Card Shop Suspends Tournaments due to smelly players

[Addison Rae 18,128]

Konami is activating its shower card.

An Oregon card shop has halted its Yu-Gi-Ohtournaments for a week after receiving multiple complaints and bad reviews due to smelly players.

Chronos Games & Gifts, an independently-owned game store in Beaverton, Oregon, is going viral for taking a hard stance against poor hygiene.

In a statement posted in its public Discord channel, the shop confirmed that it is suspending its Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments for a week, placing the blame on stinky duellists.

"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," its statement reads.

Konami famously implemented official tournament rules specifically targeting player hygiene in 2019, saying that all persons attending a tournament — not just players — must be "clean and wear clean clothing," or risk being "penalized."

"You are expected to be clean when you enter a tournament," the official Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament Guide says. "Neglecting to wash or put on clean clothes contributes to an unpleasant atmosphere at the event, as the tournament can be crowded and the day can be long.

"Persons who neglect self-care to the point that they are negatively impacting the tournament may be asked to correct the issue to continue in the event."

At the time, this policy was welcomed among players, and Chronos Games & Gifts is similarly receiving praise from local attendees forkeeping its venue stench-free.

They aren't the only organization that's done this; in 2025, the Nebraska Pokemon Organized Play Facebook page published a statement reminding players to keep themselves clean, as laid out in the official Play! Pokemon Tournament Rules Handbook, which alsoincludes a section detailing requirements for player hygiene.

"Individuals are also required to maintain a socially acceptable level of hygiene during the event," the Handbook says. "Depending on the attire or level of hygiene, the Tournament Organizer may allow for a tournamentparticipant to change or update their personal hygiene and attire and return to the venue.

"If a participant refuses to comply with tournament staff's requests, this is grounds for removal from the tournament and venue, and the participant must relinquish their badge to tournament staff."

https://www.ign.com/articles/card-shop-suspends-yu-gi-oh-tournaments-over-smelly-players

[Ladle Ghoulash 53,956]

15 minutes ago, Addison Rae said:

“Individuals are also required to maintain a socially acceptable level of hygiene during the event,"

[Horny Chicken 10,944]

The smell when I walk into a hobby shop

[Decodekid 30,806]

 

[Bronco 25,833]

I think it was a Smash tournament organiser that instituted a "unshowered players can be disqualified" rule 

This is sadly common

[FfFfFfFF 58,286]

Hopefully sets the trend for Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift to cancel their concerts too. 

[Jill 31,812]

There is a reason why this keeps happening and why it seems to keep happening even though there are rules against it. I could understand rules working more or less on a professional level, but it's more challenging on an amateur and local level because those are real people with real daily lives and daily struggles. I'm not saying professional players don't have that, I'm saying the bar is different. Amateur players who seek community around a game may come (not always) from a struggling background, and mental health issues are NOT out of the question, especially taking issues like this into account. I'm aware it's far more complicated, but a more holistic approach is needed. These clubs should reach out more! I'm not sure how they function, but nevertheless it's obvious something is missing. 

[Sepsami 20,992]

Gaming conventions also have a bunch of smellies walking around, I wouldn't say the event itself stinks but the amount of times u catch a whiff of something is just far too much. It got to the point that I was expecting another odor to hit me any moment 

It's like being at the dentist and expecting a sharp pain any moment 

[Hydrangea 7,942]

This doesn’t surprise me.
 

My local Pixel bar had a Tekken tournament in their downstairs area and I’ve been playing Tekken since the 90’s so I thought I’ll have a look, I stepped into the space and was literally punched in the face with the stench, I had to walk out after 5 seconds. 

[River 127,731]

that's why I rarely enter gaming stores and prefer ordering online.. it can be VERY smelly lol

[HotLikeMexico 6,639]

I play yugioh sometimes and thankfully my locals aren’t like this. There is in fact another store that has tournaments and it REEKS. I dunno WHY they choose to have poor hygiene. It’s gross. 

[Hadrian 2,685]

keep your smells to yourselves, stinkos