Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (often abbreviated to "TCG") is the part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game manufactured by Konami, and is the best-selling card game of all time according to Guinness World Records, with over 22 billion cards sold as of August 2009. The TCG is played worldwide, but mostly in North America, Europe and Australia. The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG was first published in 2002, with Upper Deck Entertainment acquiring the rights to market the TCG in 2000 for USD$75,000,000 from Konami.

The agreement between Upper Deck Entertainment and Konami was due to expire in 2010. Konami issued a press release on December 10th 2008, stating that it was retaking full control of all aspects of the TCG, including:


 * Distribution
 * Customer Service
 * Sales
 * Gameplay
 * Organized Play

Upper Deck Entertaiment then responded by issuing a lawsuit against Konami Digital Entertainment for USD$75,001,000, citing loss of earnings and breach of contract, as Konami Digital Entertainment cut ties between itself and Upper Deck Entertainment more than a year prior to to the legal conclusion of their contract. On December 27, 2008, Konami was denied the temporary selling and shipping ban that would prevent Upper Deck from marketing, selling, distributing and providing game support for the TCG.

The TCG is printed in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, and was printed in Portuguese prior to Cybernetic Revolution. All TCG cards are tournament-legal in any country where the game is played. Cards from the Official Card Game (OCG), however, are not tournament-legal, even if a player attempting to use one has a translation on-hand, or the card has an officially-released TCG counterpart. In contrast, TCG cards, with the exception of TCG exclusives, are tournament-legal in the OCG.

Tournaments are held each year that give out prizes which are usually rare cards or exclusive game mats. Players first start out in the Regionals and advance their way to the Championships. Shonen Jump used to host their own tournament known as the Shonen Jump Championship. There are tournaments in the OCG as well as the TCG.

Upper Deck no longer has any connection with the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, with Konami continuing tournaments.