High schooler Yugi Muto and his friends become embroiled in a deadly match of Duel Monsters when champion Seto Kaiba kidnaps Yugi's grandfather.
When Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, triumphs over Yugi in a game of real magic, he claims the soul of Yugi's grandfather, Solomon.
Yugi must travel to the Duelist Kingdom to rescue Solomon, and he is joined by his friends Téa, Tristan and Joey, who wants to save his ill sister.
Yugi has to learn fast when he and his friends arrive on Pegasus's island, where the rules of the deadly duels are unlike any Yugi has seen before.
Yugi continues to battle Weevil Underwood, whose cheating and lying seem to be giving him the advantage when he is able to summon a gigantic moth.
Joey undergoes his first duel on the island against Mai Valentine, a professional duelist with an uncanny ability to predict the cards she will draw.
The hungry friends help themselves to some fish, only to discover that they have been lured into a trap by Mako Tsunami, the master of the Sea Deck.
After a young masked prisoner escapes from Pegasus's castle, he steals a deck and Star Chips, then challenges Yugi to a duel and reveals his identity.
Yugi arrives at the Dueling Arena to save Mokuba but discovers that a "ghost" stolen from Kaiba's soul is his opponent, and that he has great powers.
Yugi continues to fight Ghost Kaiba while the real Kaiba, knowing that he must destroy Pegasus, helps Yugi by planting a computer virus into the duel.
Furious that Joey defeated her, Mai arranges for him to duel Rex Raptor without any coaching from Yugi, but Tristan steps up to help his friend.
After Rex and Joey conclude their duel, the seemingly friendly Bakura appears and reveals his true nature when he sends the gang to the Shadow Realm.
Yami Yugi faces Yami Bakura in the Shadow Realm, where the stakes are high because the friends' souls are linked to their favorite cards.
In order to help Mai, who has been defeated by an eliminator, Yugi challenges her opponent, PaniK. But if Yugi loses, he will be burned to death.
It's a battle of psychology as well as monsters when Yugi and PaniK continue their duel and try to intimidate each other into making costly mistakes.
When Seto Kaiba arrives on the island in search of his brother, Joey disrupts the brief calm between Kaiba and the gang by challenging him to a duel.
The ruthless Bandit Keith, needing Star Chips so that he can again confront Pegasus, targets the gang by having one of his minions challenge Joey.
Joey is struggling to overcome an attack by zombie-like monsters in his duel with Bonz when Yugi and the others finally find him and offer support.
As the pals try to escape the caves, they are confronted by Para and Dox, two of Pegasus's henchmen, who challenge Yugi and Joey to a tag-team duel.
As Kaiba sneaks into Pegasus's castle, Joey and Yugi try to strengthen their teamwork, but the Paradox Brothers keep changing the layout of the maze.
Yugi and Joey must pass one last test before they can leave the labyrinth, while in the castle, Pegasus steals Mokuba's soul in front of Kaiba.
The group approaches the castle but finds the way blocked by Seto Kaiba, who must win against Yugi to rescue his brother's soul from Pegasus.
Kaiba's unusual tactics force Yugi to play only his weakest cards, even as Kaiba grows closer to creating the very powerful Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
Yugi's defenses appear to be giving him the win, but he falters when he considers what will happen to each player and his loved one if he loses.
With Yugi too depressed to continue the quest, Téa volunteers to duel with Mai. But her inexperience puts her in danger of losing.
Upon entering Pegasus's castle, Yugi and his friends learn that Kaiba is preparing to duel the crafty Pegasus, who has an unfair advantage.
Kaiba continues to battle Pegasus but finds himself in grave danger when Pegasus plays a card so powerful that it's never been circulated before.
The night before the semifinals begin, the matchups are determined, Tristan leads an investigation, and Yugi is visited by his grandfather.
Yugi begins his duel with Mai, but the appearance of Pegasus causes him to make several crucial mistakes that may cost him the match.
When Yugi is down to only 300 Life Points, Mai gives her opponent advice about trusting himself -- and he allows Yami Yugi to take control.
Just before Joey is to begin dueling with Bandit Keith, he discovers that his entry card is missing. Can he find another one in time to do battle?
Joey valiantly continues his duel against Bandit Keith, whose cheating is finally revealed, although Pegasus has a few tricks up his own sleeve.
Now that all their opponents have been vanquished, Yugi and Joey must face each other for the chance to duel Pegasus and save their loved ones.
With their friends watching, Yugi and Joey pull out all the stops as they duel and try to concoct new strategies to win this most important battle.
Yugi must now undertake the most challenging duel of his life, with the highest stakes ever: the souls of his grandfather and the Kaiba brothers.
With Pegasus using the Millennium Eye to read Yugi's mind and turn his monsters against him, Yugi is rapidly losing confidence and Life Points.
While Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi work together to outwit Pegasus, Tristan is horrified to learn the real reason that Bakura is searching for Mokuba.
Yugi loses the support of his friends when Pegasus switches the playing field to the deadly Shadow Realm, and Tristan fights a battle of his own.
Yugi is desperate, as Pegasus's time bomb is about to explode, but with the help of his friends and Yami Yugi, the plucky teen finds a new strategy.
After Pegasus fulfills his promise to release Solomon Muto and the Kaiba brothers, Yugi and his friends learn the reason behind his desperate actions.
The friends return safely to Japan, where they are surprised by an American prodigy who demands the return of a card she claims was stolen by Solomon.
The story of Solomon's friendship with Rebecca's grandfather is revealed, and Yugi teaches Rebecca an important lesson about the Heart of the Cards.
When the Kaiba brothers confront the Big Five about their betrayal, they trap Seto in a virtual game, but Mokuba escapes and seeks help from Yugi.
Trapped in the Virtual World, Yugi and Joey find an ally in Mai, but the stakes grow even higher when Mokuba is kidnapped by a monster as a sacrifice.
The friends penetrate the castle and find Kaiba and Mokuba, but the Big Five unleash a mythic dragon that forces Kaiba and Yami Yugi to work together.
Duke Devlin opens a game store in direct competition to Solomon, and then uses trickery to humiliate Joey and ensnare Yugi into dueling with dice.
After Yugi agrees to give up dueling forever if he loses, Duke reveals the reason for his challenge, and Yugi must quickly learn the dice duel rules.
Yugi's natural skills help him, but when Duke reveals another twist, Yugi is in a potentially losing position because he can't summon new monsters.
Duke appears to have Yugi completely trapped, and it comes down to a few last rolls of the dice and all of his talent to see if Yugi can triumph.