Changes
→Game mechanics
''Duel Monsters'' is heavily centered around the card game, with plot details frequently added between game turns. However, there are several main differences between the rules found therein and the rules of [[Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game|the real-world card game]]:
* The real-world rules correspond to the "new rules for experts" set out by Kaiba at the start of the Battle City story arc - prior to this, a simplified version of the rules were played, where monsters could be summoned without the use of tributes, but in which a player cannot be attacked directly and only one monster per turn can attack. These earlier rules take considerable artistic liberty in their depiction - for example, allowing monsters to be "partially destroyed", monsters to be played as magic cards, and traps and magic cards to be disabled as a result of monster effects. Another rule was that certain types of monsters were resistant to a logical element. Also, players start with 2000 life points instead of 4000 or 8000.
* Some cards are in different classifications in ''Duel Monsters'' as compared to the real-world game - for example, ''Flame Swordsman'' is a normal monster in the series, but is a Fusion monster in the real-world game. ''Spellbinding Circle'' was notably entirely redone as a "trap with magic-card properties", complete with a different function.
* Also, throughout the series duelists are shown normal summoning their "monsters" in face up defense position, while no such thing is allowed in the real game unless ''Light of Intervention'' is in play. If ''Light of Intervention'' is not in play, the only Monsters that can be summoned in face up Defense position are those put into play via "special summons" such as ''Monster Reborn''.
