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Too often do I hear about people being stolen from at Yu-Gi-Oh! events, be they something as small as a locals or as large as a Jump. But in a game such as this, where it's more profitable to rob a good deck than it is to rob most wallets, it's bound to happen. There ARE ways you as a player can defend yourself from becoming a victim of theft, and they are a lot simpler than you may think. A little common sense, effort and awareness of your surroundings can go a LONG way, and by following these simple steps, you can more or less ELIMINATE the theft factor from your dueling career, if not eliminate it 100% altogether.

1.) Put a lock on the zippers of your bag and keep the key hidden on your person so no one but you can get inside of it.

2.) When walking around, always make sure your bag is secured to your back and not an easy target for what I call a "Snatch Steal" (xD!!!).

3.)When sitting down, always place your bag next to you and put one of your legs through the straps so no one can try and nab it when you aren't looking.

4.) When playing, keep your cards in your immediate range of view. Try not to spread them out too much. I've known people to have whole Side/Extra Decks stolen right from the playing table in the middle of a round because it was out of their immediate range of view.

5.) When trading, never let more than one person try and trade with you at a time. Dealing with multiple people at once is a recipe for disaster because your attention is so divided. If multiple people want to trade with you, tell them they will have to wait their turn and stand back, and deal with each person in the order in which they asked to be fair, one at a time. Also when trading, it is smart for YOU to turn the pages of your own book and take cards out for them to look at if they need to inspect the condition of it or something. This makes it a lot easier on you, because you don't have to worry as much about watching their hands, since you are 100% in control of the situation.

These may seem a little extreme, but trust me, they DO work. You may think that different events require different amounts of caution (and this IS true to a certain degree), i.e. you are (usually) less likely to be stolen from at your locals than you are at a Regionals, but this doesn't mean that you should toss these practices out the window just because you're at a small tourney. Being lax like that sets you up to be stolen from; sometimes the people who will take the most from you are the ones you'd least expect.

What I'm getting at is that regardless of the environment, you should never let your guard down and always exercise careful habits. Be aware of your surroundings all the time.

I follow these 5 rules RELIGIOUSLY wherever I go to play/sell/trade, and I am literally NEVER stolen from. Hopefully they will do the same for you.

Do you have a theft prevention technique that isn't already covered here that you'd like to add to this list? Post it here or PM it to me, and if it sounds good, I'll add it in! Knowledge is power, and the more knowledge we have, the more powerful we are at defending ourselves from thieves 3nodding

I've never understood the phrase "On your person".

This was a nice read, but it doesn't really help me because I am so paranoid.

I had to stop carrying my wallet most places because I would always check once every 10 minutes to see if anything had been misplaced or stolen from it.

Needless to say I am just as cautious with my cards...

Lol, catching people steal is like catching them cheat, deer in the headlights.

one time ileft my tin behind and when i came back to get it like not long after, there was no card left, just the card cases they so greatly took the cards out ******** bastards.

Yeah, trusting YGO players to be decent people is a bit of a stretch. D:

Let me fix that:

Expecting ANYONE to be a decent person is a bit of a stretch.

Better?

Please note: I don't approve of ripping newbies in trades.

Now hurry up and fix my Evil Hero deck.

Oh no! It's a curse! Mydia's a witch!