The yu-gi-oh trading card game has been quite popular in Japan. Yu-gi-oh has been known overseas since 1996, and the card game has been popular since 1997. In fact, with the game at its peak in Japan, there’s no sign of stopping this well designed card game.

To give a brief summary- Yu-gi-oh (which literally stands for King of Games) is about a very short little freshmen by the name of Yugi Motou. He has been the victim of numerous bully attacks and lacks a weak will, although his mind is quite strong seeing as he love games and puzzles. His latest goal is to complete an ancient artifact called the Millennium Puzzle. With the help of some bullies turned friends, Yugi is able to complete the puzzle, only to reveal its true dark powers. The puzzle allows him to become Yami Yugi, or Dark Yugi. He’s a mysterious being inside of Yugi somehow not only making him 2 feet taller, but no one seems to notice. He’s the controller of an ancient power called the Games of Darkness.

Enough about the background, as you’re here to read up on the Card Game. Please note that this review is made for the English card game, how it’s being handled, how can it last, and how it fares to the Japanese version. This would probably explain the weaker marks than expected.

Concept and Design

This game has some very basic rules. The object of the game is to use your card deck to knock your opponent’s lifepoints (the stats to keep track of a player’s life) to 0. Each player starts with 8000 in a normal match. However, it gets a little more confusing afterwards. For one, there are three main types of cards called monster, magic, and trap. You use these to equal a total of 40 cards or more, have no limit, are limited to 3 per deck, many types to chose from. GASP GASP GASP.

Yes, it can be very difficult to master. But seriously, it isn’t that hard. Unfortunately, Upper Deck has added to our confusion by forbidding any card not printed by them. This includes Japanese cards (even those released in English) and promos from the video games. It makes your chances of getting cards much tougher since THEIR printings may be hard to find at times. By I guess that’s how it goes with a big company.

Fun Factor

Despite being about as confusing as Magic the Gathering at times, this game has a load of lastability and entertainment value. Currently, there are over 500 different cards to choose from in the world of Yu-gi-oh printed in English, with over 1000 in Japan. There’s a variety of cards to choose from, different types of monsters, magic cards that make you inspired to create a deck based on them, and trap cards almost every deck will abuse. There’s really no limit to the game so long as the “fad” portion of the game (little kiddies watching the show) does not die down.

Overseas handling

This little part of the review states how well it was translated from Japanese to English. While I expected this to be my largest rant to date on epinions.com, the review of Yu-gi-oh anime was my largest. This is close though. Not only the card game, but the ENTIRE conversion of Yu-gi-oh from Japan to America, is THE WORST switch-over I have ever seen in the history of anime. Almost every card has its name changed to please the fundamentalists and those who cannot accept Freedom of Expression in the country of freedom. I have seen some names MASSACRED just to please these people. Some examples include:

Japan-English
Black Magician-Dark Magician
Dragon Egger-Ryu-Ran (an attempt to look authentic)
Dark Knight Gaia-Gaia the Fierce Knight
Sacrifice-Relinquished
Killer Tomato-Mystic Tomato
Cyclone-Mystical Space Time (one of my least favorites)

As you can see, the game has been severely toned down so 5-6 year olds can play it. This just does NOT work when the audience of gamers who truly buy the packs and play the game are over the age of 10. There might be a few 6 year olds I see playing the game at my local tournament spot, but they are not old enough to understand exactly how, which causes trouble for other duelists and the card shop owners trying to run a respectable tourney.

Overall

Yu-gi-oh is a nice card game filled with reasonable rules, creativity, and a load of lasting entertainment. The problem is how the target audience is much lower than it should be. After seeing the many changes in the latest Booster series MAGIC RULER (you can now attempt to find at any store), this game will probably not last. I personally stick to Japanese cards, although they aren’t tournament legal. However, it’s all up to the consumer and (evil corporate company) Upper Deck whether the games lasts.


Design-8
Fun Factor-9
Conversion-2 (yes, a 2)
Overall- 6

Japanese card game rating

Design- 9 (marked down for English set-up conversion)
Fun Factor- 10
Challenge- 7
Overall- 9
Note: The score listed on epinions.com represents the English version.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): random
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older