What is Yu-Gi-Oh?

What Is YuGiOh?

Yugioh is probably best known today as a collectible trading card game (TCG). Fans buy and trade cards in order to build the best deck and win duels. 

YuGiOh is also the name of Japanese manga and anime and there is also plenty of merchandise and stuff available to buy, everything from artwork to toys. 

From a marketing perspective the YuGiOh phenomenon is similar with the Pokemon craze.

History

Yu-Gi-Oh began life in 1996 as a Kazuki Takahashi manga strip in the weekly Japanese comic magazine Shonen Jump. This led to the first series anime which consisted of 27 episodes and first aired in 1998. There is little reference to the gaming aspects we've come to know as YuGiOh and the first series is not really connected with latter ones. 

The second anime series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, saw the introduction of most of the elements we think of as YuGiOh today. It initially aired in Japan from 2000 onwards and a massive 224 episodes were made. 

The YuGiOh GameBoy game began shipping in 2002. A spin-off anime called Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX began airing in 2004.

Card Games

YuGiOh TCG was released by Konami in 1999. This is known technically as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (OGC). In the US the game is marketed by Upper Deck Entertainment under the name Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (TCG). After a legal issue surrounding Upper Deck in the US, Konami took over the Worldwide distribution of the TCG in 2008

In a time.com interview, Takahashi was asked to name his favourite card. He chose the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Created: March 14, 2008