information

Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Cards are available in starter decks, and booster packs. Both the starter decks, and booster packs have their own unique ID's which the cards in that set are numbered with. (For example, the Luster Dragon card from the Legacy of Darkness booster pack has the number LOD-050, where the LOD is the ID for the Legacy of Darkness set.)

3.1 Starter Decks

The starter decks are named after various characters from the animated series. Each starter deck contains 50 cards, a game mat, and a rule book.

There are currently four starter decks available in the US:

• Yugi Starter Deck (SDY): features Yugi's favorite card Dark Magician (Yugi Moto is known as Yugi Mutou in the manga and Japanese version)
• Kaiba Starter Deck (SDK): features Kaiba's beloved Blue Eyes White Dragon
• Joey Starter Deck (SDJ): includes Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon (Joey Wheeler is known as Katsuya Jonouchi in the manga and Japanese version)
• Pegasus Starter Deck (SDP): has Pegasus' powerful "toon" monsters (Maxamillion Pegasus is known as Pegasus J. Crawford in the manga and Japanese version)

The Yugi and Kaiba Starter Decks have been re-released with slightly different cards since their initial release in the U.S., and the second set is known as the Evolution series. It is generally thought that the Evoloution series improved the respectve deck of each character, and they are more readily available than the initial release. The codes for the Evolution Series decks are:

• Yugi Evolution Starter Deck (SYE)
• Kaiba Evolution Starter Deck (SKE)