Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Mechanics

Glossary

Action
An action is an event that does not use the chain. An action changes the Game State, the turn player always gets priority. More concerning this in the chapter about "action, reaction and priority".
Activation Requirement
This is the requirement that has to be fulfilled to activate a card.
Banished Zone
This is the name of the Zone where all banished cards are sent to. Formerly, it was called "Removed Zone".
Cards with Permanent Characteristics
The sum-up for: Equip Spell Cards, Field Spell Cards and continous Spell and Trap Cards.
Condition
A condition is created through a card effect. But it itself is not counted as a card effect. A condition remains until it is resetted or its task is fulfilled.
Game State
The Game State represents which action happened last in the game (e.g. monster summoned, attack declared, card drawn). The Game State does not change when you create a chain, but will be the result of what happened last when the chain resolved. More regarding this topic in the chapter "Game State".
Graveyard Effects
Effects that activate in the graveyard.
Judge
It is a Judge’s responsibility to help the Tournament Organisator (TO) and the Head Judge to maintain a fluent tournament. Their tasks may vary from Deck Checks, over being active in the public tournament area to answer player’s questions, hang out pairings, moving away thrash, …
Misactivation
A card counts as misactivated when it is clear that the effect cannot resolve upon activating the card. The card goes back to where it was before it was activated. At bigger tournaments, you will get a Warning for misactivations.
Kara Uchi
Kara Uchi is a principle that checks the legality of card activations. If a card could not have been activated, it counts as misactivated.
Mandatory
An effect that you cannot choose to activate or not. It simply does.
non-Turn Player
The player whose turn it not is.
Optional
An effect or option that you can choose to activate (or not).
Priority
If a player has priority, he has the right to activate an effect or a card or he can perform actions. Generally, it is the Turn Player who gets priority first. More about this in the chapter "Action, Reaction and Priority".
Reset
A reset is an action in which (most of) all set Conditions are removed from a card. More about this in the chapter "Reset of Cards".
Ruling
In this document, "Ruling" means official Rulings made by Konami and formerly UDE regarding cards and game mechanics. Rulings are weighted more than Basic Game Mechanics or card texts.
Search Effects
This kind of effects are to search something from a designated place. The searched card is then placed in a specific zone, given to the opponent or placed in your hand, according to the searching card’s effect.
Summoning Condition
A condition to summon a monster that is usually written at the start of a text. A summoning condition does not use the chain as the monster is summoned immediately.
Turn Player
The player whose turn it is right now.
Tournament Guidelines / Policies
The Tournament Policies are the guidelines that have to be followed at official Konami events. Both players and judges have to adhere to them.