When considering the rule book of a tournament, players tend to see guidance on gameplay, new restrictions on moves perhaps, but they aren’t accustomed to recommendations on their personal hygiene.
And yet, that is exactly what has come from a Yu-Gi-Yoh Tournament in the US. This wildly popular trading card game updated its rule book several years ago for tournaments that take place in the United States.
Within this new set of rules, players found a subsection that warned players to ensure themselves that they don’t smell in order to play. “If you or your clothing is excessively dirty or bad-smelling, you can be penalized,” the rules read.
Under this new part of the rulebook posted to the Yu-Gi-Oh blog, labeled Subsection I, an underlined “What Changed” is given the answer, “This is a new section, requiring all persons attending a tournament to be clean and wear clean clothing.”
Naturally, one must consider what caused the need for such an advisory.
One user on Reddit wrote, “Just imagining the smell must be horrendous.”
This rule change, announced in 2019, has been welcomed by some players. However, some people are asking about the legitimacy and, even further, the enforcement of the hygiene rules.
One Reddit user wrote: “Coming from someone that has been to dozens of events since this has been implemented, I haven’t seen it enforced anywhere yet, but it’s definitely appreciated.”
While the effects of this rule remain to be seen, as many events have been hampered during the pandemic, may we hope that the body odors of those who compete has ceased to be an issue.
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