Travis Smith Crowned King of Games at Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series in Miami, Florida

El Segundo, CA (February 19, 2013) – Top Duelists from all over the Southeastern States and Atlantic Coast of the U.S. swarmed into Miami, Florida this past weekend to participate in the first Yu-Gi-Oh! CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (YCS) of 2013, the premier-level Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) event from Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (Konami).

The Miami Airport Convention Center was bursting with energy from Saturday morning until early Sunday evening as Duelists went card to card with each other round after round. Finally, the action came to a finish and only two Duelists remained standing Sunday afternoon but it was Travis Smith from Miami, Florida that ultimately raised the Champion's trophy.

Sitting mere inches from each other, the two best Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Duelists stayed true to their game strategy as they battled for the top spot. Finally, Smith played the right mix of cards to best Tampa, Florida's very skilled Elijah Gersten in the winner-take-all match-up!

Smith proved that his Wind-Up Deck would lead him to the YCS trophy, while Gersten, with his own Wind-Up Deck wasn't so lucky. Both players showed true class and sportsmanship well into the Final Round, but a few stellar plays by Smith whipped the crowd into a frenzy and to a swift conclusion and the naming of a new YCS Champion – Smith!

In addition to the title of Champion, the winners also earned an amazing set of prizes that included an Ultra Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card, an exclusive YCS Top Cut Mat, an invitation to the 2013 World Championship Qualifier tournament and much more!

Additionally, on Saturday, the Dragon Duel winner (for Duelists born 2000 or later) Ben Leverett expertly out-played his Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG peers to earn a special Dragon Duel Champion's Medal, a 2013 Regional Game Mat, a Regional Deck Box and an invitation to his region's 2013 Dragon Duel World Championship Qualifier. There, he can earn an invitation to the Dragon Duel World Championship to be played at the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship August 10-11 in Las, Vegas, Nevada. On Sunday, David Munoz earned the same high honors.

Every Saturday morning, Duelists can watch the all-new Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL animated series as well as classic Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes on Vortexx on The CW programming block, the leading Saturday morning kids broadcast network in the United States. In Canada, Duelists can watch episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL every Friday and Saturday on YTV!


For more information on Konami or the Yu-Gi-Oh! CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES, please visit www.yugioh-card.com or call 310-220-8630.


About The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG
The Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME is the #1 trading card game in the world with over 25 billion cards sold. It is a game of strategy, where players create individual Decks of cards collected from Structure Decks and Booster Packs. Two players engage in a Duel while using cards that represent powerful monsters, magical Spells and surprising Traps. Duelists with well-constructed Decks, dominating monsters, solid strategy and good fortune are the victors in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. is the exclusive licensee and rights holder to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG in North America and Latin America.


About KONAMI
KONAMI is a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties and traditional trading card games. KONAMI's software titles include the popular franchises Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, DanceDanceRevolution and Castlevania, among other top sellers. KONAMI is also the manufacturer of the wildly popular Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, which has sold more than 25 billion cards worldwide. The latest information about KONAMI can be found on the Web at www.konami.com. KONAMI CORPORATION is a publicly traded company based in Tokyo, Japan with subsidiary offices, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH in Frankfurt, Germany. KONAMI CORPORATION is traded in the United States on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KNM. Details of the products published by KONAMI can be found at www.konami.com.