LP

Life Points, abbreviated LP in card text since Super Starter: Space-Time Showdown (Japanese: ライフポイント Raifupointo, abbreviated in card text since Starter Deck 2014, sometimes referred to as ライフ Raifu "Life"), are a numeric value in Yu-Gi-Oh! games used to represent the health of a player. The game has different methods of lowering and increasing Life Points. If a player loses all their Life Points, they lose the Duel.

Rules
The following rules apply to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game and Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.


 * Each player begins with 8000 Life Points.
 * Life Points can be gained through the effects of some cards, such as "Dian Keto the Cure Master".
 * Life Points can be lost by any of the following methods:
 * Battle Damage: When monsters battle, they have strength values which are compared. If the monster is in Attack Position, their ATK value is used. If the monster is in Defense Position, their DEF value is used. If the player's monster is in Attack Position and its value is lower, the player loses Life Points equal to the difference. If the player's monster is in Defense Position, the player does not lose Life Points equal to the difference, unless the opponent's monster has an effect to inflict Piercing damage.
 * Effect damage: The effects of some cards, such as "Ookazi" directly lower a player's Life Points.
 * Cost: Some cards, such as "Brain Control" require the player to pay Life Points to activate them. This is not considered to be effect damage.
 * If a player takes damage greater than their remaining Life Points, they drop to 0, rather than a negative figure.
 * If the player's Life Points are lowered to 0 they lose.
 * Losing Life Points: The effect of cards like "Message in a Bottle". It doesn't count as paying Life Points or taking any damage

Other games

 * In manga and anime, in the Duel Monsters Basic rules, players play with 2000 Life Points. These rules are used prior to the Battle City tournament. In all other forms of Duel Monsters, in the manga and anime, players start with 4000 Life Points.
 * Some video games allow players to set the number of Life Points they begin with, which is up to 16000 in some cases.
 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM, players begin with a number of Life Points equal to the combined Life Point score of the Monster Cards in their Deck.
 * In the anime and Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force games, some effects allow players to continue playing while they have 0 Life Points, such as "Relay Soul" and "Infernity Zero".
 * In Dungeon Dice Monsters in the manga, each player's Dungeon Master has 3 Life Points. Each time it gets attacked, it loses 1 Life Point. These are renamed Heart Points in the anime.

Trivia
Don Thousand from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL currently holds the record for the highest LP value reached in a Duel (102900 LP).

Gauges
The following gauges are displayed to keep track of Life Points in the anime.