Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game: The Heart Of The Cards Will Cost You Extra
Written: Jul 11 '03 (Updated Jul 11 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice Art, Colorful, Very Addictive
Cons: Everything is Expensive
The Bottom Line: Parents Beware: Yu-Gi-Oh may cause outbursts and Fighting.
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| jeremy1456's Full Review: Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game |
Yu-Gi-Oh is a name that has become more and more common amongst children; after the series and card game took over Japan it's name spread through the world. There is now little doubt in the world that Yu-Gi-Oh has claimed the adored spot in the hearts of children that once belonged exclusively to Pokemon. Both Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh have their own series of video games, their own anime series, and their own card games, with that said I believe Yu-Gi-Oh to be the superior brand of the two, by far. I became addicted to Yu-Gi-Oh just last Summer, for those who didn't know, Yu-Gi-Oh is an anime series that revolves around a card game. Just watching the card game being played out on the series wasn't enough for me though; I wanted to play the card game and become a master. Well I finally gave in and bought the cards a long time ago, and I haven't stopped purchasing new ones. So after spending over $100 on a card game have I blown enough money to be a master? No, not by a long shot...
Before I begin describing this card game I'll give you this little tip; this is the game that you don't want your children to get into. Why? It's simple; the game is extremely addictive and will run you dry. I've seen kids burst into a wailing fit because their parents wouldn't buy them more than one pack of these cards, and some of these children get downright violent and start trying to destroy everything in the store because they want the cards so much and they want to get even with their parents for not buying them.
The Rules And Concept
Yu-Gi-Oh is card game in which two players battle each other, both persons begin with 8000 life points and the first to reach zero loses. Before you can play both players (or duelist) must have at least 40 total cards in their deck, but they can really have as many as they want.
In tournaments the game is played out in match form, meaning that the duelists play three duels and the best of three wins. A normal duel is just one round of the game, the winner is declared once their opponent's life points are brought down to zero, or they run out of cards in their deck to play.
A duel is played out in standard card battling fashion; each player shuffles their deck and draws 5 cards at the start of the duel, and at the beginning of a turn the active player pulls a new card to add to their hand. There are several things that you can do from here, but first you'll want to summon a monster to the field to defend your life points, attack a monster, or attack the other player's life points. Summoning a monster can be done in one of three ways; you can set a monster card face up in the vertical position, or in the face down horizontal defense position. There are a couple of other ways to summon monsters, and I'll describe them as I go along.
Monsters who are higher than level 4 (level is indicated by the amount of stars located right below the monster's printed name) cannot be regularly summoned to the field unless otherwise noted. These monsters are referred to as tribute monsters, and cannot be summoned unless you first sacrifice a monster (or two) on your side of the field. The amount of monsters you need to sacrifice are indicated by the level of the monster; anything higher than level 4 will need one sacrifice, and anything higher than level 6 will need two monster sacrifices.
Damaging life points is where this game gets a little on the technical side. A monster's attack and defense points are displayed on the bottom of a card, if you were to set a card in attack mode on the field your opponent can destroy it with a monster card of their own as long as the attacking monster has higher attack power than the attacked monster. When attacking a monster in attack mode the difference in attack points is subtracted from the player with the weaker monster's life points. It's completely different when the monster that is being attacked is in defense mode, as the attacking monster's attack number must be higher than the other monster's defensive power. If the attack power of the monster is lower than the monster's defense power (while the monster being attacked is in defense mode) then the attacker loses the difference between attack and defense in their life points. No life points are taken away when a monster in defense mode is attacked by an attacking monster with a higher number of attack power than that of the defending monster's defense power. This may sound very confusing but it makes a lot of sense once you start playing.
Card Types
There are three general types of cards; magic trap and monster. In order to make a deck powerful enough to win you'll have to use all three of these card types in your deck.
Monster cards are the meat and potatoes of the game, as you couldn't really play without them. There are four different types of monster cards (not counting tribute monsters); ritual monsters, fusion monsters, normal monsters, and effect monsters. Ritual monsters can only be summoned with a ritual monster card, and effect monsters have special effects associated with them, these effects are written down on the card. These four different types are indicated with different colors; fusion monster cards are colored purple and can only be summoned by fusing monsters together, ritual monster cards are blue, normal monsters cards are brownish orange, and effect monster cards are the same color as normal monster cards only they look slightly darker.
Trap cards are the most annoying cards, as they are used during your opponents turn and really mess things up. Trap cards are bright purple and are the brightest colored cards in the game. When you can activate these cards varies from card to card, but they all describe how and when to use them in the description area. Some trap cards destroy your opponents monsters when they are summoned, some damage their life points, and some can lower your opponents life points. One thing's for sure, you'll want a lot of these in your deck if you want to annoy your opponent.
Magic cards are probably the most diverse group of cards in this game. Their uses are almost limitless, and there are a few different types that you can use. Some of these magic cards play out like trap cards and can only be used during your opponents turn, some can add a terrain effect to the field to benefit your monsters, others can be used to ritual summon special monsters to the field, there are a lot of others too, including a special few cards that can be used to fuse specific monsters together. Magic cards are indicated by their green color.
Rarity: How To Tell
In the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game there are many rare cards but there are even more common cards. Here's a guide to telling if your cards are rare, remember though, some cards don't follow this guideline; especially the cards that come in starter decks.
If the name of the card (located at the top of the card) is printed in plain black lettering then the card is most likely a common card. These are the most common (obviously) cards in the entire game.
If the name of the card is printed in silver lettering then this is probably either a rare card or a super rare card.
If the name of the card is printed in gold lettering than you have an ultra rare card on your hands. These are very difficult cards to find as you may have already guessed.
If the name of the card is printed in a flashy type silver (sorry for the bad description) then the card is a secret rare card. I'm not actually sure if secret rare is more rare than ultra rare.
Prices and Lastability
Probably the most expensive and least useful set of cards you can buy are in the booster packs, which will cost you anywhere from $3 to $5 a pack, but each pack only has 9 cards; 8 very common cards and 1 rare card. These booster packs are pretty bad, if you buy more than one pack of the same set you'll probably end up getting half of the same cards in both packs. There are several different booster packs and I'll post up reviews to them here once I type them up.
The best way to go if your child absolutely must have Yu-Gi-Oh! cards is with starter decks. These are decks themed to characters in the cartoon series, they come with 50 cards and sell for only about $12 a pop. Each of these decks come with a multitude of rare cards, and if your child has been watching the series than they will love them. The hard part is deciding which starter deck to get, as they come in four different flavors: Yugi, Kaiba, Joey, and (my personal favorite) Pegasus.
The cards are a little flimsy and start to show wear after a while, and it doesn't prolong their life span by being shuffled. This is why I recommend storing all cards that you use in your deck in plastic card sleeves, as they offer protection from liquids, scratches and make the cards harder to bend and break. These card sleeves sell for cheap (I paid $3 for a pack of 50) and I recommend that you use them, even if it does make them harder to shuffle.
Small children will have a hard time lodging one of these cards down their throat, but they could easily ruin them with their saliva so I recommend keeping them away from children who don't know any better.
The game can really be played by anyone, although older people will probably not want to play. The game requires good thinking skills, but can still be played by people 12 and up.
Final Recommendation
It may seem like a good idea to introduce your kids to these playing cards but be warned, I've never seen children get so passionate about anything like this before. The card game is very fun and challenging though; it takes quite a bit of brain work to set up strategies and play, This is why I recommend the game with a four star rating.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): Lots of Cash
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older
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Catching Up On Retro Game Reviews In the Near Future.
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