Shueisha will release a perfect rulebook for the Yu-Gi-Oh original card game (OCG) rules in Japan on April 26, 2024. It will cost 1210 JPY ($8.00) and will have over 250 pages. [Thanks, Dengeki Online!]
You can pre-order the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG rulebook on Amazon and Rakuten. Amazon appears to offer international shipping for those who live outside of Japan. This book has the complete up-to-date rules for the OCG, though it may become obsolete if there are any changes in the future. As a note, the book covers the OCG rules. This means that some rules may be different from what TCG players are used to due to name or text variations.
Because of the sheer number of cards, effects, rules, and limitations, Yu-Gi-Oh has become a rather complicated game to play over the years. A running joke in the Japanese community is that Konami wrote the rules and card text using the Konmai language, which is a play on the company’s name. There are very minute differences in the card text that have large implications in the game. The various monster types can also cause confusion. A famous meme came from the show, in which Kachidoki (Iggy Arlo) was under the impression that XYZ monsters are Level 0 by default because they use Ranks instead. That is not the case. The Konmai joke also refers to how even Konami employees don’t seem to know what to do in certain situations. It’s unknown if this version of the rulebook will help to solve every dilemma a player may encounter.
The Yu-Gi-Oh OCG 2024 rulebook will come out on April 26, 2024.
