History of Yu-Gi-Oh!

    (This is the first of a 3 parter on the STARTER BOX.)          The first Yu-Gi-Oh! movie ( 劇場版「遊☆戯☆王」 Gekijō-ban `Yū ☆ Gi ☆ Ō' "Movie Version 'Yu-Gi-Oh'") played in theaters for the first time on March 6, 1999 alongside the Digimon Adventure film   [ デジモンアドベンチャー (1999年の映画) ] and Doctor Slump: Arale's Surprise Burn ( ドクタースランプ アラレのびっくりバーン , Dokutā Suranpu: Arare no Bikkuri Bān ) as a part of the Toei Animation Fair. These three movies were released together in honor of the 40th Anniversary of TV ASAHI ( テレビ朝日 Terebiasahi ). All three were produced by Toei Animation, with the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie being allotted 30 minutes out of the 100 minute runtime.       This movie would be put on a Video Home System (VHS) on November 21, 1999. However, copyright problems have prevented it from being released on more modern systems live DVD or Blu-Ray. You may see an outline of the plot and its Duels here . I won't go into too much det...

  ADVERTISED CARDS: Ryu-Kishin, Wattkid, Legendary Sword     Booster 1 （ ＢＯＯＳＴＥＲ （ ブースター １）  was the first release of the Booster Series, a series of cards released through the Bandai Carddass vending machines. Released with 3 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and a rule card for the game, players could get some valuable cards and learn the rules of the game at the cost of 100 Yen. These were cheaper than the 150 Yen Vol.1 packs, but there were also fewer places to buy them. This, as would be the case through the rest of Series 1, set the pace for how the game developed and sold in the first year.     

       The Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters National Tournament (遊戯王デュエルモンスターズ 全国大会 Yugiō Dyueru Monsutāzu zenkoku taikai ) was the first major tournament held by Konami in Ginza, Tokyo from February 1 to February 21, 1999. Instead of using the physical card game, this tournament was based off of the Game Boy game Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and its rules.     Information on the tourney's details are somewhat scarce. We don't know the names of the winners, most of how the tournament ran, and other bits of knowledge that gives a more comprehensive look at what happened. This is true for most of the OCG during this and the Old School period. But with what we do have, we can infer something of an outline, even if it isn't fully accurate. Recent years have allowed this to be possible for this tournament as well. So have this tin badge and peer through the mists of time with me.

                      COVER MONSTER: BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON (not in Core Booster)        Volume 1, or Vol.1 , was the first ever CORE BOOSTER in the history of Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! CCG. As the beginning point, you would be surprised to learn that the OCG's beginnings aren't that different from the TCG's in the sense of how limited things were. In fact, the OCG's start was even more limited than what the TCG had. At least the TCG had its rules immediately; Vol.1 only had the cards and little else if Japanese sources are to be believed.      Regardless, this Core Booster played an important role in preparing the foundations of the first Yu-Gi-Oh! Standard Deck and hinted towards how the first OCG format would play.  (There will be a tl;dr for this below.)      Above is the card types in Vol.1. A running theme of Series 1 cards is that the vast majority of monst...

      We began covering the cards through the more detailed monster cards . Today, we'll be finishing the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card pool and the basic foundation of rarities in the card game.      MAGIC AND TRAP CARDS have similar designs to one another in Series 1.  NAME                                                       MAGIC ( 魔 （ ま ） Ma)                             MAGIC CARD ( 魔 （ ま ） 法 （ ほう ） カード Mahō Kādo )                                    IMAGE                               Card effec...

      While we're familiar with the modern card format, it wasn't something that'd been established immediately on release. What we call the UNIFIED WORLD FORMAT is something Konami built up to. So how did Konami design the earliest cards? Let's find out.      The previous post discussed the different types of cards that are the building blocks of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. Today's post will be discussing how Series 1 monsters were designed. Name                                                                  Attribute ( 属 （ ぞく ） 性 （ せい ） Zokusei )                                                IMAGE   Race...

    On release, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (OCG) established many of the core rules and mechanics by which we play to this day. However, there have also been many changes in the past 23 years that many people aren't aware of. This post is intended to put this information down into the English-speaking space for posterity.      The OCG Official Rules ( 公式ルール Kōshiki rūru) were the first rules under which Yu-Gi-Oh! was played. They lasted from release to the official date of April 20, 2000. As mentioned previously, these rules established the core tenets of Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! to the world of cardboard. So before we cover the unique elements of the Official Rules on release, we'll first be covering the basics of the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Official Rules BASIC RULES AND CONCEPTS     Yu-Gi-Oh! has both players begin with a minimum of 40 cards in their Decks. The Deck consists of the Monsters, Spells and Traps that the player will be using in ...