Money and Knife

Yugi and Ushio's Shadow Game was a Shadow Game in the manga, where the players, Dark Yugi and Ushio played to distribute the money from Ushio's self-imposed bodyguard fees.

In the manga, this was done by players picking bank notes off their own hand by stabbing the money with a knife. Egyptians are also shown playing this game in the prologue.

In the first series anime, Dark Yugi and Ushio competed to climb to the top of a dome, where the money was, by turning over playing cards.

Prior events
The hall monitor, Ushio, suspected that Yugi Mutou was being bullied by Katsuya Jonouchi and Hiroto Honda and confronted Yugi about it. Although, Yugi was being picked on by Jonouchi and Honda, he told Ushio otherwise. Ushio wasn't convinced, believing that victims often defend their attackers and assigned himself the position of Yugi's bodyguard.

The next day, Ushio proceeded to beat up Jonouchi and Honda and then showed Yugi what he had done. Yugi insisted that he didn't want this, but Ushio continued to attack them. Yugi tried to stop him, saying that Jonouchi and Honda were his friends. However Ushio laughed at this and demanded a bodyguard fee of ¥200,000. He interpreted Yugi's reaction as Yugi not being satisfied and kicked Jonouchi and Honda some more. Yugi tried to stop him, only to get beaten-up himself too. Before leaving, Ushio threatened with a knife, should he not pay.

That night, as Yugi thought about how he was going to handle Ushio's fee, he found himself working on the Millennium Puzzle, something he had been unable to solve for eight years. However he was able to put it together with ease this time, until there was only one piece left, which turned out to be missing. He informed his grandfather ,Sugoroku, of what had happened. Sugoroku then gave Yugi the final piece, which Jonouchi had anonymously returned having stolen and disposed of it earlier.

Yugi proceeded to complete the Millennium Puzzle, causing his body to host the soul of Dark Yugi.

The game
Dark Yugi confronted Ushio at a vaulting horse at school and brought twice the money Ushio had demanded. He suggested that they play a game to see who gets it. He checked that Ushio still has his knife and explained the rules:
 * Each player takes turns putting the money on top of their hand and stabbing through the money with the knife.
 * Each turn, a player must take more than one bill.
 * The game continues until the money is gone, and the players would then keep any of the money they stabbed.

The two continued to play the game. After a few turns, Ushio's hand began to tremble. Dark Yugi explained that it was now controlled by his greed and asked would he sacrifice his hand to get more money. However Ushio said there was a way to get all the money with one stab without hurting his hand and lunged at Dark Yugi with the knife. However Dark Yugi dodged the attack and inflicted the Illusion of Avarice, Penalty Game on Ushio for cheating.

Aftermath
Due to his Penalty Game, Ushio believed that litter and leaves were money and played around in them all night. The next day students stared at him, wondering what he was doing.

Yugi had no memory of what happened the night before after completing the Millennium Puzzle. As he celebrated finishing it, he bumped into Jonouchi in the hallway. Jonouchi answered Yugi's "something you can show but can't see" riddle, saying it is friendship and thanked Yugi for showing him that they are friends.

Prior events
The prior events were much the same as in the manga. Honda did not pick on Yugi in this version, but Ushio still believed that he did. Ushio didn't attack Yugi after Yugi stuck up for Honda and Jonouchi, nor did he threaten him with a knife.

After seeing he was missing a piece of the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi returned to the school to look for it. However he bumped into Ushio, who realized that Yugi couldn't give him the money and proceeded to beta him up. Jonouchi was also at the school to recover the piece of the Millennium Puzzle, he has thrown away. After doing this, he and Honda saw what Ushio had done to Yugi. Jonouchi gave Yugi the piece of the puzzle and he and Honda tried to fight Ushio, only to be beaten-up again. Still badly beaten, Yugi managed to insert the last piece into the Puzzle and switch to Dark Yugi.

The game
Dark Yugi managed to suspend himself and Ushio at opposite ends of a rope going around the pole at the top of a dome. He placed a deck of playing cards at the top of the dome, which he lied was the money and spread another deck of cards in a line between the two of them. Dark Yugi challenged Ushio to a game and explained the rules:
 * They take turns turning over a card.
 * A player climbs a number of steps up the dome equal to the number indicated on the card, while the other player lowers themselves by the same amount.
 * First to the top gets the money.

Play was as follows:
 * Ushio turned over the 10 of diamonds.
 * Dark Yugi turned over the king (13) of diamonds.
 * Ushio turned over the 2 of spades.
 * Dark Yugi turned over the queen (12) of spades.
 * Ushio turned over 3 of diamonds
 * Dark Yugi turned over the 9 of hearts
 * Ushio turned over the 6 of clubs
 * Dark Yugi turned over the jack (11) of spades. At this point he was one step from the top.
 * Ushio turned over the joker, which Dark Yugi said was the end of the line.
 * Dark Yugi turned the ace of diamonds.

Ushio furiously and climbed up to Dark Yugi, who said that was breaking the rules, which results in bad consequences. Ushio attempted to punch Dark Yugi and broke the rope attaching them. Dark Yugi fell from the dome and Ushio found that the money was just another deck of cards. Dark Yugi hung onto the building and inflicted a Penalty Game on Ushio for cheating, causing Ushio to believe he was being eaten by monsters.

Aftermath
The next day at school, students saw Ushio curled up in terror and speculated that he had suffered a massive shock.

In the hallway, Jonouchi met up with Yugi and answered his "something you can show but can't see" riddle, saying it is friendship.

Other versions
The second series anime shows flashbacks of to Yugi sticking up for Jonouchi and Honda while they were being beaten up by Ushio, but there is no mention of the Shadow Game.