Saturday September 7 and Sunday September 8 were the best 2-day weekend for me because the Yu-Gi-oh! World Championship returned to America since 2016, which was held in Orlando Florida. Last year it was held in Tokyo Japan, but this year it was hosted in Seattle, Washington. The Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship is a two-day tournament event based on the card game from the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series which is a franchise. This tournament is once a year where all the best players from around the world including England, Spain, Brazil, The Dominican Republic, and Canada had come to participate to determine which one is the new champion.  

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Throughout the 21 years since its first debut in New York City on August 10, 2003, the championship duels have been good, a few Players made it through hard work, determination, confidence, patience, opportunity, and a lot of practicing. This year there were four championship tournaments: the original Trading Card game, as well as tournaments held for Master Duel, Speed Duel, and for the first time Rush Duel from the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, which was aired four years ago. The events were so good that even the commentators were discussing the duels. The world championship even got supports and sponsors from Alienware, a subsidiary hardware brand of Dell that specialized in gaming computers and accessories, The Knightsbridge Insitute, a multi-fold strategic marketing company in Los Angeles that supports brand like Ford, Pepsi, Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and finally Logitech a Swiss multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software.  

The fans enjoyed it, there was even an opening ceremony from the performing group Seattle Kokon Taiko and there were fan Messages from two professional football players George Kittle and Jamaal Williams who are also Yu-Gi-Oh fans. There were also separate screens showing different card game stores watching the championships for those that couldn't make it to Seattle to watch it in person, I also got to watch it on YouTube. The matches were so great including the main event with two United States players Mark Solis and Ruben Penaranda until Ruben won the Championship it was an incredible moment for him also for the first time a player from the United States won that title.  

It was so good, and I hope that next year, or in the future, that the world championships come to New York. I can ask Konami that if they would like to support YAI and see if their players support people with disabilities. I can also ask the Knightsbridge Institute since they support the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, which is good because they support individuals with disabilities as well. Whatever happens, I can’t wait till next year because I’m going to continue to gain support from both Konami and Yu-Gi-Oh!

Hero image by Timothy Tsui - https://www.flickr.com/photos/timothytsuihin/6052310542, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link