Difference between revisions of "Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game"

Revision as of 20:06, 27 January 2022

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a collectible card game created and distributed by Konami. It was first released in 1999 and, following its success there, was launched in North America and Europe in 2002 and Canada and South Korea in 2003. New physical cards continue to be printed and sold up to the modern day. Many of the rules and design elements of the trading card game were based on the fictional Duel Monsters game, which features heavily in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game has since been spun off into multiple animes, mangas, and video games, most recently with the video game Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel released in January 2022.

Cards

There are three main types of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards: monster cards, spell cards, and trap cards. Each type of card has multiple varieties: for monster cards, these are Normal, Effect, Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and Link monsters. For spell cards, these are Normal, Continuous, Equip, Quick-Play, Field, and Ritual spells. Finally, for trap cards, these are Normal, Continuous, and Counter traps. In addition, monster cards all have an Attribute, Type, Level, Attack, and Defense.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Main Decks can contain between 40 and 60 cards. In addition, all monsters other than Normal, Effect, Ritual, and Pendulum can only be put into the Extra Deck, a set of up to 15 cards that the player does not draw from, but instead has available to them at all times. Players can also build an up to 15 card Side Deck. In between games of a match (best two out of three is the official ruleset), players can switch cards in their Main Deck with the same number of cards from their Side Deck.

Each card has a name. Players can play up to three cards of a given name in their deck. Each card also has a colored frame whose color corresponds to their card type. In the bottom left of each card, there is a Passcode which can be used to unlock that card for play in many of the officially licensed Yu-Gi-Oh! video games.

Three card qualities are particularly important to card collectors. The first is the Card Number, which is underneath the card's artwork on the right side. This number denotes which specific physical product (set) the card is from, which region the card is from, and which position in the set that card occupies. Collectors place a higher value on cards which come from older or rarer sets. The next quality is the card's edition, which is written in the left side of the card either below the artwork or below the text. A card can be Unlimited (in which case the text is absent), 1st Edition, or Limited Edition, in increasing order of rarity. Generally, cards are printed as 1st Edition for only a short period of time and are then printed in Unlimited, making the 1st Edition cards rarer. Limited Edition cards are usually promotional cards, making them much rarer. Collectors are most interested in 1st Edition cards, as well as Limited Edition when a card has a Limited Edition printing. The bottom right of each card has a foil symbol called the Eye of Anubis Hologram whose color corresponds to the card's edition. This can be an easy way to tell which edition a card is. It also serves as an anti-counterfeit measure. The final, most important quality to collectors is a card's rarity. Cards with higher rarities are generally more difficult to obtain, most commonly because they are less likely to appear in a booster pack than a lower rarity card. In increasing order of rarity, they are Common, Rare, Super Rare, Ultra Rare, and Secret Rare. Some booster packs can contain cards with even higher rarities, such as Ultimate Rare and Ghost Rare. There are other rarities whose distribution is confined to one specific set or product whose appearance rate varies. Depending on a card's rarity, the card is given various aesthetic upgrades, such as silver or gold lettering in the name, a holographic background, or gold embossing. Cards are typically only printed in one rarity originally and can be reprinted in a higher or lower rarity in a future set. The more impressive appearance and the scarcity of high rarity cards draws collectors to them. These purely visual features of the card do not affect its use in gameplay at all and are typically only sought after for aesthetic or collecting reasons.

Product

All Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are originally sold by Konami in sealed sets of cards, referred to as "product."

Types of Product

Booster Packs

The most common type of product is booster packs. Booster packs typically contain all or almost all new cards. The amount of cards inside a booster pack varies depending on the set, but a typical modern booster pack contains nine cards. Each pack is guaranteed to contain at least one non-Common card. In older booster sets, each pack would have exactly one Rare card and the rest would be Common, with a small chance for the Rare card to be replaced with a Super Rare, an Ultra Rare, or even a Secret Rare. Booster packs were then changed so that each pack was guaranteed to contain a Rare and if a higher rarity card was present in the pack, it would replace a Common card instead. The most recent booster packs don't contain any Rare cards, instead containing exactly one card of higher rarity, most commonly Super Rare. Booster packs can either be bought individually or sold in boxes, which contain 24 booster packs.

Starter/Structure Decks

Starter and Structure Decks are full Main Decks (and sometimes Extra Decks) of at least 40 cards that players can play with right out of the box. They contain a mix of new cards and reprinted cards. Starter and Structure decks always contain exactly the same cards in exactly the same rarities. All cards printed in Starter and Structure decks are 1st Edition. Some Starter and Structure decks also include special promotional cards or cards with alternate artworks. Starter Decks are intended for use by novices to the game, while Structure Decks are often more competitive and complex.

Tins

Tins refer to packages of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards which aren't booster packs or Starter/Structure Decks. They get their name from many of these packages taking the form of metal tins. The contents vary wildly between each kind of tin, with many containing duplicate booster packs from old sets, new booster packs containing old cards in different rarities, different numbers of cards in booster packs, new booster packs containing cards which fit a special theme, promotional cards, new card rarities, alternate card artworks, and/or new cards entirely. Tins are often used to reprint popular cards in alternate rarities. Decreasing a card's rarity makes it easier for players to obtain it, which can make it more affordable, while increasing a card's rarity makes it more appealing to collectors.

Tournament Packs

Tournament packs are given to players who compete in official Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments. They contain just three cards each. They typically include reprints of older cards, although older tournament packs sometimes contained brand new cards. Many of the reprinted cards in tournament packs are a different rarity than they were in their original printing. Tournament packs were released in eight-pack series, beginning with Tournament Packs, then Champion Packs, then Turbo Packs, then Astral Packs, and finally OTS Tournament Packs (the 8th OTS Tournament pack has not been released yet). Because tournament packs are primarily distributed at tournaments, they are rarer than other types of product, making them more valuable for collectors.

Distribution

Talk about types of product. Talk about the different ways that cards are distributed/sold. Talk about buying cards on secondary markets like Ebay. Talk about weighing packs, scalping, and counterfeits and address their effect the consumer. Talk about the price bubble that began during quarantine and card grading.

Digital Media

Talk about the TV shows and video games. Talk here about how far-reaching and successful the franchise is.

Unofficial Simulators

Talk about stuff like Duelingbook. Especially relevant since Master Duel released.

Controversies

Multiple sections needed here.

Upper Deck Lawsuit

Talk about Upper Deck lawsuit.

Censorship

Talk about censorship in card arts.

Business Practices

Talk about predatory business practices on Konami's end like shortprinting.