Wizard

A trick-taking game for 3–6 players.

The deck

60 cards — a standard 52 plus 4 Wizards and 4 Jesters. A Wizard beats everything; a Jester loses to everything.

The goal

Win exactly the number of tricks you bid. Not more, not fewer.

Rounds

Round 1 deals one card each, round 2 deals two, and so on. The number of rounds is 60 divided by the number of players — so 20 rounds for three players, 15 for four, 12 for five, 10 for six.

Bidding

After the deal, one card is turned face up to set trump. Starting to the dealer's left, each player says out loud how many tricks they expect to win — so later bidders know what everyone before them said, and the dealer bids last. The bids do not have to add up to the number of tricks available.

Scoring

Hit your bid exactly: 20 points, plus 10 per trick. Miss it: lose 10 points for every trick you were out by, over or under.

Ties

If two players finish level, they play a ten-card tie-breaker round — just the tied players, with bids written down instead of spoken.

Variations

All off unless you turn them on when starting a game.

Short game

Ten rounds instead of the full deck.

Hook (screw the dealer)

The dealer bids last and may not make the bids add up to the number of tricks — someone always has to be wrong.

Blind bidding

Allow bidding before looking at your hand.

If the game ends tied

Play a 10-card tie-breaker — The official rule. Tied players only.
Share the win — Call it a draw and stop.