Home >> Games & Cards >> Kids Games

How to Read Japanese Yugioh Cards

Seasoned Yu-Gi-Oh! players know that to stay one step ahead of your opponents you need to add the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! cards to your deck on a regular basis. Many players are not content to wait for the U.S. release of cards and choose to purchase new cards from Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! dealers before they are translated into English.

You will be able to identify the category of a Japanese card from the border color, but all other card-specific information will be written in Japanese, making it impossible to utilize the card during game play.

While the official Yu-Gi-Oh! website is a useful resource, it does not contain a full list of card rules. Fortunately, several Yu-Gi-Oh! devoted websites contain databases which will allow you to access a rule list for your Japanese cards.

Instructions

Identifying your Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! card using its card set number
- 1
  Locate the card set number on your Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! card. Despite the fact that the text is in Japanese, this unique identification number will be displayed as a numeral. The number will be under the card's picture on the right-hand side.
- 2
  Cross-reference the card set number with one of the many Yu-Gi-Oh! card databases on the Internet. Several of these databases are listed in the reference section of this article. For the purpose of this example we will be using the "myCards Trading Card Game Database." This database is regularly updated and contains information on tens of thousands of Japanese cards.
- 3
  Locate the card search option in the left-hand toolbar. The second data entry field on the card search form is entitled "card number." Enter your card set number here and click the search button. You will be presented with a summary of the card's ratings including its set number, name, star value, and attack and defense ratings
- 4
  Click the card's name and you will be taken to a screen showing a picture of the card. To the left of the picture you will find a translation of the Japanese text outlining the rules governing the play of the card.

Kids Games