Once again, the people running a card game event are asking folks who attend to please shower and wear clean clothes so the whole place doesn’t smell terrible.
As spotted by IGN, last week Chronos Games & Gifts, an indie card and game store located in Beaverton, Oregon, was forced to suspend a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament for one week due to multiple complaints of players with “poor hygiene.” The news was shared in the shop’s official Discord server. Here’s the full message below:
Attention, we regret to inform you that there will be a one-week suspension on our local events. We have had issues with people mistreating the restrooms and multiple bad reviews because of poor hygiene. As a reminder, we encourage players to follow Konami guidelines and report anyone who does not. Thank you, everyone, for understanding. Sincerely the Chronos Team
The Konami guidelines Chronos Games & Gifts references in the message above, which has gone viral online, were created in 2019 and officially specify that players in Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments need to be clean and not stinky. “If you or your clothing is excessively dirty or bad-smelling, you can be penalized,” explained the rule added a few years back in response to an apparent epidemic of anime tabletop stink. Players can even be asked to fix the problem right away or be forced to leave.
Despite that rule, smelly players at card tournaments continue to be a problem. In 2024, a woman left a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament because many of the players were venting fumes so bad she couldn’t stand to be in the same area for an extended period of time. When what she described was taken as a joke online, she replied that it “smelled so bad it was no laughing matter.” So, once again, I’m forced to ask that everyone out there take a shower before heading to their local card or game store. Use soap, too. And also, maybe some deodorant. No, body spray doesn’t count.