Shadow Game (game)

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A Shadow Game, or Game of Darkness ("Yami no Game," literally "Game of Darkness" or "Dark Game") as it is known in the original Japanese, in the manga Yu-Gi-Oh! and the two anime series, the first series Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (internationally simply known as Yu-Gi-Oh!), is a contest generally between two people that involves a harsh penalty for the loser (permanent loss of vision, death, forfeiting his/her soul, etc.). The Singaporean anime refers to the games as "Games of Darkness." Usually, the person who invokes a Shadow Game has some form of psychological advantage, while the person being challenged must overcome a personal obstacle or weakness to win. All shadow games are possible for the person challenged to win. In the English anime, the Shadow Realm takes care of seeing to that, even if the challenger tries to rig the game.

[edit] History

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories is revealed that Nitemare created the Shadow Games. The shadow games once involved releasing monsters from stone tablets, and was played by Egyptian Pharaohs, with the fate of the world at stake. The Shadow Games are held in the Shadow Realm in the 4Kids English dub of the anime.

In the anime, it is stated that the Egyptians first allowed the Shadow Games. Using various means of sorcery, they send themselves into an alternate dimension where their duel would not be interrupted, and where cheating is strictly forbidden, punishable by death. The sorcerers' skills would be tested by seeing how powerful of monsters they can summon, and how powerful a spell they can cast to power up those monsters.

[edit] Rules

Generally the rules of each "Shadow Game" would change based on the contestants in it. For example, when Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the original Japanese) duels Yugi Mutou, summoning monsters and having them destroyed would drain the souls of the duelists. Moreover, a Shadow Game can commence only after the challenger makes certain rules that do not give anybody a clear advantage, but can test the stamina of the duelists as well as the duelists' skills (for example, Marik cannot simply say that all his monsters get an additional 10,000 attack points, but can state that the destruction of monsters drains life energy).

A well chosen shadow game is difficult for the challenger to lose if the challenger takes advantage of knowledge about the other player's character flaws and/or weaknesses. A clever challenger will set the rules of the shadow game in such a way that unless the person overcomes the character flaw or weakness, they will lose, and there is a lot of flexibility in setting the rules. And the average victim is unaware of the fact that they are being tested that way, so they tend to fall right into the trap set by the challenger. An example is the duel between Marik Ishtar and Mai Valentine in the anime, when each time they lose a monster, they lose a memory of a friend. This preys on Mai's fear of being alone, but while this stipulation also applies to Marik, he doesn't care, as he prefers to be alone. In this way, the rules of the Shadow Game affect both players, but only one of the players suffers from such rules.

[edit] The Role of Millennium Items in the Shadow Games

In the modern world, the possessor of a millennium item can challenge another person to a shadow game, and if the other person loses, the loser is subjected to a certain power of the item against their will. Clever challengers will attempt to entice the other person into accepting the challenge by offering a reward if they win; in the English anime, the Shadow Realm would ensure the promised reward is given. The Millennium Puzzle can temporarily force foolproof illusions onto people involving any sense if they are defeated in a shadow game. The Millennium ring and Millennium Eye have been used to steal souls of losers and imprison them. Shadow Games have also been proven by both Shadi and Yami Yugi to be able to be composed primarily of illusions created by the items.