Stores in the US will be able to host Sanctioned in-store Organized Play and events starting Thursday, July 15

Once again US Official Tournament Store (OTS) will be able to host sanctioned in-store Organized Play and events starting Thursday, July 15, at each stores’ discretion and where allowed by local regulation.

Looks like being fully COVID-19 vaccanated is required (and highly advised) and Remote Duel is sticking around for a while longer.

Here is the official Konami statement:

To the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) community –

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. has diligently prioritized the health and safety of our community, Official Tournament Store (OTS) owners and staff, and all business partners throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We have continued to closely monitor developments and updates related to the pandemic as state, regional, and local openings have continued to progress daily. Based on local guidelines and regulations, we are allowing stores in the United States to open for sanctioned in-store Organized Play and events starting Thursday, July 15, at each stores’ discretion and where allowed by local regulation. We encourage OTS owners, staff, and Duelists to follow local, regional, and federal health and safety guidelines. We recommend that stores ask Duelists to confirm that they are fully vaccinated or have tested negative before letting them participate in tournaments. We also highly encourage store personnel and Duelists to continue to follow social distancing rules and to wear masks, consistent with CDC recommendations and local regulations in your area.

Although we are currently only recommending opening stores in the United States, we continue to share our community’s enthusiasm in Canada and Latin America to resume Organized Play and promotional events. We are working closely with our OTS contacts and business partners while heeding public health guidance to determine how and when we can safely reopen stores in these countries. In the interim, we encourage the community, throughout the Americas, to continue participating in Remote Duel, our Organized Play initiative to run sanctioned tournaments using Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. For more information on Remote Duel, please visit https://www.yugioh-card.com/en/remoteduel/index.html, and subscribe to our official social media channels to get up-to-date news.