As the story of the first issue unfolds, the protagonist plays a game with another character. The players alternate turns putting money on their hands, and then commence vigorously stabbing the money with a blade. Once a player successfully stabs the money, they get to keep it. The game ends once a player stabs his hand.

When the manga was initially released, it failed to receive much in the way of popularity. Though the first weeks of its release garnered mild interest in the concept, the new chapters of the manga started repeating the same formula, and with a slightly different tweak. Each week featured a different game, ranging from craps to Russian Roulette, until one particular week, the manga comic introduced a card game called “Magic & Wizards,” later renamed “Duel Monsters” in English. Initially designed as the first two-chapter game, the reaction of fans was astounding.Yu-gi-oh’s creature Kazuki Takahashi, tried to make the concept work with alternative games such as chess, but it was the card game Magic and Wizard that drew the largest response, rising quickly to popularity in Japan.

Upon receiving the news, Konami, a major producer of video-based arcade games, elected to buy the rights from Weekly Shonen Jump to create a card game based on the popular manga. It should be noted though, that due to the manga’s darker tones limited much of its global audience, especially in America, and Konami needed a franchise that could compete with the rising Pokemon giant that was quickly taking the world by storm. So, in their collective wisdom, they elected to take the safer option to design Yu- Gi-Oh! as a more family- friendly game. The new and creative cartoon would shortly air in 2000 in Japan, (with a large focus on the card game, to promote the OCG(Original Card Game) and would see a localization by 4Kids and Kids WB in 2001.

After gaining enormous success nationally throughout Japan, and with the international release of the television show, Konami sold the localization rights to Upper Deck Entertainment in order to translate the cards into English, which occurred in 2002. Konami delayed the production of the cartoon to compete with the decline in Pokemon popularity and saw an opportunity to gain an advantage over their competition, as children were looking for something new. In late 2001, Konami was sending VHS and DVD guides, and the first promo card was revealed in December 2001: the “Summoned Skull” sample.

The iconic Legends of the Blue Eyes, distributed in March 2002, was the first set produced outside of Japan. It also featured the acclaimed “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” card used mainly by Seto Kaiba, a popular rival in the cartoon; “Dark magician”, the main character’s primary card; and finally “Exodia, the Forbidden One”, a legendary card that allows the player to win if they get all five parts in your hand, as revealed during the first duel between Kaiba and Yugi in the anime series, also promoting and showing how the game is played, children quickly became more interested in Yu-gi-Oh cards much more than with other franchises

By the end of the following year 2002, Yu-gi-oh released four iconic sets: Legends of the Blue Eyes, Metal Rider, Magic Ruler (renamed to Spell Ruler) and Pharaoh’s Servant. In the years that followed, Toys “R” Us (and similar toy and game outlets) regularly promoted Yu-gi-oh tournaments to increase public interest in the franchise.
Yu-Gi-Oh! was the first of the large gaming companies to team up with McDonald’s and similar corporations cards — a marketing strategy which Pokémon would copy a few years later.
Yu-Gi-Oh! would go on to sell over 35 billion cards in the following decades, toppling even Pokémon from the coveted 1 spot who had previously sold over 34 billion. Jump were later inspired to issue their second magazine, called V-Jump, which displayed other popular card games or manga comics that were featured in the Weekly Shonen Jump (this included popular brands like Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Heroes and Yu- Gi-Oh! information and promos, and it also features mobile phone games and apps: Dokkan, Dragon Ball Legends, One Piece Treasure Cruise, etc.).
As one of the holy trinity of gaming inspired shows that popularized Japanese animation on TV in the US, Yu-Gi-Oh! deserves its spot when discussing the most important media franchises of the early 2000s.

Its impossible not to mention one of the most heart-warming tales in the history of trading cards.
In 2002, There was a young boy named Tyler who was heart-breakingly diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of liver cancer. Make- A-Wish foundation caught wind of Tyler’s plight, who showed a lot of courage and had to endure painful and rigorous surgery to treat it. Once they heard the story, Make-A-Wish were quickly in touch with Tyler’s family and 4Kids to allow the boy to design his own card.
This dramatic event led to the creation of Tyler The Great Warrior, the only Make-A-Wish promo card to feature in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! There has only ever been one printing of the card, which was given to Tyler himself.
In addition to this, Tyler’s battle with cancer has a happy ending as well, as Tyler beat cancer and is currently living a healthy life. Last year, Tyler put the card up for auction where it sold for $311,211, making it one of the most expensive Yu-Gi-Oh! card purchases in the game’s history.

One of the most powerful cards in Seto Kaiba’s deck, The Blue Eyes Ultimate dragon card is a force to be reckoned with, also taking years for the card to be printed in English.
Japan, however, received a version of the card as early as 1999.
In 2001, the Asia Championships occurred, with the winner of the tournament receiving a copy of the coveted Blue- Eyes Ultimate Dragon, complete with casing signed by Kazuki Takahashi himself.

It popped up on sale at Card Shop Spiral in Japan, going for a whopping $400,000 (or 45 million yen). It›s the rarest Blue-Eyes and Fusion Monster, as this version of the card is so rare, as it is the only one to ever be made.

Black Luster Soldier was used by Yugi in the original cartoon and is nothing more than a vanilla Ritual Monster. While each of these versions aren’t rare or valuable at all, a special version of Black Luster Soldier was given to the winner of the first-ever Yu- Gi-Oh! tournament Duel Monsters 1 and to make it stand out even futher, it was printed on stainless steel.

In 2013, the owner decided to put it up for sale for ten million dollars, the highest price at the time for a trading card.
25 years on, Yu-Gi- Oh continues to be a powerhouse in the trading world, with new competitions and tournaments springing up annually, and a new VR experiment on the horizon.