Remember that really cool card game you or a friend played as a kid? It had super cool monsters like Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Dark Magician, Penguin Soldier, and the list goes on. For those of you that grew up under a rock (just joking) Yu-Gi-Oh! is a card game started in 1996 where players strategically use monsters, spells, and traps to defeat their opponent. Sounds simple enough right? Guess again. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a lot bigger than you probably think it is.

There's a wide variety of tournaments, allowing one to test their skills at different levels of play. Local tournaments average about 8 to 24 people, played in four rounds of best two out of three games. Small amounts of store credit are awarded to those in the top four or top eight. The next level up is Regionals. This is where it starts to get serious. 300+ people gather at a card shop as early as eight in the morning to register and continue preparations for the day. Regionals has nine rounds. These tournaments go literally all day long. They start around 10 AM and don't get finished until anywhere from 8:30 to Midnight. Those who get the top spots get their invitation to the National tournament, aka the World Championship Qualifier.

I recently attended my first nationals which was July 9th and 10th in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. There were approximately 2250 people playing in the two-day tournament. I didn't make it to Day 2, because I lost in the seventh round. I felt that was an accomplishment all on its own. Each round exploded with intensity as my opponents and I countered each other time and time again. It was a fantastic experience and I'm happy with my performance for my first nationals.

The great thing is there's more tournaments outside of the main hierarchy. There are YCSs (Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series), ARG Circuit Series, put on by Alter Reality Games. What makes the game really interesting is not the tournament structure, the decks and archetypes, or even the cards, but the people.

I'm an English and Sociology major, which is just a fancy way of saying I really enjoy people watching in a highly social setting and figuring out what makes them tick. Yu-Gi-Oh! shops and events are the perfect place to do this. The player pool is made of people from all walks of life, various ethnicities, socio-economic homes, religions, the only drawback being it is heavily male dominated. As stated before, Regionals have 300+ people, about two or three of those people are possibly female and the rest are male. What really interests me is the fact that Yu-Gi-Oh! players have a definite social structure that is completely unique from anything I have seen. I won't bore you with all the nitty gritty stuff, that's for another article.

One of the truly great aspects of being a Yu-Gi-Oh! player is the fact that you get to travel. I've gone to Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Pittsburg for events. If you're looking for something fun to pick up, give Yu-Gi-Oh! a try. It will keep you on your toes.