Duelist Kingdom (arc)

Duelist Kingdom is the first Duel Monsters centered arc in the manga and first arc of the second series anime.

In this arc, Yugi Muto is forced to take part in Maximillion Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom tournament in order to free the soul of his grandfather, after Pegasus' strips it from his body. His friend Joey Wheeler takes part too as he needs the prize money to pay for his sister's eye operation.

Prior to the tournament
The anime begins with Seto Kaiba kidnapping Yugi's grandfather and defeating him in a Duel order to acquire his rare four-of-a-kind card, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". On doing so he tears up the card so it can't be used against him. Yugi then duels Kaiba to get revenge. Not entirely conscious of the transformation, he switches to Yami Yugi for the Duel. Yugi learns that Kaiba possess the other three "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" cards as he Summons them. Yami starts to doubt he can win, but thinking of how his friends are supporting him in spirit, he manages to Summon the "Exodia", an instant win card combination. Yami then inflicts the Mind Crush Penalty Game on Kaiba, dispelling his evil side.

In the manga, Yugi's encountered Kaiba much earlier in the series. The anime encounter is an shortened combination of their two previous encounters.

Joey takes up learning Duel Monsters, but proves a weak player after losing to Téa at school. (In the anime, he also loses to Yugi.) Yugi agrees to help him improve and they start by watching the Japanese regional Duel Monsters tournament final at Yugi's house. Yugi explained that he didn't enter this tournament as he had wanted to face Kaiba in a fair Duel in his first tournament. (In the manga, Kaiba was in hospital after receiving the Mind Crush.) The tournament ended with Weevil Underwood defeating Rex Raptor. As Weevil was congratulated by the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus, he received an invitation to an upcoming tournament.

After watching the finals, Yugi opened a package he received, containing a gauntlet, 2 Star Chips and a videotape. The tape contained a recording of Pegasus, who invited Yugi to Duel on the spot. Yugi switched to Yami Yugi, upon realizing that this was a Shadow Game. Pegasus won the Duel due to an imposed time limit and took the soul of Yugi's grandpa as Yugi's penalty. (In the manga, Grandpa's soul was sealed in the videotape.)