Subject: Money and YuGiOh - Krishna

Perhaps it is because the YuGiOh playing audience is so young, and relatively sheltered, or maybe it is because some people like to create excuses for their inability to win but there have been quite a few posts (or
rants) complaining that YuGiOh is becoming a game for the rich. This post is for all those people who can't seem to stop whining about Upper Deck making the game too expensive:

Duelists, in this world your success at almost anything depends on three critical factors:

Money
Ability (or intelligence)
Luck

YuGiOh is no exception. What it is important to learn and accept is that a deficiency in one can be made up through the others. Whenever I hear someone complain that they don't have enough money to afford good cards, I know that the real reason they cannot get those good cards, is because they aren't acting intelligently enough. I'm a poor college student that needs his money for food and other necessities, yet I have every single card I want for my deck (Yata, Lily, Cylinders, Imperial etc.). How much did getting all those cards cost me? I keep close track of how much I have spent, and my current total is -$12.73. That is right, I have made 12 dollars and 73 cents. It is as if someone offered me almost 13 bucks to take all these great cards off his/her hand. While part of this has been luck, the vast majority of what has compensated for my lack of money has been intelligence. Though good trades and smart decisions, I have managed to make money of YuGiOh. Do you know what the most surprising part of all this is? It wasn't hard! It just took a little bit of common sense. For example see if you can follow this:

I would say these are the average card values (obviously there are exceptions but this a rule of thumb): common card: $.05 cents rare card: $1 super rare: $5 ultra rare: $10 secret rare: $20 Now the odds of getting these cards in one pack common card: 8:1 (8) rare card: 16:25 (.64) -this is the odds of getting just a normal rare, the odds of getting any rare is 1:1 super rare: 1:6 (.16667) ultra rare: 1:12 (.08333) secret rare: 1:18 (.05555) -this is an estimation because I have not been able to find the real figure, if someone has it please e-mail it to me

Now multiply the value of a type of card, by the probability of getting it in a pack. Anyone who has taken a rudimentary stat class will recognize what I am about to do as calculating the expected value of a pack of cards

(8*.05)+(.64*1)+(.16667*5)+(.08333*10)+(.05555*20) = 3.817

I am sure that a lot of you guys are confused, but that number up there (3.817), assuming I used the correct odds and values for cards, represents the what a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards is worth on average. I calculated that number several months ago, and since then I refuse to buy a pack if it costs more than that, and buy as many as I can if it costs less.

Most of the younger duelists have probably stopped reading by now, but hopefully a few of you older and wiser (more mathematically savvy) have realized why I bothered to do all of this. Because I of it, I learned that it does not make sense to buy packs at 5 bucks a pop. If I pay 5 dollars for a pack, I know that mathematically all I am doing is trading 5 bucks for cards that on average are only worth 3.817. Essentially I am losing $1.193 on the transaction. However, if I can buy a pack for 2.50, essentially I am making 1.317 on the transaction.

This is not mumbo jumbo, it all works out. I have made dozens of observations like this (maybe if I get enough positive feedback I'll share some more) and combined they have made me a lot of money, allowing me to pursue my YuGiOh obsession without wasting money. To wrap it all up, if you think YuGiOh is too expensive, it is probably because you aren't being smart about how you buy cards. There is only so much Upper Deck can do if you are unwilling to use some common sense (and basic math). Upper Deck is trying (look at the new starter packs, think about how much a rich kid would have to spend to get all those great cards, and how mad they must have been when Upper Deck let anyone buy them for 15 bucks at a local toy store), you need to help them out.

Krishna
kr2056@columbia.edu