World Championship Qualifier in Chicago to Determine New North American Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game Champion

North American Dragon Duel Champion also to be Crowned

El Segundo, CA (June 27, 2013) – Duelists have been preparing their Decks and participating in qualifying play for months in anticipation of the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) North American World Championship Qualifier (WCQ). Scheduled for July 13th -14th at Navy Pier in Chicago, this invite-only tournament is expected to attract more than one thousand enthused players from the United States and Canada.

Hosted by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (Konami) this premier-level event is the only event for Duelists to earn the right to represent North America at the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada August 10th - 11th. Additionally, two* young players will get the prestigious opportunity to represent those born in 2000 or later in Las Vegas at the North American Dragon Duel Championship. The North American WCQ caps a tournament season which saw more than 45,000 Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG players participate in Regional tournaments across the United States and Canada.

Dueling begins in earnest Saturday morning but for those Duelists not yet qualified, there is one more opportunity to do so during the Last Chance Qualifier or the Last Chance Dragon Duel Qualifier on Friday, July 12th. During the Main Event at the WCQ, some of the best Duelists in North America will be pitted against one another, each vying for a spot at the coveted Final Round table. The head-to-head Dueling is sure to get intense fast as players try to make the most of their cards and strategies on Saturday. Duelists that perform the best will make it to the second day of competition. By Sunday afternoon, all eyes will be on the final two contenders, seated across from each other as they face-off, in hopes to be crowned North American Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Champion!

For the second year, Konami is pleased to host the North American Dragon Duel World Championship Qualifier, open to Duelists born 2000 or later, to be held during the North American WCQ. The Dragon Duel will showcase the skill and impressive wherewithal of these talented young players. The winning Dragon Duelists will also win a trip to Las Vegas to play against the top Dragon Duelists from around the world in the Dragon Duel World Championship.

Event Address:
Navy Pier
Exhibition Hall A
600 East Grand Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
www.navypier.com

Last Chance Qualifiers begin at 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 12th. Also on Friday, pre- registration for the WCQ runs from noon – 7:00 p.m. where players can register and submit their Deck list. Registration begins again promptly at 7:00 a.m. Saturday, July 13th. As a bonus, players will be excited to receive a pack of World Championship Qualifier 2013 Sleeves and a World Championship Qualifier 2013 Game Mat simply for participating.

Throughout the weekend, spectators and players alike can enjoy a host of challenging and fun Public Events to hone their Dueling abilities. Konami will be running events such as 2014 Regional Qualifiers, 2014 Dragon Duel Qualifiers, Super Starter: V for Victory Tournaments, Duelist League, 3 vs. 3 Team Dueling, ATTACK OF THE GIANT CARD!!, Win-A-Mats, and Sealed Pack Tournaments for Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants, featuring Starfoil prize cards.

Plus Darren Dunstan the voice of Pegasus and Eric Stuart, the voice of Kaiba from the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! animated television series will be on hand during the weekend. Fans will not want to miss “Pegasus” reading out the rules for Saturday's Ultimate Pegasus Challenge! The Ultimate Pegasus Challenge will be followed by an autograph session with Darren, and on Sunday, both Darren and Eric will be available to sign.

Attendees will also want to make time to create their own exclusive one-of-a-kind Yu-Gi-Oh! Token Card. They can choose from five different card backgrounds with characters, including many fan favorites, to create their own personalized Token Card – suitable for use during Duels!

Prizing Information:

1st place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship to be held in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 18 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
2nd place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship to be held in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 12 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
3rd & 4th place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship to be held in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 9 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
5th – 6th place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship to be held in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship; 6 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
7th – 8th place – 32GB MP3 player; Trophy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; 6 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
9th – 16th place – Complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card, 6 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
Top 32 – Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card

Top Cut – WCQ Top Cut Game Mat

Dragon Duel Prizing information 4 – 128 Duelists:
1st place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Dragon Duel World Championship in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 12 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
2nd place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship to be held in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 9 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
3rd & 4th place – Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; 6 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
5th – 8th place – Trophy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; 3 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
9th – 16th place – Complete set of Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
Top Cut – WCQ Dragon Duel Top Cut Game Mat

Dragon Duel Prizing information 129+ Duelists:
1st place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Dragon Duel World Championship in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 12 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
2nd place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship to be held in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 9 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
3rd & 4th place – Invitation to and travel and accommodations for the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship to be held in Las Vegas; Trophy; complete set of Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; tablet PC, a personalized Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship jersey to be awarded at the World Championship, 6 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
5th – 8th place – Trophy; Super Rare Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry YCS Prize Card; 3 packs each of Return of the Duelist, Abyss Rising, Cosmo Blazer and Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
9th – 16th place – Complete set of Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy
Top Cut – WCQ Dragon Duel Top Cut Game Mat

Duelists unable to participate in the North American WCQ can check out live online coverage of the event provided by Konami staff at www.yugioh-card.com/en/events.

The 2013 Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championship will be held at Bally's Las Vegas (www.ballyslasvegas.com). Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG fans and families and friends of participating Duelists are encouraged to come cheer on the players. Throughout the weekend, spectators and players alike can enjoy a host of challenging and fun Public Events and carnival-type games.

Duelists can tune in every Saturday morning for the all-new Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal animated series and classic Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes on Vortexx on The CW in the United States. In addition, classic Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes air weekdays on Nicktoons, along with Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal airing on the network Saturday and Sunday mornings. 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! World Championship Qualifiers, please visit www.yugioh-card.com or call 310-220-8630.

* This number may rise to four players based on player participation.

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 B.V. in Windsor, the United Kingdom. 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.