wizard
The trick-taking game Wizard uses a sixty-card deck that consists of the traditional 52-card deck (1-13 in four suits) along with four Wizards (high) and four Jesters (low).
Players compete over multiple rounds based on the number of players, and whoever ends with the highest score wins. In each round, players are dealt a hand of cards — one card in the first round, two cards in the second, three in the third, etc. — then trump is determined by flipping the top card of the undealt deck; if a suit is revealed, that suit is trump, while if the card turned up is a Jester, it is turned down and there is no trump for that round. If the card turned up is a Wizard, the dealer chooses one of the 4 suits as the trump suit. The dealer cannot choose 'no trump'. On the last round of each game all cards are dealt out so there is no trump. Players then state how many tricks they expect to win in the round.
LB_NUMBER_OF_PLAYERS: 3 - 6
Game duration: 18 mn
Complexity: 3 / 5
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Play wizard and 837 other games online.
No download, directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
Objective
The objective is to correctly predict the number of tricks you will take in each round in order to receive points. Highest score wins!
Gameplay
- Shuffle all 60 cards, include 13 dwarves, 13 elves, 13 giants, 13 humans, 4 wizards and 4 jesters.
- Deal a number of cards equal to the round number to each player. The next card turned up is trump.
- If the card is jester, there is no trump. If the card is wizard, the dealer chooses the trump. In the last round there is no trump.
- Each player, starting from the player to the left of the dealer, bids a number of tricks that they are going to take.
- The player to the left of the dealer starts the first trick and leads any card. If the card led is a wizard, it wins (the other players may be play any suit). If it is a jester, the next card played determines the lead suit. If only jesters are played, the first jester wins.
- Players must follow suit if possible. If a player cannot follow, they play any other suit, including the trump suit. Wizards and jesters can be played at any time.
- A trick is won by the first wizard played. If there are no wizards, it is won by the highest trump. Else, it is won by the highest card of the lead suit. The winner of a trick leads the next trick.
Scoring
- If a player predicts correctly, they score 20 points, plus 10 points for each trick taken.
- If a player predicts wrongly, they lose 10 points for each over or under trick.
End of Game
- When all the cards are dealt out in a round, that round is the last.
- That means there are 20 rounds with three players, 15 rounds with four, 12 rounds with five and 10 rounds with 6.
- At the end of the game, the player with the highest score wins.
Variants
Bidding
- Hidden prediction: Predictions are revealed simultaneously before the round is played.
- Plus/minus 1: The total number of tricks predicted by the players may not equal the number of tricks available in any round.
- Secret prediction: Predictions are not revealed until the round ends.
Game Length
- 5 rounds: Only 5 rounds are played.
- Amigo tournament rules: 10 rounds are played with modified number of cards. With 3 players, start with 2 and add 2 each round. With 4 players, start with 1, add 2 until the 6th round, then add 1 each round. With 5 players, start with 2, add 2 in 2nd round and 1 in other rounds.
Foresight
In the first round, when each player only has one card, players do not look at their own cards. Each player holds their card up in front of their forehead so all other players can see the front of the card. After all players have seen the others’ cards, but not their own, predictions are made.
