- Each player starts by building a deck of 40-60 cards. A deck can include monster cards, spell cards, trap cards, and extra deck cards like fusion, synchro, and xyz monsters.
- Both players shuffle their decks, and each draws 5 cards.
- Draw Phase: Each player draws one card from their deck.
- Standby Phase: No actions take place.
- Main Phase 1: Players can summon monsters, set spells/traps, and activate card effects.
- Battle Phase: Players can attack their opponent's monsters or directly attack their life points.
- Main Phase 2: Similar to Main Phase 1.
- End Phase: No actions occur, and the next turn begins.
- Monster cards can be summoned from your hand or the field.
- Normal monsters can be summoned by paying their summoning cost, while special summon conditions vary.
- Spell cards have a variety of effects and can be activated during Main Phases 1 and 2. Some are used from your hand, while others are set face-down on the field and activated later.
- Trap cards are set face-down on the field and activated when certain conditions are met, such as when an opponent summons a monster or attacks.
- Each player starts with 8000 life points. When life points reach 0, the player loses the duel.
- When monsters battle, their ATK (attack) points compare with DEF (defense) points.
- If the ATK is higher than DEF, the defending player takes damage equal to the difference.
- If the DEF is higher than the ATK, no damage is dealt.
- The goal is to reduce your opponent's life points to 0.
- You can also win by forcing your opponent to draw when their deck is empty or through specific cards' effects.
Remember: There are many more complexities and rules in the game, this just covers the basic gameplay aspects.