***Company Profile Of The Week***

In this space we feature a different company profile each week...
This weeks profile: Wizard Cards International Inc.

Wizard Cards International Inc.
Ken Fisher of Toronto first conceived of the card game Wizard at his lakefront cottage in Haliburton, Ontario. He wanted a card game that he could play along with his wife and young son during the quiet evening hours. However when other cottagers dropped by he wanted to be able to include more than 3 in a game. Research into card games provided a suitable game called Oh Hell which could accommodate 3-6 players. Ken modified some of the rules and added 8 additional cards, 4 Jesters and 4 Wizards, which radically improved the basic game. The rules are very simple but the strategy involved in playing the game make it both enjoyable and challenging.

Ken was not new to the games industry as he had earlier created Super Quiz which generated 6 popular Super Quiz books and 3 successful Super Quiz board games as well as a syndicated Super Quiz newspaper feature which continues to be carried by over 30 North American newspapers. Although Ken had a phenomenal record of success in the games industry he was unable to interest established games manufacturers in adding Wizard to their product line: card games were simply too difficult to market.

Undaunted, the popularity of the game encouraged Ken to go-it-alone and the first production run of 10,000 Wizard games took place in June 1986. In 1991 fuelled by an enthusiastic public response to the fascinating game-play afforded by Wizard, a complete graphical redesign was undertaken which brought the card-fronts essentially to their present design. In 1993 Wizard awarded its first license to Canada Games. In 1994 Wizard granted world rights, excluding Canada, to U.S. Games Systems of Stamford, Connecticut. The overall quality of the cards was vastly improved and the current card back was instituted along with other minor but important modifications. In 1996 a license was granted to "Amigo-Spiele" for manufacture and distribution in Germany. In early 2003 a spectacular feature-packed website debuted providing free online play of Wizard. The website is a catalyst for Wizard tournaments which formerly had required prodigious logistics to host. Later in the same year a license was granted to Modiano for manufacture and sales in Italy.

Ken acknowledges that the games manufacturers were right in stating that a new card game is difficult to market. It has taken determination and a focused effort to bring Wizard to what he calls 'The brink of distinction'.