Mentions in other media

Yu-Gi-Oh! has been continually referred to in different non-related media. This list presents a broad cross-section of these references, but has no hope of ever being complete; additional examples are welcome.

This article is for unlicensed appearances. For licensed appearances, see "crossovers".

Anime, manga, and manhwa

• In chapter 90 of 1-nichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchō, the characters play a card game with a very similar card appearance and backing to that of old Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
• In episode 4 of the second season of A Certain Scientific Railgun, Misaka is shown reading a manga with Yu-Gi-Oh! cards printed on the cover, named Hydra - Battle Monsters (九頭蛇). The same set of cards appears in Waiting in the Summer (see below), which was created by the same publisher, studio, and director.
• In episode 8 of African Office Worker, Lizard pulls out a set of five fake Yu-Gi-Oh! cards during a blind date, each one labeled with a different excuse, and prompts Toucan to pick one to use for leaving the blind date. Furthermore, during this scene Lizard is labeled as a "Duelist" and sports the same hair as Seto Kaiba, a reference to how both characters share the same Japanese voice actor, Kenjiro Tsuda.
• Asobi Asobase:
  • In chapter 6, while Hanako and Olivia are playing the card game "Boys' School Wars" (with card designs very similar to those of Magic the Gathering), the latter plays a card with the name "Blue-Eyes Yankee", whereupon Hanako exclaims that that's the legendary strongest card ever that sells for a lot in online auctions.
  • In chapter 43, when the Pastimers Club is deciding on costumes for their cultural festival movie, Hanako asks Olivia to style her hair; the end result is a spiky hairstyle that Hanako is dissatisfied with, and she "fires" Olivia. When Olivia says that she worked hard, Hanako yells "Ore no tān" to launch her rebuttal, saying that only the only people with a hairstyle like hers are card gamers with multiple personalities that are obsessed with Shadow Games.
• In episode 54 of Cardfight!! Vanguard, Bright, Yuma, and Nataly, from the Tag Force games, make a brief appearance as part of an unnamed team. In the English dub, they are replaced with other miscellaneous characters.
• In chapter 17 of the doujin Chikan Otoko, when Molester Man initially loses his courage to confess to Kansai, he makes a facial expression parodying that of Seto Kaiba's when "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" materialized for the first time in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 10: "The Cards with Teeth (Part 2)".
• In chapter 4 of Dancin' Respawn, the protagonist Dannora Choshi reveals that he keeps a foil card as a memento of how he became friends with Arashi Okehazama. The card in question closely resembles a Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Card, including the backing.
• In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Gundham Tanaka continually refers to himself as "Tanaka the Forbidden One".
• In chapter 12 of Dead Tube, an unnamed person attempts to make a facial expression referencing Joey Wheeler's "creepy chin", while explaining the purpose of their video.
• In episode 3 of D-Frag!, Sakura Mizukami says "Card open" before revealing her cards, an expression similar to one used by some characters when activating a Set Spell/Trap Card ("Reverse card open!") in the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• In chapter 192 of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., Riki and Kaido battle against each other with a card game called "Valkyrie Breaker", which has several similarities to Yu-Gi-Oh!, such as Levels, Attributes, Spells, and Traps. In addition, after Kaido loses at the end of the story, Saiki says to himself that Kaido should "Go play some Yu-Gi-Oh! instead".
• In chapter 32 of Domina no Do!, Harigata Mitsuru and Satoru Onahori Duel each other using a parody of Duel Monsters cards in a Dueling Arena. Numerous sexual references are made in the cards used, including "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".
• In episode 9 of Dragon Crisis!, Misaki mentions the phrase "Watashi no tān". In episode 11, Masato mentions the phrase "Ore no tān". Both mean "My turn" as said by Yu-Gi-Oh! characters.
• In episode 9 of Dropkick on My Devil!, Jashin-chan is seen holding a Deck of playing cards whose blue backings closely resemble those of OCG cards, complete with a red logo in the bottom-right corner.
• Fairy Tail
  • In episodes 138 and 139, objects similar to the Millennium Puzzle can be seen as decorations in the background. A similar structure resembling a giant pyramid with the Eye of Wdjat serves as the HQ of the Zentopia church.
  • Four consecutive episodes are dedicated to a card battle called "Guild Battle", whose rules are very similar to Yu-Gi-Oh!. The duel starts in episode 208, showing half of the first turn, episode 209 contains the rest of turn 1, episode 210 continues from there, and episode 211 contains the end of the duel.
    • A Shadow Duel was conducted between Cana and Eclipse Scorpio. Four Lamps represent Life Points, and if Cana loses, she will be sealed into a card, similar to Maximillion Pegasus' threat against Yugi Muto in their Duelist Kingdom Duel.
    • Each player starts with 6 cards, and each player makes up their own deck with cards based on their comrades. As such, this heavily parodies the New Rules as the Plot Demands trope often used by Yami Yugi. Cana frequently states "What? You can do that?", "Even though it's my turn! That's going too far!", "Do you really have that effect?" and Scorpio replies with "I'm going to ignore you and continue."
    • At the start of each turn, there is a "Draw Sequence", followed by a "Standby Sequence" which is a combination of the Standby Phase and Main Phase 1, where the player can Summon monsters and place Field Cards on Standby (Standby = Set, Field Card = Spell/Trap Card). Then the "Battle Sequence", with destroyed cards being sent to the "Trash Zone".
    • Monsters have special effects, e.g. when Gemini is destroyed by battle, a Field Card can be activated from the hand.
    • Each player can have up to 3 copies of a card, shown with 3 copies of "Happy" (although it seems that there was only 1 copy of every other card). Monsters can be Sacrificed for Special Summons. There is also a Fairy Merge (Fusion Summon) where "Happy" fused with "Natsu" to make "Winged Nappy Dragneel". Effects to increase ATK points and effects to allow monsters to attack directly are also present.
• In chapter 26 of Furyou Taimashi Reina, after Chinatsu Tendo reveals she and her brother can decide who can use the latter's body, Riku exclaims "Just like that one other guy!", with a silhouette of Yugi appearing in the panel.
• In chapter 22 of Gal Gohan, Shinji Yabe is shown playing a card game with his nephew, where the cards have backings very similar to those of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
• In episode 162 of Gintama, two of the main characters conduct their final competition in a match of card games using a Duel Disk system that uses a similar platform as the first Duel Disk built by Seto Kaiba, and an arm attachment similar to the more commonly recognized Duel Disk. The cards are all characters from the show, and the front of the cards are structured the same as in the TCG/OCG, save for Level stars. Each player begins with 2000 LP, and must reduce the other player's to 0.
• Hayate the Combat Butler
  • At the end of episode 29, Hayate is suddenly challenged to a duel by the "Duel Butler". Hayate performs a "One Turn Kill" by summoning Klaus (the head butler) and using the rare card "Ayasaki Hayate". Hayate himself references Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi, saying "Let's go, partner!" as a more innocent-looking double of Hayate appears saying "Yeah, other me!"
  • In episode 39, a "Yu-Tsu-Oh" (遊通王) sign is shown in the stadium.
  • In episode 19 of the second season, a few turns of a card game are shown.
• In episode 11 of Hetalia: Axis Powers, monsters which closely resemble "Sunny Pixie" and "Sunlight Unicorn" are shown.
• In chapter 37, page 48 of Hikaru no Go, Yami Yugi appears among many other Weekly Shōnen Jump characters on the website on the computer, when Toya pulls Hikaru out of the way.
• During episode 1's end credits of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, when Kazuya responds to Liscia's argument that spending money on the nation's defense is better, the animation style for Kazuya suddenly shifts, which includes his face becoming similar to Yami Yugi's. Additionally, he frames his counter-argument similar to activating a card, "Time is money!", where he "Chains" it to Liscia's argument and explains it like a card effect.
• In chapter 77 of How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?, numerous references to Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering are made, most notably the faces of Zina Void and Soryuin Akemi being drawn in the style of Seto Kaiba and Yami Yugi's, respectively.
• In episode 6 of Humanity Has Declined, Oyage says "Let's see if you can draw a rare card from your ultimate deck!"
• In chapter 1 of Hyottoshite Gyaru wa Orera ni Yasashii no dewa?, the two main characters are seen playing a card game whose cards have backings very similar to those of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
• In episode 5 of THE iDOLM@STER, during the long train trip, Haruka brings out cookies that she baked, Ami suggests trading for the cookies, and Mami (Ami's twin) says "I pay two chocolates from my hand to summon four of Harurun's cookies!"
• In episode 6 of Jujutsu Kaisen, Satoru Gojo displays several films for Yuji Itadori to use for his cursed energy training; one of the films' display cases parodies the cover of Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time.
• Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de
  • In episode 6, mentions of many anime series are made, including Yu-Gi-Oh! During the fight against the monster Kuman, after Shinra's ineffective attack, Miyu joins the battle while saying "Watashi no tān" ("My turn") and uses "Cutter Shower" (a parody of Psycho Kaede from Shuffle!). After being hit, Kuman says "Ore no tān" (also "My turn") and uses "Miracle Beam" (a parody of "Mikuru Beam" from Haruhi Suzumiya).
  • In episode 11, after Ren runs out from the bathroom half naked into the hallway, Benisu kicks him in the groin, dropping his Life Points to 0.
• In a chapter of KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops, one of the Kameari Koen police officers are examining a binder with Yu-Gi-Oh! cards; the cards "Fairy Meteor Crush", "Time Seal", and "Goblin's Secret Remedy" are visible in a close-up.
• In episode 3 of the ONA Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Lite, a "Yu-Hel-Something card game" is mentioned in dialogue.
• In episode 13 of Lucky Star, Konata makes a reference to Yu-Gi-Oh! which includes her dressing like Yugi Muto.
• In episode 13 part 9 of Mayoi Neko Overrun!, Chise and Nozomi make a reference to both Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cardfight!! Vanguard by saying "I'll have Sato and Suzuki guard Nozomi!", "Nya~! I'll have Otome attack. Guard cancel", "In that case, I Summon Kikuchi the Otaku! Using the Koga-chan Insider to attack and activate his trap!".
• Medaka Box
  • In chapter 116, Najimi Ajimu references Yugi Muto from among a list of many different main characters from different manga, in an attempt to convince Zenkichi Hitoyoshi to become the main character of the manga.
  • In chapter 125, Najimi references Yu-Gi-Oh! cards in her explanation to Zenkichi of what victory means.
• In the 8th episode of the Moetan anime, "Ah-kun" becomes crazy after entering the girls public bath and starts saying "Ore no tān" ("My turn") with a Trap Card displayed.
• In chapter 32 of Need a Girl, Yami Yugi and some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards made a cameo appearance.
• In episode 8 of No Game No Life, both Sora and Shiro are shown in a coliseum holding cards resembling a Ritual Monster, a Normal Monster, a Spell Card, and a Fusion Monster while talking about the various races in the world of Disboard. Shiro also wears a device resembling a Duel Disk.
• In episode 8 of No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!, Tomoko dresses up as Yami Yugi.
• In episode 8 of Nyaruko: Crawling with Love, an "Enemy Controller" with color matching its manga artwork is shown.
• In episode 9 of Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose, several parody cards depicting Kuroha Shida are shown. Notably, they appear to be directly based on the layout used by Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel cards.
• In chapter 28 of Platinum End, Susumu Yuito explains in his interview about how he met Penema, the angel of games, and specifies that by saying games, he's referring to games like Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• In episode 6 of Pop Team Epic, during a gag parodying the "sports & games" genre of anime with a game of shogi, Pipimi can be seen holding a playing card bearing a darker version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga card backing while flailing her arms in the middle of her match against Popuko.
• In the re-airing of episode 158 of The Prince of Tennis, two of the spectators are girls resembling recolors of Téa Gardner and Serenity Wheeler.
• In chapter 23 of Protect Me, Shugomaru!, Shugomaru Tekko takes part in a Duel featuring real Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and following OCG rules; he uses a Dragon Deck, while his opponent uses a "Gimmick Puppet" one.
• In chapter 13 of Real Account, Yuma uploads multiple selfies with weird facial expressions to his Real Account profile, one of which references Joey Wheeler's "creepy chin".
• In a Reborn! episode, Reborn explains to Tsuna that they are currently in the video game and card battle era, and as examples, he is shown playing a video game, as well as Yu-Gi-Oh! with a Duel Disk, a card, and a Millennium Puzzle made by his chameleon Leon.
• In episode 30 of Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals, Deidara and Tobi are dressed up as Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba.
• In chapter 19 of Rosen Garten Saga, during Mjinn's explanation of how to defeat Queen Brunhild via the "High & Low" card game, Aladdin envisions an example of the game being played, where the cards have card backings very similar to those of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
• In episode 11 of Sakura Trick, Yuzu Īzuka says "Atashi no tān" ("My turn").
• In chapter 10 of Seishun Forget!, when Taiyo is in the Moe Moe Maid Cafe and has an expensive list of options for his maid Hinata to do, he states "Take a look at my deck! *Here is my trump card!*" as he whips out three "Yukichi Fukuzawa" (10,000 yen) similar to how Kaiba does with three "Blue-Eyes White Dragons".
• Seton Academy: Join the Pack!
  • In general, whenever Mashima Chloe and her donkey friends make an appearance, they can frequently be seen with their "Magic: The Donkey" cards, which have backings very similar to those of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
  • Chapter 8:
    • Mashima is shown on two separate occasions wearing a coat and belt that closely resemble those that Seto Kaiba wore during the Battle City tournament.
    • One of her donkey friends claims that a herd isn't about numbers - rather, it's about the power of unity. This is a reference to the concept of "the power of unity" in Yu-Gi-Oh!, which prevented Maximillion Pegasus from reading Yami Yugi's mind near the end of their Duelist Kingdom Duel, and what Yami Yugi urged Seto Kaiba to believe in during their Tag-Team Duel against Lumis & Umbra.
    • A table-sized Dueling Arena makes an appearance.
  • Chapter 42:
    • Mashima faces an opponent who wears attire similar to what Yami Yugi wore during the Battle City tournament.
    • In the omake, Mashima describes how she faced a robot opponent on the 68th floor of "Duel Tower", which is a reference to the KaibaCorp Island Duel Tower both in name and appearance. A table-sized Dueling Arena also makes an appearance.
  • In chapter 69, Mashima encounters an opponent holding "Magic: The Donkey" cards, pulling out her own cards in response, before being interrupted.
  • In chapter 141, as Meimei explains to Jin what their friends have done while he was in a coma, she mentions that Mashima went to save the world with card games.
• In chapter 36 of Shinozaki-san Ki wo Ota Shika ni!, titled "Sakuradai Hatsuki and the Shadow Game", Kaede Sasamura announces at the start of the Old Maid game, "The Shadow Game begins!".
• The cover page of chapter 7 of the Shomin Sample manga describes Aika Tenkubashi using the Series 3 (or higher) card layout of a Yu-Gi-Oh! card.
• In episodes 23 and 29 of Sket Dance, some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are shown.
• In episode 19 of Space Brothers, some kids are shown playing a card game with design and mechanics similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! during a short flashback.
• In chapter 45 of Stardust Telepath, Matataki Raimon thinks of "the Forbidden One" after seeing an arm and a leg from a costume of the mecha "Ganbarion".
• In Strike the Blood, Kensei Kanase wears a necklace almost identical to the Millennium Ring.
• In episode 2 of Student Council's Discretion, Mayafuyu uses a scenario involving the Battle Phase to test the Student Council's Japanese: "If your opponent attacks, you can open your Trap Card. Now all Spell Cards on the field are sent to the Graveyard." When the Student Council President guesses wrong, Mayafuyu corrects her: "Face-down card activate! This trap nullifies the effects of your Trap Card." The Trap is based on the Student Council President and even contains a chibi image of her.
• In Symphogear G, the second season of the Symphogear series, the eponymous battle suit of Hibiki Tachibana receives a redesign reminiscent of "Junk Warrior", and in the first episode she is shown throwing a jet-augmented punch in a sequence that closely mirrors that of "Junk Warrior" using its attack, "Scrap Fist", in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Both 5D's and Symphogear G were directed by Katsumi Ono.
• In chapter 5 of Teenage Renaissance! David, when Bocca della Verità is conducting a belongings check, he confiscates David's Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
• In episode 14 of Toradora!, when Kushieda Minori is asking Ryuji Takasu to show each other which pictures they got, she states "Takasu-kun, it's time to begin... our destined duel-down! I now sacrifice 90 yen to summon nine pictures. Then I will reveal my face-down card, Quick-Play Spell Card "Immediate Discovery", activate! I just found a picture with my softball teammates, number 93, I summon by paying the cost of 10 yen. Turn end! Yes, Takasu-kun, it's your turn!".
• In episode 10 of Waiting in the Summer, some kids are shown playing a card game very similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! called "Hydra - Battle Monsters" (九頭蛇). The cards shown are from the Cthulhu Mythos and are called "Yog Sothoth", "Nyarlathotep", "The Elder Sign", "The Mirror of Nitocris", and "Azathoth". These cards use the same colors as Effect Monsters, Ritual Monsters and Spell Cards. The same set of cards appears in A Certain Scientific Railgun (see above), which was created by the same publisher, studio, and director.
• In chapter 4.5 of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, while looking around in Hirotaka's bedroom, Narumi comes across a box of old toys and card games from their childhood, and Hirotaka, returning from his shower, asks if she wants to Duel.

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  Misaka reading a "Hydra - Battle Monsters" manga in A Certain Scientific Railgun S

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  Bright, Yuma, and Nataly in Cardfight!! Vanguard

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  A Duel in Domina no Do!

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  Jashin-chan holding Yu-Gi-Oh!-like cards in Dropkick on My Devil!

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  Millennium Puzzle-like objects in Fairy Tail

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  Yu-Gi-Oh! parody cards in Gintama

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  Two Otsus from Gintama portrayed as monsters in a similar fashion to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, using the same LP Gauge as the Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! anime

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  A Duel in Hayate the Combat Butler

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  Hayate and his "partner"

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  Yu-Tsu-Oh! in Hayate the Combat Butler

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  A Duel in Hayate the Combat Butler second season

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  Monsters similar to "Sunny Pixie" and "Sunlight Unicorn" in Hetalia: Axis Powers

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  Yami Yugi in Hikaru no Go (on the computer in left panel)

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  Yu-Gi-Oh! cards in KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops

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  A Yu-Gi-Oh! reference in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!: Chuni-Shorts

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  Konata dressed as Yugi in Lucky Star

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  Deidara and Tobi dressed as Yugi and Kaiba in Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals

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  Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and Yami Yugi in Need a Girl

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  Sora holding Yu-Gi-Oh!-like cards in No Game No Life

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  Shiro wearing a Duel Disk and playing a Yu-Gi-Oh!-like card in No Game No Life

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  Tomoko referencing Yu-Gi-Oh! in No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!

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  An "Enemy Controller" in Nyaruko: Crawling with Love

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  Pipimi holding a Yu-Gi-Oh! manga card in Pop Team Epic

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  Reborn playing Yu-Gi-Oh! in Reborn!

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  A Duel Disk and Yu-Gi-Oh!-like cards in Sket Dance

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  Yu-Gi-Oh!-like cards in Sket Dance

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  Yu-Gi-Oh!-like cards in Space Brothers

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  Yu-Gi-Oh!-like cards in Space Brothers

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  Kensei Kanase wearing a Millennium Ring-like pendant in Strike the Blood

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  A Yu-Gi-Oh!-like card in Student Council's Discretion

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  Scrap Fist in Symphogear G (animated gif)

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  A Duel in They Are My Noble Masters

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  "Hydra - Battle Monsters" in Waiting in the Summer

Television shows

• In the Adventure Time episode "Card Wars", Finn and Jake play a card game with several similarities to the Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic the Gathering card games. The episode "Daddy-Daughter Card Wars" also features a five-card set based on the "Forbidden One" cards.
• In the All Grown Up! episode aptly named "Yu-Gotta-Go", Chuckie buys cards of the episode's name and becomes obsessed with the game, hoping to obtain the rare "The Red Mirror Dragon".
• In The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Matchmaker", the face that Gumball makes after seeing Darwin's photo of his "crush" on the computer resembles Joey Wheeler's "creepy chin".
• In Codename: Kids Next Door, a kid with Yugi Muto's hairstyle is a recurring minor character.
• In the fifth season of Family Guy, Stewie's teddy bear Rupert is accidentally sold at a yard sale. When Stewie checks the FBI database for the buyer, it is revealed that the buyer watches Yu-Gi-Oh!
• In the Good Luck Charlie episode "L.A.R.P. in the Park", Gabe teaches Teddy how to play a card game (whose name is pronounced as "pō-kē-ō", a portmanteau of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!), since Teddy's crush in that episode also plays it.
• In the Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi episode "In The Cards", Ami and Yumi play an obvious reference to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game dubbed Stu-Pi-Doh!
• The October 22, 2004 episode of the game show Jeopardy! had the clue, "Before dueling in this game, you must greet your opponent with a friendly handshake."
• Yu-Gi-Oh! has been referenced several times in MAD:
  • In the sketch "Grey's in Anime", a patient hallucinates that one female doctor has Yugi's hair. She summons the "Dark Physician" to heal the patient, only to be stopped by a rival doctor's "Malpractice" Trap Card, suing "Dark Physician" and making him unable to heal. The female doctor protests that they must work together, and the male doctor says, "I can heal the patient all by myself!" holding his arm up to a similar pose that Seto Kaiba did during Yugi and Kaiba's Duel with Lumis and Umbra.
  • In the sketch "Pokémon Park", when leaving "Pokémon Island", Misty asks Ash about "Digimon Island" and "Yu-Gi-Oh! Island". Ash replies by saying that they are "more complicated, but less fun".
  • The sketch "Yu-Gi-Bear!" is a mash-up of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yogi Bear which features Yogi Bear wearing an item similar to the Millennium Puzzle, allowing him to transform into Yugi Bear (basically just Yogi Bear wearing a coat and hair similar to Yugi's) and he starts a Duel with Park Ranger Smith over a family's "pic-a-nic basket", despite the family's willingness to share their food. Ranger Smith has an "Amazon of the Seas" Monster Card, but Yugi Bear counters with his "Smarter Than The Av-a-rage Bear" Trap Card (which looks like a bear holding a diploma and wearing a graduation hat). The Duel starts to bore the family. Regardless, Yugi Bear and Ranger Smith continue the Duel. Ranger Smith Special Summons "Gigaplant" with 2400 ATK, but Yugi Bear Summons "Boo-Boo Eyed White Dragon" (which looks like Dino from The Flintstones with Boo-Boo's head) with 3000 ATK, but just as Yugi Bear is about to explain its effect, Ranger Smith points out that the family has left.
• In the Power Rangers Dino Thunder episode "House of Cards", Ethan James and Devin Del Valle are shown playing a card game called "Dragon War", whose cards have varying numbers of star-emblazoned orbs in their upper-right corners, similar to the Levels of Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Cards.
• In chapter 2 of volume 2 of RWBY, the main characters play a combination board and card game that features Trap Cards, complete with a character telling an opponent that she "just activated my Trap Card."
• In The Simpsons episode "Margical History Tour", in the empty library there are only two remaining items, one of which is a "Yu-Gi-Oh! Price Guide".
• In The Venture Bros. episode "ORB", the card "Ancient Gear Fist" is among Dean Venture's collection.

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  Yu-Gi-Oh! in Family Guy..

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  Yu-Gi-Oh! in The Simpsons.

Films

• In 16 Blocks, Yu-Gi-Oh! is referenced by Mos Def as he talks about his passion in the film of making birthday cakes for children.
• In Are We There Yet?, the main character runs a sports shop. When some children pester him, he names a list of cards he does not carry, including Yu-Gi-Oh!.
• In Drillbit Taylor, Yu-Gi-Oh! is used as a codename for several missions and operations by the main characters.

Music

• In the music video for "Trespasser" by Red Handed Denial, starting at 37 seconds in, a Duel can be seen between an unknown person and the band's guitarist Aleksei Perepelitsa, with the cards "Spell Absorption" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" clearly visible.

Books

• On page 782 of Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, a reference to Yu-Gi-Oh! is made in a footnote of a passage regarding Lacanianism:

In Yu-Gi-Oh, a massively popular card game of neo-Gothic mythical content, the rules are endless: new cards are always added, each card containing its own precise rule of application. All the cards together thus can never be subsumed under a general set of rules—they form a kind of Lacanian 'non-All' multiplicity, in clear contrast to the classic games with their limited number of cards and clear finite rules. [sic]

Comics

• In a later Sunday strip of the American comic FoxTrot, a young main character attends a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament, complete with heavily-gelled hair similar to that of Yami Yugi.

Video games

• In Azur Lane, the character Hermes makes very blatant references to Yu-Gi-Oh!, as her basic form possesses an accessory extremely similar to a naval-themed Duel Disk and is shown holding cards, while the upgraded version rides what heavily resembles a Duel Runner. Nearly all of Hermes' lines also contain jokes based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise; Hermes is voiced by Yuna Inamura, the voice actor who dubbed Zuzu Boyle and Celina in the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V.
  • For April Fools 2024, the game changed its login screen to an animated image of Hermes Dueling a Siren (the game's enemies), and posted a short animation of the same to its official accounts.
• In Borderlands 2, Zer0 sometimes says "Hilarious! You just set off my Trap Card", when activating his "Decepti0n" action skill, which creates a copy of himself and turns him invisible.
• In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Kokichi Oma's second "free time event" with Shuichi Saihara makes multiple references to Yu-Gi-Oh!, which begin when the former challenges the latter to an alleged Shadow Game.
• In Disgaea 3 Se-to-oh is a character who can be found at random inside the Item World's Innocent Towns. He's also an optional boss battle in the post-game who becomes recruitable after being defeated. The character makes frequent references to Yu-Gi-Oh!, like saying "My Turn" and "Life Points", as well as OTKs and tributing three monsters to summon a "Black-Eyes Blue Prinny" (which is actually just a normal Prinny).
• In Hades, there is an item called the Harpy Feather Duster, which is likely a reference to "Harpie's Feather Duster".
• In Kindergarten, there are twenty-five collectible MonsterMon cards. While they also function as a reference to Pokémon, the most powerful card is a one-of-a-kind "Blue Eyes Gold Dragon", which has an item description of "This is the Blue Eyes Gold Dragon card. Please don't sue." The game's sequel features a "Dank Magician" card.
• In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, one of the witnesses is named Yanni Yogi. This is a possible reference to Yami Yugi, as the two "n" letters can be viewed as a single "m", and because Yogi made use of a fake, senile persona to maintain his innocence (similar to how some characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! viewed Yami Yugi as another persona of Yugi Muto).
• In the defunct Facebook game Social Empires, the Dragon units Galaxy Dragon and Star Dragon were based on "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" and "Stardust Dragon", respectively, in terms of name and appearance.
• In the online card game Urban Rivals, the LV. 2 forms of Scarlett and Manon dress up as Jaden Yuki and Alexis Rhodes, respectively.
• In the MMORPG Vindictus:
  • Commander Ikrium, one of the bosses of Twilight Desert, wears a belt with a Millennium Puzzle.
  • Xaehawk, one of the mid bosses of Misty Summit, drops an XE Hawk Card which contains the phrase "You just activated my trap card" in its description.

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  Hermes in Azure Lane.

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  Hermes "Retrofit" in Azure Lane.

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  Commander Ikrium in Vindictus.

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  XE Hawk Card in Vindictus.

Magazines

• MAD Kids issue #4 parodied Yu-Gi-Oh! cards with Ug-ly-Oh! cards.

Card games

• In Vs. System, for the card "Franklin Richards, Child Prodigy", a Yami Yugi figurine appears in its artwork.