August 12^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Thousands gathered in the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday, July 25 to witness the world’s best Yu-Gi-Oh! video game players as well as the best Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME players battle for the coveted titles of Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2004 Tournament champions. After two days of fierce competition, 13-year-old U.S. representative Ryon Peyton dueled against 12 finalists from eight countries using the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 video game for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance to earn the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Video Game Champion title; and 20-year-old finalist Masatoshi Togawa of Japan triumphed over 25 competing countries, and earned the title as the 2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Champion.

Peyton and Masatoshi were awarded exclusive “Ulevo” promotional cards, and a backpack full of assorted Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME and video game prizes. Yu-Gi-Oh! Video Game runner-ups included 14-year-old Pere Torrellas Salietti (Spain), 21-year-old Junichi Natsume (Japan), and 14-year-old Patrick Dicks (U.S.). Each of the gamers were awarded a “Meteo the Matchless” promotional card and a backpack full of assorted Yu-Gi-Oh! Video Game prizes.

Runner-ups for the TRADING CARD GAME championship included (in order) 17-year-old Chan Wan Hang (Hong Kong), 30-year-old Yoshinobu Suekane (Japan), and 19-year-old Ryan Pugh (United Kingdom). Each of the players was also awarded a “Meteo the Matchless” promotional card and a backpack full of assorted Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME prizes.

To find the best Yu-Gi-Oh! video game players in the world, Konami hosted tournaments in the United States, Japan and Europe, using the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 video game for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. Those who qualified in their respective regional tournaments advanced to the finals in their own country for a chance to move on to the 2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament in Anaheim to compete for the title of 2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Video Game Champion.

As a part of Upper Deck Entertainment’s Premier Tournament series, Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME finalists were determined through Regional and National tournaments held in the United States and Europe. Konami Corporation also sponsored the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME tournament in Japan. Winners of Regional tournaments were awarded entry to National tournaments, in which the top selected players are selected for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Championship tournament to compete for the coveted title of 2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME World Champion. Over 25 countries were represented in the entire competition.