Silver Ounce 2016 Yu-Gi-Oh! - Yami Yugi, Coin from Niue - detailed information

Niue, a sovereign state in free association with New Zealand, uses two official legal tender currencies. The New Zealand Dollar is the circulation currency for daily transactions, while the government also authorises legal tender coins in the Niue Dollar currency for collector's purposes.

A number of mints issue a large variety of commemorative, bullion and collector coins under the authority of Niue. These coins are dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes - typically, one ounce of silver (abbreviated as 1 oz Ag, where "Ag" comes from the Latin word for silver, Argentum). Many of these feature characters and themes from popular culture.

This coin is dedicated to Yu-Gi-Oh!, one of the most popular manga series and trading card games in the world, and features the main character Yami Yugi.

Yu-Gi-Oh! debuted as a manga in 1996, written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. Published in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, it didn't take long for the manga to gain steam and eventually spawn into an anime series and later an actual trading card game. Since being first introduced in the mid-90s, Yu-Gi-Oh! has become one of the world's largest grossing media franchises of all time.

The story follows a bullied teenager in high school, Yugi Mutou, who one day solves the ancient Millennium Puzzle. By solving the ancient Millennium Puzzle, Yugi awakens an alter-ego or spirit that likes to gamble and solve conflicts through games such as cards, dice, or role-playing board games. Yugi uses this newfound power to awaken his alter-ego known as Yami Yugi by challenging those with darkness in their hearts, but only if threatened. Yami Yugi would awaken and challenge them to a game known as Shadow Games. The game reveals the true nature of someone's heart while the loser of the contests would often be subjected to a dark punishment called a Penalty Game. Later on in the series, Yugi and his friends eventually learn that the alter-ego inside of the puzzle known as Yami Yugi is actually a nameless ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who lost his memories. Yugi and his friends vow to help the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh regain his lost memories. Along the journey they find themselves going through dangerous trials, wagering their lives while facing off against gamers that wield the other Millennium Items and the dark power of the Shadow Games.