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Wikipedia

Wizard (card game)

December 15, 2023

Wizard is a trick-taking card game for three to six players designed by Ken Fisher of Toronto, Ontario in 1984. The game was first printed commercially in June 1986. The game is based on Oh Hell.

A Wizard deck consists of 60 cards: a regular set of 52 playing cards (replaced with custom symbols and colours in some editions), 4 Wizards and 4 Jesters. The Jesters have the lowest value, then the one up to thirteen, with Wizards highest in value.

Gameplay edit

The objective of the game is to bid correctly on the number of tricks that a player will take in the subsequent round of play. Points are awarded for a correct bid and subtracted for an incorrect bid. The player with most points after all rounds have been played is the winner. The game is played in a number of rounds from 10 to 20, depending on the number of players and each round consists of three stages: Dealing, Bidding, and Playing.

In the first round every player gets one card. In the subsequent rounds the number of cards is increased by one until all cards are distributed. That means that three players play 20 rounds, four players 15 rounds, five players 12 rounds and six players 10 rounds. The top card of the remaining cards is turned over to determine the trump suit. If there are no cards left or a jester is turned, there is no trump suit, and only the wizards are trump. If a wizard is turned, the dealer picks a trump suit.

After looking at their cards, starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player states how many tricks he believes he will take, from zero to the number of cards dealt. This is recorded on a score pad.

The player to the left of the dealer plays a card, and then the others follow clockwise. If a card other than a wizard or jester is played, the players have to follow suit, but it is possible to play a jester or wizard although the player has the desired suit. The Wizard beats all other cards but the first one in a trick beats all others. The jester is beaten by all others, but if all cards in a trick are jesters the first one beats the others. If a jester is played as the first card the first suit card decides which suit has to be followed. If a wizard is played as the first card every player is free to play what they want regardless of the others. If the first card is a Jester and the second a Wizard, then the Wizard rule takes precedence and players are not required to follow suit.[1][2]

At the end of each round, each player is given a score based on their performance. For predicting the number of tricks taken correctly, a player receives 20 points plus 10 points for each trick taken. For predicting the number of tricks taken incorrectly, a player loses 10 points for each trick over or under.

Variant card sets edit

The German version of Wizard has a different design, with a fantasy-themed character on each card. Each character has a title such as der Krieger (the warrior) or die Priesterin (the priestess) printed at the top of the card. There are 2 male and 2 female versions of each character. The German decks contain four non-standard suits with values from 1 to 13, four Z cards labelled either der Zauberer (the sorcerer) or die Zauberin (the sorceress), and four N cards labelled der Narr or die Närrin (the fool). The German deck is distributed in the United States as "Fantasy Wizard", with an English box and rules. The cards are identical to the German ones, including the German abbreviations for Zauberer/Zauberin and Narr/Närrin.

The Medieval deck of cards has a themed character on each card. The characters are: (2) Hermit, (3) Peasant, (4) Farmer, (5) Archer, (6) Blacksmith, (7) Merchant, (8) Bard, (9) Scholar, (10) Bishop, Knight, Queen, King, (Ace) Dragon. The cards are also color-coded: Hearts (Red), Spades (Black), Clubs (Green), Diamonds (Purple), Jesters (Brown), Wizards (Blue).

The Wizard Camelot edition replaces the 4 deuces with Holy Grail, Excalibur, Merlin and Morgan le Fay cards.

The Wizard Omnibus edition enables 3 levels of play: Classic, Camelot and Magic.

Tournament play edit

Regular tournaments are held online. World Championships began in 2010. Each nation is invited to send a maximum of two representatives to the annual event. World Championship locations have included:

  • 2010: Frankfurt, Germany. Champion Germany (Josef Sigl)
  • 2011: Budapest, Hungary. Champion Austria (Beate Punz)
  • 2012: Vienna, Austria. Champion Switzerland (Thomas Kessler)
  • 2013: Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Champion Germany (Christian Adolph)
  • 2014: Athens, Greece. Champion Hungary (Gergely Suba)
  • 2015: Prague, Czech Republic. Champion Austria (Hans Mostbock)
  • 2016: Budapest, Hungary. Champion Switzerland (Robert Laschkolnig)
  • 2017: Riga, Latvia. Champion Austria (Ignaz Punz)
  • 2018: Warsaw, Poland. Champion Greece (Vasilis Papadakis)
  • 2019: Antwerp, Belgium. Champion Greece (Spyros Keramas)
  • 2020: Cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic.
  • 2021: Cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic.
  • 2022: Vienna, Austria. Champion Austria (Sebastian Holzer)
  • 2023: Prague, Czech Republic. Champion Germany (Alexander Kube)

First hand probabilities edit

Since there are no options for which card to play when a player is only holding one card, there is a statistically correct bid for any given card. This only truly applies if a player has the lead, and thus no information from other bids. Since a correct bid of 1 yields 30 points, and a correct bid of 0 only yields 20, a bid of 1 over time yields more points as long as the player has at least a 42.86% chance of winning the trick.

The known cards are only a player's own card and the turn up, so with 58 unknowns, the odds that a hand will win in a three player game are calculated by the odds that both of the other hands lose to that player. That is, (x/58)*((x-1)/57), x=# of cards the player can beat. The calculation is similar for more players. Solving for x to yield 0.4286 or greater gives the minimum number of cards a player needs to be ahead of to justify a bid of 1.

With the lead:

  • In a 3-person game, x=39, bid 1 with an offsuit Jack or stronger.
  • In a 4-person game, x=44, bid 1 with the 3 of trump or stronger, (4 of trump if the turn up is the 2 or 3).
  • In a 5-person game, x=49, bid 1 with the 9 of trump or better, (the 8 will do if the turn up is higher than the 8)
  • In a 6-person game, x=50, bid 1 with the 10 of trump or better (9 if turn-up is 10 or higher)
  • In the special case that a jester turns up and there is therefore no trump, and the player has the lead: always bid 1 in a 3 player game, With 4 - bid 1 on 3 or higher, with 5 - bid 1 with any 9 or higher, and with 6 players a 10 or higher.

Reviews edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Wizard Card Game Community Forums FAQ". Wizardcards.com. Retrieved 2016-08-06. If the lead of a Jester is immediately followed by a Wizard then the hand is played as if the Wizard was the lead card.
  2. ^ "U.S. Games Systems, Inc Wizard FAQ". Usgamesinc.com. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
  3. ^ https://archive.org/details/Games-Magazine-August-1992-images/page/n51/mode/2up
  4. ^ https://archive.org/details/Games-Magazine-December-1992-images/page/54/mode/2up


December 15, 2023
wizard, card, game, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, wizard, card, game, news, newspapers, books, sch. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Wizard card game news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Wizard is a trick taking card game for three to six players designed by Ken Fisher of Toronto Ontario in 1984 The game was first printed commercially in June 1986 The game is based on Oh Hell A Wizard deck consists of 60 cards a regular set of 52 playing cards replaced with custom symbols and colours in some editions 4 Wizards and 4 Jesters The Jesters have the lowest value then the one up to thirteen with Wizards highest in value Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Variant card sets 3 Tournament play 4 First hand probabilities 5 Reviews 6 See also 7 ReferencesGameplay editThe objective of the game is to bid correctly on the number of tricks that a player will take in the subsequent round of play Points are awarded for a correct bid and subtracted for an incorrect bid The player with most points after all rounds have been played is the winner The game is played in a number of rounds from 10 to 20 depending on the number of players and each round consists of three stages Dealing Bidding and Playing In the first round every player gets one card In the subsequent rounds the number of cards is increased by one until all cards are distributed That means that three players play 20 rounds four players 15 rounds five players 12 rounds and six players 10 rounds The top card of the remaining cards is turned over to determine the trump suit If there are no cards left or a jester is turned there is no trump suit and only the wizards are trump If a wizard is turned the dealer picks a trump suit After looking at their cards starting with the player to the dealer s left each player states how many tricks he believes he will take from zero to the number of cards dealt This is recorded on a score pad The player to the left of the dealer plays a card and then the others follow clockwise If a card other than a wizard or jester is played the players have to follow suit but it is possible to play a jester or wizard although the player has the desired suit The Wizard beats all other cards but the first one in a trick beats all others The jester is beaten by all others but if all cards in a trick are jesters the first one beats the others If a jester is played as the first card the first suit card decides which suit has to be followed If a wizard is played as the first card every player is free to play what they want regardless of the others If the first card is a Jester and the second a Wizard then the Wizard rule takes precedence and players are not required to follow suit 1 2 At the end of each round each player is given a score based on their performance For predicting the number of tricks taken correctly a player receives 20 points plus 10 points for each trick taken For predicting the number of tricks taken incorrectly a player loses 10 points for each trick over or under Variant card sets editThe German version of Wizard has a different design with a fantasy themed character on each card Each character has a title such as der Krieger the warrior or die Priesterin the priestess printed at the top of the card There are 2 male and 2 female versions of each character The German decks contain four non standard suits with values from 1 to 13 four Z cards labelled either der Zauberer the sorcerer or die Zauberin the sorceress and four N cards labelled der Narr or die Narrin the fool The German deck is distributed in the United States as Fantasy Wizard with an English box and rules The cards are identical to the German ones including the German abbreviations for Zauberer Zauberin and Narr Narrin The Medieval deck of cards has a themed character on each card The characters are 2 Hermit 3 Peasant 4 Farmer 5 Archer 6 Blacksmith 7 Merchant 8 Bard 9 Scholar 10 Bishop Knight Queen King Ace Dragon The cards are also color coded Hearts Red Spades Black Clubs Green Diamonds Purple Jesters Brown Wizards Blue The Wizard Camelot edition replaces the 4 deuces with Holy Grail Excalibur Merlin and Morgan le Fay cards The Wizard Omnibus edition enables 3 levels of play Classic Camelot and Magic Tournament play editRegular tournaments are held online World Championships began in 2010 Each nation is invited to send a maximum of two representatives to the annual event World Championship locations have included 2010 Frankfurt Germany Champion Germany Josef Sigl 2011 Budapest Hungary Champion Austria Beate Punz 2012 Vienna Austria Champion Switzerland Thomas Kessler 2013 Amsterdam the Netherlands Champion Germany Christian Adolph 2014 Athens Greece Champion Hungary Gergely Suba 2015 Prague Czech Republic Champion Austria Hans Mostbock 2016 Budapest Hungary Champion Switzerland Robert Laschkolnig 2017 Riga Latvia Champion Austria Ignaz Punz 2018 Warsaw Poland Champion Greece Vasilis Papadakis 2019 Antwerp Belgium Champion Greece Spyros Keramas 2020 Cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic 2021 Cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic 2022 Vienna Austria Champion Austria Sebastian Holzer 2023 Prague Czech Republic Champion Germany Alexander Kube First hand probabilities editSince there are no options for which card to play when a player is only holding one card there is a statistically correct bid for any given card This only truly applies if a player has the lead and thus no information from other bids Since a correct bid of 1 yields 30 points and a correct bid of 0 only yields 20 a bid of 1 over time yields more points as long as the player has at least a 42 86 chance of winning the trick The known cards are only a player s own card and the turn up so with 58 unknowns the odds that a hand will win in a three player game are calculated by the odds that both of the other hands lose to that player That is x 58 x 1 57 x of cards the player can beat The calculation is similar for more players Solving for x to yield 0 4286 or greater gives the minimum number of cards a player needs to be ahead of to justify a bid of 1 With the lead In a 3 person game x 39 bid 1 with an offsuit Jack or stronger In a 4 person game x 44 bid 1 with the 3 of trump or stronger 4 of trump if the turn up is the 2 or 3 In a 5 person game x 49 bid 1 with the 9 of trump or better the 8 will do if the turn up is higher than the 8 In a 6 person game x 50 bid 1 with the 10 of trump or better 9 if turn up is 10 or higher In the special case that a jester turns up and there is therefore no trump and the player has the lead always bid 1 in a 3 player game With 4 bid 1 on 3 or higher with 5 bid 1 with any 9 or higher and with 6 players a 10 or higher Reviews editGames 110 3 1992 Games 100 in Games 112 4 See also editOh HellReferences edit Wizard Card Game Community Forums FAQ Wizardcards com Retrieved 2016 08 06 If the lead of a Jester is immediately followed by a Wizard then the hand is played as if the Wizard was the lead card U S Games Systems Inc Wizard FAQ Usgamesinc com Retrieved 2016 08 06 https archive org details Games Magazine August 1992 images page n51 mode 2up https archive org details Games Magazine December 1992 images page 54 mode 2up Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wizard card game amp oldid 1183833651, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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