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Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game
Based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, this head-to-head trading card game has you Summon Monsters, perform Fusion, Xyz, Synchro, and Link Summons, and use Spell/Trap Cards to whittle down your opponent's Life Points. Decades of accumulated cards mean countless deck strategies can emerge even within the same ruleset.
Rules
In this two-player trading card game, you Summon monsters from a 40-60 card Main Deck plus a 15-card Extra Deck, battle with them, back them up with Spell and Trap Cards, and try to be the first to reduce your opponent's 8000 Life Points to 0. This guide skips specific card combos and the card pool, covering only the field layout, the six-phase turn structure, battle damage, and the chain concept needed to play a first Duel.
Components — the deck and the field
| Component | Count | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck | 40 to 60 cards | At most 3 copies of any card name, counting the Main, Extra, and Side Decks together |
| Extra Deck | 0 to 15 cards | Holds Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Link Monsters. Not counted toward the 40-60 Main Deck total |
| Side Deck | 0 to 15 cards | Swapped with your Main/Extra Deck between Duels in a Match; the total card count must stay the same after swapping |
| Coin and die | 1 each | Flipped or rolled when a card effect calls for it |
| Life Point calculator | 1 | Tracks Life Point (LP) changes during a Duel |
This is a two-player game; the official rulebook recommends ages 8 and up, and a Duel usually finishes in 20-30 minutes. Cards are Monster, Spell, or Trap Cards, and the field has 5 Main Monster Zones, 5 Spell & Trap Zones, 2 Extra Monster Zones, plus separate Deck, Extra Deck, Graveyard, and Field Zones.
Setup
- 1Greet your opponent, shuffle your own Main Deck, then take your opponent's Main Deck and shuffle it lightly as well (handle your opponent's cards carefully).
- 2Return the shuffled deck to your opponent and place it in the Deck Zone. If you're using an Extra Deck, place it face down in the Extra Deck Zone.
- 3If both players use Side Decks, confirm the card counts (the total deck size must stay the same after any Side Deck swap).
- 4Play rock-paper-scissors or flip a coin to decide who goes first.
- 5Finally, draw 5 cards from your deck. This is your starting hand.
From the second Duel of a Match onward, the loser of the previous Duel decides who goes first. If the previous Duel ended in a draw, decide again by rock-paper-scissors or a coin flip.
A turn — six phases
- 1Draw Phase — draw 1 card from your deck.
- 2Standby Phase — resolve any card effects that say '...during the Standby Phase.'
- 3Main Phase 1 — Normal Summon or Set a monster, activate or Set Spell/Trap Cards, and activate card effects; the most freedom to act is here.
- 4Battle Phase — conduct battles with your monsters. Choose an attack target with an Attack Position monster you control; each Attack Position monster may attack once per turn.
- 5Main Phase 2 — the same actions as Main Phase 1 are available, but a monster whose battle position already changed during the Battle Phase cannot have its position changed again if it was already changed in Main Phase 1.
- 6End Phase — declare the end of your turn. If you have 7 or more cards in hand, discard down to 6.
The first player's first turn skips two things
The player going first does not draw during their Draw Phase, and cannot conduct a Battle Phase, on their first turn. From the second turn on, both players go through all six phases as normal.
Summoning — Normal and Special Summons
| Summon type | Condition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Summon (including Set) | Once per turn, during your own Main Phase | Level 5-6 requires 1 Tribute, Level 7+ requires 2 Tributes (an Advance Summon) |
| Special Summon | No turn limit, as long as the card's own condition is met | Covers Pendulum, Synchro, Xyz, Fusion, and Ritual Summons, plus Special Summons via card effects |
| Fusion Summon | A Fusion Spell Card plus the named Fusion Material monsters | Brings a Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck onto the field |
| Synchro Summon | A Tuner monster plus other monsters whose Levels total the Synchro Monster's Level | Brings a Synchro Monster from the Extra Deck onto the field |
| Xyz Summon | 2 or more monsters of the same Level, stacked under the Xyz Monster's Rank | Brings an Xyz Monster from the Extra Deck onto the field |
| Link Summon | Materials matching the number of arrows on the Link Monster | Placed in an Extra Monster Zone or a zone a Link Monster's arrow points to |
Extra Deck monsters can only be placed in an Extra Monster Zone, or in a Main Monster Zone that a Link Monster's arrow on the field points to. This guide introduces only the concept of each Summon type, not its full procedure.
Battle and damage calculation
- 1When the Battle Phase begins, announce 'I'm entering the Battle Phase.'
- 2Choose 1 of your monsters to attack with and 1 of your opponent's monsters as the attack target, then declare the attack. If your opponent has no monsters, you may attack directly.
- 3If the opponent's monster is in Attack Position, compare ATK to ATK. If it's in Defense Position, compare your ATK to its DEF.
- 4The losing side's monster is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, and its owner takes Life Point damage equal to the difference (no damage results if a Defense Position monster wins the comparison).
| Comparison | Result |
|---|---|
| ATK > opponent's ATK (Attack Position) | Opponent's monster destroyed; opponent takes damage equal to the difference |
| ATK = opponent's ATK (Attack Position) | Both monsters destroyed; no damage |
| ATK < opponent's ATK (Attack Position) | Your monster destroyed; you take damage equal to the difference |
| ATK > opponent's DEF (Defense Position) | Opponent's monster destroyed; no damage |
| ATK ≤ opponent's DEF (Defense Position) | No monster destroyed; if your ATK is lower, you take damage equal to the difference |
| Opponent has no monsters | Full ATK is dealt as Life Point damage (a direct attack) |
Chains and Spell Speed
Activating a Spell, Trap, or monster effect gives your opponent a chance to respond with a card of their own. Several effects stacking up this way is called a Chain, and a Chain always resolves starting with the most recently activated effect.
| Spell Speed | Cards |
|---|---|
| 1 (slowest) | Normal Spells, Equip/Continuous/Field/Ritual Spells, monster Ignition/Trigger/Flip Effects |
| 2 | Normal and Continuous Traps, Quick-Play Spells, monster Quick Effects |
| 3 (fastest) | Counter Traps — can only respond to another Spell Speed 3 card |
Adding a card to a Chain requires a Spell Speed equal to or higher than the card it's responding to. If you don't want to respond, you may simply add nothing and let the Chain continue.
Win conditions
Both players start with 8000 Life Points (LP). A single game is called a Duel, and playing a best-of-3 set of Duels is called a Match.
| Win condition | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Reduce your opponent's LP to 0 | Battle damage or a card effect bringing your opponent's Life Points to 0 or below wins the Duel |
| 2. Your opponent cannot draw | If your opponent has no card left to draw during their Draw Phase, they lose immediately |
| 3. Win by a card's effect | If a specific card's effect states that you win, the Duel ends according to that effect |
Reaching 0 at the same time is a draw
If battle or an effect brings both players' Life Points to 0 at the same instant, the Duel is ruled a draw.
Strategy tips
- Since you can only Normal Summon once per turn, deciding in advance which monster in your hand to play first gives you an edge.
- Setting a monster in Defense Position means only its DEF is compared when attacked, so it can survive even a stronger attacker — a safe way to hold the line when you're behind.
- Because a Chain resolves in reverse, get in the habit of deciding whether to respond as soon as your opponent activates a card, before anything else happens.
- Check the Level, Attribute, and Type requirements of Extra Deck monsters ahead of time so you can Summon them exactly when you need to.
Always track Life Points separately
LP starts at 8000 and often changes by hundreds or thousands at a time, so logging every damage instance with a calculator or notepad reduces mental-math mistakes.
Speed Duel and the Korean release
The official rulebook also includes rules for Speed Duel, a shorter format. Its deck is exactly 20 cards with a 0-5 card Extra Deck, Life Points start at 4000, and the starting hand is 4 cards — all different from Master Rule play. The field also has no Extra Monster Zones, leaving only the 5 Main Monster Zones.
In Korea, Daewon Media Co., Ltd. distributes the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game under an official contract with Konami, and yugioh.co.kr is its official site.
Other Yu-Gi-Oh! media may use different rules
Japan's separately developed Rush Duel, as well as the mobile games Master Duel and Duel Links, are separate products with different deck construction and field layouts from the physical TCG's Master Rule covered in this guide.
Frequently confused rules
Q. Does the first player still draw a card on their first turn?
No. The player going first skips the Draw Phase on their very first turn and draws no card. From the second turn on, they draw normally.
Q. Can the first player attack on their first turn?
No. The first player cannot conduct a Battle Phase at all on their first turn, so no battle can happen.
Q. Are Extra Deck monsters counted in the 40-60 card Main Deck?
No. The Extra Deck holds up to 15 cards and is kept completely separate from the Main Deck.
Q. In a Chain, does the first card activated resolve first?
No. A Chain resolves in reverse order — the most recently activated card resolves first.
Q. Does attacking a Defense Position monster always deal no damage?
No damage occurs if your ATK is high enough to destroy it. But if your ATK is lower than its DEF, the monster survives and you take damage equal to the difference instead.
Q. Can I still Normal Summon in Main Phase 2?
Yes, if you haven't used your Normal Summon in Main Phase 1 yet. Normal Summon is limited to once per turn regardless of which Main Phase you use it in.
History and scope
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (OCG) is based on the card game appearing in Kazuki Takahashi's manga Yu-Gi-Oh!, which Konami turned into a real trading card game first released in Japan in 1999. Upper Deck Company licensed and released the English-language TCG in North America in March 2002, and Konami has handled North American distribution directly since 2008. In 2009, Guinness World Records recognized it as the best-selling trading card game in the world.
The field and Summoning rules have gone through several 'Master Rule' revisions. Extra Deck-exclusive Xyz, Synchro, and Link Monsters were added over time, and the New Master Rule of 2020 introduced the Extra Monster Zones that define today's field layout. This guide does not cover the detailed Summoning procedures for each monster type or card-effect combos, focusing only on the basic turn structure and win conditions.
In Korea, Daewon Media Co., Ltd. distributes the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game under an official contract with Konami. The exact year Korean sales began is not stated, since the two wikis checked did not agree on a specific date.
Scope of verification
BoardGameGeek lists this entry (4154) as a two-player game. The card pool, Forbidden/Limited lists, and tournament regulations fall outside this guide.
Sources
Official English rulebook PDF — Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME Official Rulebook Version 10 (Konami)Daewon Media official Korean rulebook PDF — Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game Official Rulebook (New Master Rule, ver. 1.0)Daewon Media's official Korean Yu-Gi-Oh! site — How to PlayBoardGameGeek 4154 — Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card GameWiki cross-check — English Wikipedia: Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card GameWiki cross-check — Namuwiki: Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (Korean)Rule summaries are reference content written by us, not quotations from the official rulebook. Always check the official rulebook for exact rules. Diagrams are original schematics, not rulebook illustrations.
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Last updated 2026-10-11
💡 Master tip
Timing a Trap Card you've Set to negate your opponent's powerful Monster Summon (a "hand trap") is at the heart of dueling. Understanding Chain activation order and the priority rule also lets you turn an opponent's interruption back against them.
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