Penalty Game


 * For the card, see: Penalty Game!

A Penalty Game is a punishment given to the loser of a Shadow Game. Millennium Item holders are capable of inflicting supernatural punishments.

Penalty Games played an important part in early Yu-Gi-Oh! storylines, but are used much less frequently when the plot shifted to a Duel Monsters universe. The first series anime toned down the fatality of a number of Penalty Games, making some merely illusions.

Dark Yugi
Dark Yugi's (Yami Yugi's) Penalty Games often act as poetic justice to a person, who trespassed on the souls of his friends. While some of these penalties are fatal, he has used them to help the person on times; The Mind Crush Penalty Game was used to dispel Seto Kaiba's evil side. In the second series anime, Mind Crush is the only Penalty Game shown to be used. Aside from sealing away Kaiba's evil side, it has also been used to banish Ghost Kaiba (the living form of Kaiba's evil side, returned from the Shadow Realm by Pegasus), PaniK, and a mugger to the Shadow Realm (the game in which the mugger lost was to draw a card, and whichever card is the strongest wins). The Mind Crush has not been used since PaniK, or seen since the flashback with the mugger. In the Japanese version, these three victims disappear off the land or be in a state of unconsciousness.

In the manga, different Penalty Games were used during Duelist Kingdom, and Dark Yugi decides to stop using them after the defeat of Pegasus, because it would have proven that the Millennium Items indeed had an evil will.

Three of Dark Yugi's Penalty Games have cards based on them, which were released in Soul of the Duelist. These are "Greed", "Mind Crush" and "Mind on Air".

Shadi
Shadi uses Penalty Games to punish people who disturb the territory of the gods. Professor Kanekura was one of Shadi's victims after he defiled an Egyptian tomb. In the anime, Kanekura had tried to sell the Millennium Puzzle. Ammit was let into Kankura's soul room to pass judgment. In the manga this caused Kankura to die. In the anime, he wakes up and screams one time. Professor Yoshimori is spared of a Shadow and Penalty Game, as Shadi uses him for a Shadow Game against Yugi.

Kaiba
Seto Kaiba creates artificial Penalty Games for the loser of Games in Death-T. Some include leaving the victim be attacked by a series of monster holograms, such as Doppel-ganger.

Dark Bakura
Dark Bakura's (Yami Bakura's) Penalty Games at the beginning of the manga turn the victims into figurines to use in Monster World. During Battle City, he kills "Ghost" Kotsuzuka (Bonz) after beating him in Duel Monsters. In the English second series anime, he instead sends Bonz to the Shadow Realm (In the Japanese version, he sent him to Hell).

Pegasus
Pegasus uses Penalty Games for personal gain, often trapping the souls of the victims in the "Soul Prison" card. He trapped Solomon Muto's soul into a video tape (Soul Prison card in the anime) after beating Yugi, to force Yugi into entering Duelist Kingdom. He also trapped Mokuba Kaiba's in a card and later Seto Kaiba's after beating him in a Duel. In the manga, after Jonouchi beat Bandit Keith in a duel, Pegasus forced Bandit Keith to shoot himself in the head.

Marik
Yami Marik traps Mai's soul in an hourglass after defeating her. Here she is consumed by insects and given 24 hours to live, in which when time passes, her brain tissues would be completely devoured. In the anime, the insects are replaced with sand and the time to live is extended. In the English anime, the hourglass exists in the Shadow Realm.