Those that don’t know anything about DOR, it’s basically Chess + Yu-Gi-Oh. Instead of a 2x5 field on each Player’s side like in TCG/OCG, in DOR, it’s a 7x7 field that looks like this:
Classic Format Rules (Can be Generation DM/GX or without post GX-era cards):
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At the start of the Duel, each Player selects 1 Monster Card from their Deck; that Monster Card is treated as their Deck Leader and is placed in the bottom-most center Card Zone in face-up ATK position with 0 ATK. Its effects are negated and cannot leave the field under any conditions. Deck Leaders are unaffected by all card effects. The Main Deck must be at least 40 cards after selecting a Deck Leader.
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At the start of the turn, the Player may draw cards until they have 5 cards in their hand. (Similar to Rush Duel)
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You can only Set/Summon/Activate a card in an unused Card Zone adjacent to your Deck Leader. Set can be Face-Down Attack or Defense Position.
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A Field Spell will activate in its Field Spell Card Zone like in the real game. Both players may control up to 1 face-up Field Spell. A Field Spell that affects monster(s), will only affect the card zones on the controller’s half of the field. (i.e. Player A’s Umi will change the ATK/DEF of monsters on Player A’s side of the field.)
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Limited Range Trap Cards affect all adjacent Card Zones (not Card Zones that are diagonal to it).
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xTx
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where ‘T’ is the location of where the Trap Card is set and ‘x’ are the Card Zones it affects.The criteria for selecting Full Range and Limited Trap Cards is based on “targeting”. If a Trap Card has the words “target” or similar in its card text, it will be a “Limited Range” Trap Card. Limited Range means that the trap card will only affect adjacent squares from its location. In addition, if a Trap Card states “a card”, “1 card”, “a monster”, “a spell/trap card”, etc, it will also be considered as a “Limited Range” Trap Card. This is based on the pattern of the Trap Cards in the original DOR. All other Trap Cards are treated as Full Range.
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Each Player can only control up to 5 Monsters and 5 Spells/Traps (including Pendulum Monsters activated as Spell Cards but excluding Field Spell Cards) at any time. Monsters treated as Equip Cards are treated as face-up Continuous Spell Cards. Trap Monsters are also treated as monsters.
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You can change the battle position of a card on the same turn it is Set/Summoned (including Flip Summon).
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Once per turn, during your Main Phase: You can move each card you control to an adjacent unused Card Zone (not diagonally) and if you do, you cannot change that card’s battle position. You cannot move a card that has already changed its battle position. Face-up monsters can move up to 2 zones. Face-up Continuous Spell or Trap Cards cannot be moved.
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Fusion Summon can be conducted without Polymerization if the Fusion Materials listed for the Fusion Monster are all Normal Monsters.
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Monsters Special Summoned using a card effect are Summoned in the same Card Zone where the card was activated (ex. Monster Reborn). Monsters Special Summoned from a card effect (Monster, Spell, or Trap Card) that is Continuous (does not leave the field), are Special Summoned in an unused Card Zone adjacent to the card (adjacent does not include diagonal Card Zones). Monsters Special Summoned using their own effects or Field Spells that Special Summon are Summoned to an unused Card Zone adjacent to your Deck Leader (ex. Level Eater, Speedroid Terrortop, etc.).
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If a monster attacks an Equip Spell Card or if an Equip Spell card moves to a Card Zone occupied by a monster: Activate the effect of that Equip Spell Card and place it underneath that monster. (This does not count as an Xyz Material. An Xyz Monster cannot detach an Equip Spell Card. To differentiate this, one can optionally tap (put in Defense Position) the Equip Spell card when it is attached.)
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Monsters may only attack cards in adjacent Card Zones (not Card Zones that are diagonal to it). If a face-down Spell or Trap Card you control is targeted for an attack and is flipped face-up: Activate that Spell or Trap Card if its activation conditions are met. (Similar to the anime version of Magical Hats.)
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Monsters must be in adjacent Card Zones when used as materials for a Synchro, Xyz, Link, or Contact Fusion Summon. The only exception is when Ranking up an Xyz Monster in which case the new monster is stacked on top. The Special Summoned Monster is Summoned in a Card Zone that a material previously occupied. Fusion and Ritual monsters are Special Summoned in the Card Zone where the Ritual Spell or Fusion Spell (ex. Polymerization) was activated. (Contact Fusion is when monsters can be Fusion Summoned from sending the materials from the field alone (ex. Gladiator Beast, Ritual Beasts, etc.). In the original DOR, Ritual Summon could be done from sending materials from anywhere on the field and the Ritual Monster would be summoned on the Card Zone where the Ritual Spell was activated. Fusion Summon could happen without Polymerization directly from the hand. Even though each Player is only allowed a maximum of 5 monsters, it would not make sense to Synchro or Xyz Summon using monsters from anywhere on the field.)
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Effect Monsters whose effect states that they can attack directly instead declare an attack against the Deck Leader only if that monster is in the same column or row as the Deck Leader.
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If the control of a Monster is switched, the Monster has to be moved to a unoccupied card zone adjacent to the new controller’s Deck Leader.
Modern Format (Includes all the latest cards and Master Rules):
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To Link Summon, send the appropriate materials in adjacent Card Zones from the field. The Link Summoned Monster is placed in one of the Card Zones that a material previously occupied.
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Each Player can initially control only 1 Extra Deck monster. Either Player can summon additional Extra Deck monsters in Card Zones that Link Markers point to and is adjacent to the Deck Leader. Link Markers from Link Monsters which are treated as Xyz materials or Equip Spell Cards, do not affect the Card Zones they point to.
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A Player can control up to a maximum of 5 non-Extra Deck monsters and 7 monsters total if including Extra Deck monsters. If a Player controls 7 monsters including Extra deck monsters, then the opponent can only control a maximum of 6 monsters including Extra deck monsters.
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The effects of Field Spells are full-range. (Meaning that terrain-based Field Spells are applied to both sides of the field.)
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Each Player can control a maximum of 5 Spell/Trap cards including Pendulum cards and excluding Field Spell cards. Pendulum Monsters can be Summoned/Set as monsters or activated in the corner card zones which are designated Pendulum Zones. If activated in the Pendulum Zone, they cannot be moved.
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Phases: Draw Phase, Standby Phase, Main Phase 1, Battle Phase, Main Phase 2, and End Phase are applied. Cards can move to unoccupied adjacent Card Zones during Main Phase 1 or Main Phase 2. Cards can only move in occupied adjacent Card Zones during the Battle Phase. (Introduction of Phases allows usage of cards that state specific Phases in the card text.)
Alternate Format Rule Differences:
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All Trap Cards are Full Range. (i.e. they affect all cards on the field unless otherwise specified.)
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Continuous Spells and Trap Cards may be moved once per turn to adjacent unused Card Zones.
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Equip Spell Cards have Full Range. (i.e. they can target any monster on the field.)
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If a face-down Spell or Trap Card is targeted for an attack by an opponent’s Monster card: The activation of that Spell or Trap card is optional.