Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game

Gameplay

In the Trading Card Game, players draw cards from their respective Decks and take turns playing cards onto the field. Each player uses a Deck containing forty to sixty cards, and an optional "Extra Deck" of up to fifteen cards. There is also an optional fifteen-card Side Deck, which allows players to swap cards from their Main Deck and/or Extra Deck between games. Players are restricted to a maximum of three of each card per Deck and must follow any additional restriction of the format they are playing in. Each player usually starts with 8,000 "Life Points" (LP), though the players can decide to start with a different number in casual games. The main aim of the game is to use monster attacks (and sometimes card effects) to reduce the opponent's Life Points. The game ends upon reaching one of the following conditions:

When a player's LP reaches 0, That player then loses the Duel.

When a player runs out of cards in their Main Deck and has to draw, either through their draw phase or by card effect. This is called "Decking Out", and that player loses the Duel.

When the conditions on certain cards have been met to trigger an automatic win or loss for a particular player (e.g. having all five cards of "Exodia the Forbidden One" in one's hand, or having a monster Summoned by the effect of "Relay Soul" leave the field).

When a player's Deck Master leaves the field (if playing using "Deck Master" rules).

When a player surrenders the Duel to their opponent.

If both players trigger a win/lose condition at the same time (e.g. both players' Life Points reach zero), the game ends in a draw.

For beginners, the most practical way to start is with an official Structure Deck or Starter Deck rather than random booster packs, as these provide a coherent strategy, a clear win condition, and a lower barrier to understanding the game's fast pace, chain system, and Extra Deck restrictions under the current Master Rules.

Zones

In a Duel, cards are usually laid out on a table between the players, or on a playmat with the dedicated zones marked out. They are as follows:

Main Deck: The Main Deck is placed here face-down. Main Decks may contain anywhere from 40 to 60 cards, which includes Normal, Effect, Ritual, and Pendulum Monsters, as well as Spells and Traps. During a Duel, players may not look through their Main Deck, unless allowed to do so by a card's effect. When that effect resolves, the player must shuffle their Deck.

Extra Deck: The Extra Deck is placed here face-down (if a player has one). Extra Decks may contain up to 15 cards, consisting of Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Link Monsters. Unlike the Main Deck, players may look through their Extra Decks at any time during a Duel to search for and Summon monsters from it, if able. Pendulum Monsters are also placed face-up over the Extra Deck if they would be sent from the field to the Graveyard.

Graveyard (shortened to GY on card effects only): The Graveyard is where cards are sent to if they are discarded or destroyed. Most monsters which have been Tributed or destroyed by battle are sent to their owner's Graveyard face-up. Spells and Traps are also sent to the Graveyard, once their effects have been resolved. The cards in a player's Graveyard are public knowledge, and may be checked by either player at any time, but the order of the cards in the Graveyard may not be changed. If multiple cards would be sent to the Graveyard, their owner player decides on their order.

Main Monster Zones: A row of five spaces where Monster Cards are placed when successfully Summoned. Prior to the addition of Link Monsters, any kind of monster could be placed there at any time. After Link Monsters were introduced, monsters from the Extra Deck could only be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck to the Extra Monster Zone, or a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster "points to", up until the rule change for April 2020 onward, where only Link Monsters, and Pendulum Monsters Summoned from the Extra Deck while face-up, follow this restriction.

Extra Monster Zones: Introduced with Link Monsters, this is a zone where monsters from the Extra Deck can be Summoned. An Extra Monster Zone is not a part of either player's field until they Summon a monster to the Extra Monster Zone, meaning they are shared between the players.

Phases

Each player's turn contains six phases that take place in the following order:

Draw Phase: The turn player draws one card from their Deck.

Standby Phase: No specific action occurs, but players may activate or resolve card effects and maintenance costs during this phase.

Main Phase 1: The turn player may perform any of the following actions:

Normal or Tribute Summon a monster in face-up Attack Position (the monster is placed face-up on the field, oriented vertically), or Normal or Tribute Set a monster in face-down Defense Position (the monster is placed face-down on the field, oriented horizontally). The turn player may do either of these only once per turn, unless allowed otherwise by card effects.

Change the battle position of a monster Summoned on a previous turn. A face-up Attack Position monster is changed to face-up Defense, but a face-down Defense Position monster is changed to face-up Attack, which constitutes a "Flip Summon".

Play Spell Cards from their hand. The turn player may use them on the same turn, or Set them face-down on the field to use at a later time.

Set Spell or Trap Cards face-down, for use at a later time.

Activate monster effects, or cards that were Set on previous turns.

Battle Phase: The turn player may choose to attack their opponent, using any monsters on their field that are in Attack Position. Depending on the position of the opponent's monster, the attacking monster's ATK (Attack Points) are taken into account against the opponent's monster's ATK or DEF (Defense Points). The turn player can choose not to conduct their Battle Phase – in this case, they progress straight to the End Phase of their turn.

Card Types

Gameplay revolves around three types of cards: Monster, Spell, and Trap Cards.

Monster Cards represent beings which are Summoned to the field by players to attack opponents and defend themselves. Typical Monster Cards have their name, Attribute, Types, Level, ATK, and DEF printed on them, which may affect the way they interact with other related cards and their effectiveness in a Deck. Most players (in real life, manga, and anime) use Decks that are themed around certain Attributes, Types, or archetypes (words shared in the card names).

The name, Attribute, and Level are printed at the top of the card. The Attribute is a colored sphere with a kanji character inscribed within, which represents an alignment to one of six elements (LIGHT, DARK, EARTH, WATER, FIRE, WIND). The Level is represented by orange and yellow stars aligned to the right of the card; these (roughly) indicate the monster's relative power, and whether it needs Tributes to be played.

The Types are in the middle, between the artwork and effect. The first Type is a general descriptor of the monster's appearance (e.g. Warrior, Machine, Reptile), while the other ones are gameplay-related labels.

ATK and DEF are printed on its bottom-right corner, which determine the monster's offensive and defensive power in battles. These values are used in calculating battle damage (as detailed in the previous section), and may frequently change due to card effects.

Players may Normal Summon or Normal Set one monster per turn, during Main Phase 1 or 2 of their turn. The monster is placed face-up and vertically (if Summoned in Attack Position), or face-down and horizontally (if set in Defense Position), in an available Main Monster Zone. Players may only have up to five monsters in their Main Monster Zone at any time. When a Set monster is attacked, it is flipped face-up and revealed to the other player.

Players may Tribute Summon or Set a monster, by Tributing monsters they control, i.e. sending them to the Graveyard. The number of Tributes required depends on the Level of the monster to be played: Level 5 and 6 monsters need one Tribute, while Level 7 or higher monsters need two Tributes. Some high-Level monsters such as the Egyptian God cards require three Tributes (this is not an inherent requirement of Level 9 or higher monsters, as it is sometimes believed), and cannot be Normal Set. Some monsters cannot be Normal Summoned or Set (even with Tributes), and must be Special Summoned via their stipulated effects.

Rules

Chains

A chain is a sequence of card effects activated in response to the same event or to one another. It exists for the management of multiple simultaneous card effects.

A chain is created because card effects are not instantaneous, but have a delay between activation and resolution (costs and targets are still paid and chosen at activation, however), which is what allows them to be countered. If the effect of a card is activated, the opponent always has the possibility to respond with an effect of their own cards before it is applied:

If the opponent responds, the player can choose to respond back and create the chain.

If the opponent chooses not to respond, the player can add a second effect and create a chain off of the activation of their own card, at which point the opponent has again the option to respond.

Each player can then continue to add effects to the chain. The chain ends when both players choose not to (or are unable to) play any more cards. Should this happen, the chain is resolved: the resolution is performed in reverse order of activation, starting with the effect of the most recently-played card.

If triggered, mandatory effects must be activated at the start of chain or right after the chain resolves, before anyone is allowed to activate optional effects, with the turn player's ones having precedence over the opponent's. Also, as mentioned above, once either player plays a Counter Trap Card, no other card or effect can be chained except more Counter Traps.

It is not allowed to resolve card effects until one has ensured that a chain has or has not been created, and in the former case, is ready to be resolved. This is to be done by always confirming with one's opponent if they would like to respond to any action.

The turn player plays "Raigeki", a Normal Spell which destroys all the monsters their opponent controls.

Product information

Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are available in Starter Decks, Structure Decks, booster packs, collectible tins, and occasionally as promotional cards.

Booster packs

As in all other collectible card games, booster packs are the primary avenue of card distribution. In Konami's distribution areas, five or nine random cards are found in each booster pack depending on the set and region, and each set contains varying numbers of different cards. Early Upper Deck booster packs contained a random assortment of nine cards (rarity and value varied), with the whole set ranging around one hundred and thirty cards, as to catch up with the Japanese card pool, two or more original sets were combined into one. Once they did, they changed to simply duplicating the original sets. Some secondary booster packs are reprinted/reissued (e.g. Dark Beginnings Volume 1 and 2); this type of set usually contained a larger number of cards (around 200 to 250), and they contained twelve cards along with one tip card rather than the normal five or nine. Since the release of Tactical Evolution in 2007, all booster packs that have a Holographic/Ghost Rare card, will also contain a rare. Current main booster packs have 101 different cards per set. There are also special booster packs that are given to those who attend a tournament. These sets change periodically and have fewer cards than a typical booster pack, and sometimes switch name altogether (Tournament Packs, Champion Packs, Turbo Packs, Astral Packs, etc.).

Duelist Packs

Duelist Packs are a type of booster pack focused around the cards used by characters in the various anime series. Cards in each pack were reduced from nine to five making it slightly harder to pull higher rarity cards. They have been discontinued.

Promotional cards

Some cards in the TCG/OCG have been released by other means, such as inclusion in video games, movies, and Jump magazine issues. These cards are often exclusive and have a special rarity. Occasionally, existing cards that have been forbidden are re-released with revised effects.

Formats

Tournaments are often hosted either by players or by card shops. In addition, Konami, Upper Deck (now no longer part of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s organized play), and Shonen Jump have all organized numerous tournament systems in their respective areas. These tournaments attract hundreds of players to compete for prizes such as rare promotional cards.

In non-Asian territories, there are two main formats, each with its own restrictions on what cards are allowed to be used during events.

The Advanced Format is used in all sanctioned tournaments (with the exception of certain Pegasus League formats). This format follows all the normal rules of the game, but also places a complete ban on certain cards that are deemed too powerful or are unsuitable for tournament play. There are also certain cards that are limited to only 1 or 2, which affects the total number of copies across all three of a player's Decks. This list is updated roughly every three months and is followed in all tournaments that use this format. Asia and the rest of the world have different lists.

Traditional Format, created in October 2004, is a format where all cards that are banned by the Forbidden & Limited List are instead allowed at 1 copy per Deck, while all other rules are identical. This format is rarely used in competitive play and is not recognized altogether in Asia.

The game formerly incorporated worldwide rankings, including a rating system called "COSSY" (Konami card game official tournament support system). COSSY was retired on March 23, 2017.

With the introduction of the Battle Pack: Epic Dawn, Konami has announced the introduction of drafting tournaments. This continued with a second set for sealed play: Battle Pack: War Of The Giants in 2013. The third and final Battle Pack, Battle Pack 3: monster League, was released on July 25, 2014.

There is also Time Wizard, a format that relies on the ruleset, card pool, and limitations of a specific past date in the Trading Card Game's history.

Alternate formats

Yu-Gi-Oh! Speed Duel is a specialized format of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game which launched worldwide (except Asia) in January 2019. The format had an on-going, dedicated product line that was paused at the end of 2024. Inspired by the videogame Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, it features a smaller field and simplified rules, along with a new type of card called Skill Card. Skill Cards are themed around a particular character of the Yu-Gi-Oh! or Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series. To use a card in Speed Duel, it needs to have the "Speed Duel" symbol in the card. Cards without the symbol are not legal in the format, but Speed Duel cards can be used in all other TCG formats. Skill Cards can only be used in Speed Duels.

Speed Duel is known for its rapid matches, averaging on 10 minutes.

The Speed Duel format has the following differences compared to Advanced format:

Each player has only 3 Main Monster Zones, 3 Spell & Trap Zones, 1 Field Zone and a Graveyard.

There are no Extra Monster Zones.

There is no Main Phase 2.

Each player begins the Duel with 4000 Life Points.

Each player has a starting hand of 4 cards.

Main Deck size is 20 to 30 cards.

Extra Deck size is up to 6 cards.

Side Deck size is up to 6 cards.

The format also has its own Forbidden & Limited List, which places cards in groups: Forbidden, Limited 1, Limited 2 and Limited 3. All cards and copies of the same card count towards the total of the limit of their respective group.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Genesys

The Genesys format has following differences:

No Link Monsters or Pendulum Monsters are allowed.

The field layout from 2013 and earlier is used, with no Extra Monster Zones nor Pendulum Zones.

There is no Forbidden & Limited List.

Deck construction uses a point system. Some cards are assigned a point value; most cards cost zero points. The total point cost of cards in your Main Deck, Extra Deck, and Side Deck (combined) cannot exceed the point cap. The standard point cap is 100, but events and games can be played with any point cap.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel

Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel (遊戯王ラッシュデュエル, Yūgiō Rasshu Dueru) is a variant of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game which launched in April 2020 alongside the release of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens anime series, and is currently exclusive to Japan and Korea. Contrary to other formats, it uses a different set of cards from the TCG/OCG entirely (though certain cards get adapted for it), making it more of a sister game. Rush Duel features reworked rules similar to those introduced in Speed Duels, expanded upon and streamlined to make the game even faster.

Players may Normal Summon or Set as many monsters as they wish in a single turn. Level 5 or higher monsters must still be Tribute Summoned using the number of Tributes required.

Players start the Duel with four cards in their hand. During their Draw Phase, the turn player draws cards until they have five cards in their hand. If the turn player already has five or more cards in their hand, they draw one.

The player going first may draw on their first turn.

There is no hand size limit.

The field now has only three Monster Zones and three Spell & Trap Zones; Extra Monster Zones and Pendulum Zones are not featured.

There is no Standby Phase or Main Phase 2.

Certain cards, such as "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", are marked with a "Legend" icon. Each player may only have one Legend Card of each card type (Monster, Spell, and Trap) in their Deck.

Each card only has one effect, and only Trap Cards can be used outside the Main Phase.

Monster effects are limited to once per turn per copy by default.

There are no Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and Link Monsters. The game does however feature the exclusive Maximum Monsters, which are sets of three matching Monster Cards that, when gathered in the hand, can be Summoned to the field in "Maximum Mode", where they are treated as a single powerful monster whose ATK is represented by the "Maximum ATK" value on the central card. Since they are still phsically made of three cards, Maximum Monsters cannot be placed in Defense Position, and prevent the player from controlling any other monster.

Comparison to other media

In its original incarnation in Kazuki Takahashi's Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series, Duel Monsters, originally known as Magic & Wizards, had a rather basic structure, not featuring many of the restricting rules introduced later on, and often featuring peculiar exceptions to the rulings in the interest of providing a more engrossing story. Beginning with the Battle City arc of the manga and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime series, more structured rules such as Tribute requirements were introduced to the story, with the series falling more in line with the rules of the real life card game by the time its spin-off series began. From the Duel Monsters anime onwards, characters use cards which resemble their TCG/OCG counterparts, though some effects differ between the two media, with some cards created exclusively for one of them. Some of those anime-original cards have been printed since, usually through various side sets, with their effects being adjusted for real life. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's featured an anime-original type monster known as Dark Synchro, which involved using "Dark Tuners" to Summon Dark Synchro monsters with negative Levels. Dark Synchro cards were featured as-in in the PlayStation Portable video game series Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force, but were released as standard Synchro Monsters. Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V features Action Cards, Spell/Trap Cards that are physically picked up in the series' unique Action Duels, which are not possible to perform in real life. In the film Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions, an exclusive form of Summoning known as Dimension Summoning is featured, which allows players to Summon a monster with ATK or DEF lowered from their original values, and receive damage equal to those when the monster is destroyed instead of normal battle damage. The Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime series features Speed Duels, with the difference that Skills are special abilities of the Duelist that can be used in most situations but once per Duel, rather than cards that must be played during one's Main Phase (for example, the protagonist Yusaku can generate a random monster when his Life Points are below 1000). A similar ruleset was also featured in the Duel Terminal arcade machine series.

With the exception of the films Pyramid of Light and The Dark Side of Dimensions, where cards match their real-life English appearances, all western releases of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime and its subsequent spin-off series, produced by 4Kids Entertainment and later Konami Cross Media NY, edit the appearance of cards to differentiate them from their real-life counterparts in accordance with U.S. Federal Communications Commission regulations in concerning program-length commercials, as well as to make the show more marketable across non-English speaking countries. These cards are edited to only display their artwork, Level/Rank, Attribute, ATK, DEF, and background.

Controversies

Tokyo Dome riot

In August 1999, Konami held an invite-only tournament in Tokyo Dome, where participants could buy packs containing limited edition cards. Despite being invite-only, the venue quickly become overcrowded with over 55,000 kids and their parents. Fearing the danger of overcrowding, Konami decided to cancel the event midway. Unfortunately, this incited the crowds, as some participants were waiting for four hours only to find out that they will be unable to get the exclusive cards. Police were called to defuse the situation.

After this, no Yu-Gi-Oh! events were held in Tokyo Dome until 2024, almost 25 years after the accident.

Konami–Upper Deck lawsuit

From March 2002 to December 2008, Konami's trading cards were distributed in territories outside of Asia by the Upper Deck Company. In that month, Konami filed a lawsuit against Upper Deck alleging that it had distributed counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, made without Konami's authorization. In response, Upper Deck sued Konami, alleging breach of contract and slander. A few months later, a federal court in Los Angeles issued an injunction preventing Upper Deck from acting as the authorized distributor and requiring it to remove the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG from Upper Deck's website. In December 2009, the court decided that Upper Deck was liable for counterfeiting Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards, and dismissed Upper Deck's countersuit against Konami.

Legal dispute with Beyond Comics

In 2008, Beyond Comics and its founder Graig Weich filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Konami, Nihon Ad Systems, 4Kids Entertainment, Upper Deck, and others, alleging copyright infringement, trade dress infringement, and unfair competition. The complaint stated that Konami and its partners had unlawfully copied the design of Weich's comic book character Ravedactyl, created in 1993, in the design of the card "Elemental Hero Air Neos" from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game and the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series.

According to the court filing, Ravedactyl had been widely promoted at industry conventions, including San Diego Comic-Con and MIPCOM, and featured in comic books, films, and toy prototypes. Beyond Comics claimed that Konami and Nihon Ad Systems had direct access to the character and that "Air Neos" allegedly misappropriated multiple distinctive elements of Ravedactyl's design, including its helmet, wings, color scheme, and overall stance. The lawsuit also cited statements by Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi, who had acknowledged drawing inspiration from American comic book superheroes when designing the "Elemental Hero" cards, including "Neos", and that had Takahashi and/or other Konami staff had been at most of said events.

Likely as a result of this, "Air Neos" is one of the very few cards in the fan-favorite "Hero" Deck (whose cards had to be re-issued en masse after the name was capitalized to "HERO" in 2011) to have never been reprinted after the initial release, something that fed speculation in the fandom in the many years before the case became widely known in April 2025.