Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based on Duel Monsters, which is the main plot device in the popular Japanese manga Yu-Gi-Oh!, as well as the two anime series by Toei and NAS. For information on the anime, see the articles Yu-Gi-Oh! (first series anime) and Yu-Gi-Oh! (second series anime).

 

In these fictional settings, the game is referred to as either Duel Monsters or Magic and Wizards or M&W. Thus the trading card game is the realization of a fictional game which was invented by the author Kazuki Takahashi. The cards and rules of the fictional game are entirely subservient to the plot of the story, and so they cannot be made into an actual trading card game without modification. Konami has produced most of the cards named by Takahashi with the powers he gives them. The rules of the trading card game are quite distinct from those of the fictional game. They are more consistent and balanced and do not change as they do in the fictional contexts. The original manga and the first English printing of Volumes 1-3 and part of Volume 4 used the name Magic & Wizards while the other and newer English productions and both anime versions use Duel Monsters.

 

The trading cards are distributed in Asian countries by Konami as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Official Card Game (OCG). Elsewhere, Upper Deck Entertainment serves as the manufacturer under Konami's direction.