Wizard

Based on the game by Ken Fisher

A trick-taking game where you predict how many tricks you'll win. Follow through and win exactly that many or lose points.

Setup

Use the 4 standard suits: Clubs♣, Spades♠, Hearts♥, and Diamonds♦. From each suit, take ranks 1–9, X, Jack, Queen, King (X=10, Jack=11, Queen=12, King=13). You should have 13 cards per suit, 52 suited cards total.

You will also need 4 Wizards. Wizards always win a trick and ignore suit entirely. For the 4 Wizards, use the 4 Aces from the extended suits: Caps■, Switches＋, Planets◉, and Stars✦.

You will also need 4 Jesters. Jesters always lose a trick and also ignore suit. For the 4 Jesters, use the 0s from the same 4 extended suits: Caps■, Switches＋, Planets◉, and Stars✦.

You should have 60 cards total. You’ll also need a score pad.

The four Wizards are interchangeable — any Ace from Caps, Switches, Planets, or Stars plays the role. Same for the four Jesters with the 0s. There's no ranking among Wizards or among Jesters; for the purposes of this game, each group is a set of identical cards.

Shuffle all 60 cards.

Gameplay

Choose a dealer however you like — the deal rotates one seat clockwise each round.

The game runs for a fixed number of rounds that depends on the player count:

In round 1 the dealer deals 1 card to each player. In round 2, 2 cards each. Round 3, 3 each, and so on; hand size equals the round number, until the final round deals the whole deck.

After dealing, flip the top card of the remaining deck face-up to set trump for this round:

• If the flipped card is a suited card, its suit is trump for this round.
• If it's a Jester, there is no trump this round.
• If it's a Wizard, the dealer chooses any suit as trump.
• In the final round there is no deck left to flip — play the round with no trump.

Here's round 1 of a 4-player game. Each player gets 1 card, then the top of the remaining deck is flipped:

Bidding

Before any trick is played, each player bids how many tricks they expect to win this round. Starting with the player to the left of the dealer and going clockwise, each player calls a whole number from 0 up to the number of cards in their hand. Record every bid on the score pad.

The total of all bids is not constrained — it may add up to more than the number of tricks available, or less. That's by design: sometimes nobody wants any tricks, sometimes everybody wants too many.

It's okay (even desireable depending on your hand) to bid 0; if you bid 0 and take 0 tricks, you still score 20 points. (See scoring below.)

Playing tricks

The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick. They may play any card from their hand. Going clockwise, every other player plays one card.

Follow-suit rule

You must follow suit — play a card of the same suit as the led card — if you have one.

However, a Wizard or a Jester may always be played, even if you have cards in the led suit.

If you have no card of the led suit (and choose not to play a Wizard or Jester), you may play any card — including a trump.

Determining the winner of a trick

Check these rules in order:

1. If one or more Wizards were played, the first Wizard played wins the trick.
2. Otherwise, the highest trump played wins.
3. Otherwise, the highest card of the led suit wins.

Jesters never win under rules 2 or 3 — they have no suit, so they can't be the "highest trump" or the "highest of the led suit." If only Jesters were played in a trick, the first Jester played wins.

Special lead rules

• If a Wizard is led, it wins the trick immediately. Other players may still play any card (they don't have to follow anything).
• If a Jester is led, the next suited card played sets the suit that everyone afterwards must follow. If nobody plays a suited card (every other play is a Jester or a Wizard), the usual winner rules apply: a Wizard wins if any was played; otherwise the first Jester played wins.

The trick winner gathers the cards face-down in front of them and leads the next trick.

Scoring

After all tricks in the round have been played, compare each player's bid to the number of tricks they actually won:

• Exact bid: score 20 points plus 10 points per trick won. Bidding 0 and taking 0 still earns 20 points.
• Missed bid: lose 10 points for each trick you were off by, whether you overshot or undershot.

Record the round's score on the pad and deal the next round.

Example

Hitting the bid exactly is worth far more than coming close.

Winning

After the final round, add every player's round totals. Highest wins.