[kizer]

Are Yu-Gi-Oh cards worth much now? Have a huge collection. Unfortunately my we’ll-meaning mom wrote my initials in sharpie on the back of a bunch of the cards so that people wouldn’t steal them, LOL. I’m wondering what kind of cleaner will take the sharpie off but not damage the cards.

[lstodd]

Isopropyl alcohol would do it. Extremely unlikely to do any damage, but try on one first just in case. Use cotton pads. And get some 99.99% stuff, not this "rubbing" crap.

[syntheticnature]

Probably merely having played with them will nick a big chunk of the value; collectors are looking for perfect condition, mint cards.

That said, I found https://yugiohprices.com/ if you wanted to take a look; there are some super-valuable ones, but it sounds like they were extreme rarities for special events, and otherwise the top card is just $444.44.

[mistersquid]

> I’m wondering what kind of cleaner will take the sharpie off but not damage the cards.

If you ever were established as a go-to knowledge source for Yu-Gi-Oh or an adjacent domain, those sharpie initials could actually increase the value of those cards…

[kizer]

...good point. If I’m famous one day, the cards could be significantly more valuable.

I’m not strapped for cash (knock on wood) right now so I plan to hold on to them indefinitely, until an obvious reason to sell or give them away appears.

[lotyrin]

Try a dry-erase pen or dry-erase solvent

[tablespoon]

Rubbing alcohol dissolves sharpie ink, but it's probably only worth trying if the surface is coated and nonporous. I use alcohol prep pads for this.