Wizard Rules Fast Becoming the World's Most Popular Social Card Game Wizard's popularity is growing, and is now played in countries throughout the world. Wizard is more fun than Hearts, more challenging than Rummy, less stressful than Bridge! Object of the Game The object is to correctly predict the number of tricks you will take in each round. You receive points for being correct, and the person with the most points wins the game. The Deal To determine a deal each player is dealt one card. High card deals. On the first deal each player receives one card and play begins. The deal passes to the left after each round and the new dealer shuffles all 60 cards. Two cards are dealt on the second deal, three on the third and so on. After each deal, the next card is turned up to determine the trump suit. 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 four suits as the trump suit. On the last round of each game all cards are dealt out so there is no trump. Bid Revealed Each player commencing with the player to the left of the dealer places in front of them a number of tokens (poker chips) representing their bid. The bid being the exact number of tricks they intend to win. In the event they are bidding 0 tricks (no tricks) they display the X token.The score keeper then records each bid on the score sheet. The total number of tricks of all players may or may not equal the total number of tricks available. Hidden Bid All players record their bid on a piece of paper, they remain hidden until after the hand has been played. The bids are then revealed. The Play The play begins to the left of the dealer. Any card may be led. Players continue to play in clockwise order and must follow suit if possible. There are two exceptions to this rule. A Wizard or a Jester may be played at any time, even if the player is holding a card of the suit led. A Trick is Won (a) by the first Wizard played. (b)if no Wizard is played, by the highest trump played. (c)if no trump is played, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of the trick leads next. Leading Wizards or Jesters If the lead card is a Wizard, it wins the trick and players may play any card they wish, including another Wizard. If the lead card is a Jester, it is a null card. The suit for this round is determined by the next card played. Jesters always lose. The one exception to this is if only Jesters are played, the first Jester played wins the trick. Scoring For correctly predicting the number of tricks taken, a player scores 20 points and receives 10 additional points for each trick taken. A player whose prediction is incorrect loses 10 points for each over or under trick. Sample Play and Scoring Round One Paul called for 1 trick and made 2, he scores minus 10 Round Two Paul called for 2 made 2. He scores 40 points, total is now 30 points Round Three Paul called for 1 made 1. He scores 30 points, total is now 60 points Round Four Paul called for 3 made 2. He loses 10 points, total is now 50 points Paul Tricks Bid Tricks Made Hand Score Total Score 1 2 -10 -10 2 2 40 30 1 1 30 60 3 2 -10 50 Length of Game There are 60 cards in the deck. Play continues until the round in which all the cards are dealt out. Consequently three players play 20 rounds, four players play 15 rounds, five players 12 rounds and six players 10 rounds. Variation - Double Down A game may be extended by doubling the number of hands. Once the respective 20, 15, 12 or 10 rounds has been achieved you then reverse the sequence. Example: Assuming their are 6 players and the 10 hands have been played, you then continue by repeating the the last hand (10 cards). On the next hand deal 9 cards, the next 8 cards and so on down to one card each. The last hand will then be 1 card per player and remember there is no trump on the last hand! You have now played 20 hands with 6 players. Assuming 3 players you will play a total of 40 hands, 4 players 30 hands, 5 players 24 hands.

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