Hello, I am a parent who survived Yu-Gi-Oh! How you might ask, well here is my opinion.

Firstly have fun. Remember that peer pressure - X has that, why don't we?, The new deck is out today! It's only £3! are all opourtunities to have FUN. Yu Gi Oh is very good fun, hours of one to one with the kids. Not soft play, not fattening and all weathers!

So join a club.There will be older boys,player parents and other onlookers who can help with advice.

Secondly only buy from specialist toy shops or online - Why because the £2.99 a pack of 5 (plus advice card) GX Jaden or Chazz cards and the Tins at £19.99 or a RIP OFF! A pack of GX Jaden should be £1.50, a pack of 9 or 13 £2.50 and a tin £14.99. Try a supermarket, Tesco's sell the starter decks at about £6 (as opposed to £8-10 in a newsagent). NEVER from the Market - They will be fake and unusable at any club / tournament. special cards

Thirdly for your first purchase buy either a starter deck or a structure deck: The first are named after the TV characters (Yugi, Kaiba, Pegasus et al) the second are themed (Zombies, warriors, dragons, wizards, water, birds, fire, Dinosaurs, Earth). After a few tournaments or club meets your child / duellist will be wanting to customise, personalise and improve their decks so take a deep breath and you are off... These decks are £7 or so and ideal as they are 40 cards that are useable immediately.

There are several cards that are on a banned list - So they cannot be used at official tournaments (at home and clubs may be fine, ask first), some cards are limited to only one or two per deck (All cards are limited to a max of 3) and some cards are not good, some are not COOL either! The list is on the offical Yu-Gi-Oh! website and updated every april and sept at the moment.GOD Cards (slifer, Obelsik and Ra) are NOT legal cards ie cannot be used at a club, tournament at all. They are NOT fake, but are purely ornamental (view them like Jokers in a dek ata poker table, cute but useless)

My Daughter always puts Outstanding Dog Marron in here decks , her fairy deck, her harpy deck, her dragon deck. Why  - because if killed he comes back to her deck (good boy!) and he is a small brown yorkie with big eyes (aahhh!!) and it irritates her very serious older brother(Tee Hee!!!). So let the wee ones have there way and use their cute / cool cards -Regardless of how naff they are Rachel!

I would ask them there favourite cards/characters - Probably Dragons (Blue eyes white Dragon), Elemental Heroes(Flame wingman), Toons (toon summoned skull) or Fiends (Raviel). Then try for a full deck (40 is minimum and the more cards the harder to play them so stay under 50 at least). Don't worry about fusion or side decks until later (someone at the club can explain or see next article) and aim for a ratio of 50:50 /  monsters:non monsters (spells or trap)

TV is NOT True ie on TV some cards can do weird and wonderful things - at your club all they will do is be killed!! Yugi would not last an hour at a club before being slaughtered by a smart ten year old ( I speak from experience!).

Lastly I insisted that my lad (8yrs old) always scores and always pronounces the cards he plays - His 4000, 500 and 1000 times tables are superb and he did not play the Creator card for a week beacause The Creator Incarnate (Cremater incase, incarnation, inside, creature incan etc etc) was atongue twister _ especially to a boy with a lose toof and a lisp due to toof!! I am an Evil Parent!!!!) This way Homework is Duelling or at leat educational. What Gameboy can say the same?

Good Luck and HAVE FUN.

Remem ber in Yugioh the credit card is not always the first casualty!

(NB All prices are from memory and are guides - If I am a few pence off please do not hold it against me)

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