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LIVE Tournaments
wizard - 16/2/2024 at 06:20 PM

US Games and I want to encourage live tournaments. What is most important for potential directors? Games, Cash, Certificates, Pins, or what? Let me know what you need?


verona - 16/2/2024 at 09:14 PM

Ken-- in my opinion (only), cash, certificates and pins really won't matter much. If there is a way to get "numbers" of people, it may revolve more around the location and/or the ease of drive to the location. Then if people are going to drive and stay a night in a hotel, how expensive that endeavor is will also be a big issue. Debi seems to have hit on something for her monthly tournaments in Kemptville-- a known schedule of date(s) that then people are up for on a regular basis. That group as basically become a de facto CARD PLAYING GROUP. If there are other central locations in North America where that regularly can happen that may work. Carles runs regular in person tournaments with his CCCJ group in Spain, as they are very active card players. Having such a CARD PLAYING GROUP makes that more likely to happen.

Unfortunately, the demographic of our card playing brethren here on the site seems to skew older at this point, so my guess is travel is harder to do and therefore in person tournaments are less of an attraction than 20 years ago. Starting more CARD PLAYING GROUPS in local communities might result in more tournaments, but that will also require the hard work of more people like Debi and Carles, or the reinvigoration of the old card playing groups that used to exist in the Ontario province.

In any case, it would be great to have more in person tournaments. That would begin with generating more interest, somehow, in this wonderful card game. Former US President Bill Clinton has publicly stated that he is a big "Oh Hell" fan. As Wizard is an even more challenging game compared to Oh Hell, ---- if only there was a way to get someone like the former president to start playing!!! If THAT happened, the sky is the limit for Wizard.

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/11/25/spielberg-deals-bill-clinton-into-a-beloved-card-game/
Right you are. We have unsuccessfully tried in the past to get a card-playing celebrity to be associated with Wizard. We have also unsuccessfully tried to get card-playing groups to become Wizard players. I do agree that both of these options may be worth trying again.


Debi - 17/2/2024 at 01:13 AM

Because I have access to a free venue and a group of euchre card players who were curious enough to learn to play Wizard, what was most helpful to me was having enough decks of Wizard cards to get started.
I have no personal supply but US Games has recently agreed to supply cards to groups holding Wizard tournaments.


carles963 - 17/2/2024 at 05:45 AM

The main problem we have in Spain with the Wizard is that for years there has not been an official distributor that supplies the game in stores so that they can sell it.

The only way to buy the Wizard cards here is through online stores like Amazon, and in any case, it is the German deck, which is the version that is known in Europe.

If Amigo Spiele has difficulty distributing the German version of the Wizard in Spain, I imagine it would be an even more difficult task for US Games.

Everything would involve finding a local partner with an official license for distribution, and with a business vision, which I imagine would be complicated.

My club, CCCJ, is a small club. We certainly organize several face-to-face tournaments through the year, but we also play other games besides the Wizard.

One option we could consider locally would be to look for a municipal entity willing to provide organizational support for a regular Wizard tournament, but it remains to be seen what economic viability it might have.

Some kind of prize should be provided for the participants/winners, apart from the material itself (the playing cards) that would be needed to carry it out. An agreement with a local store that has a stock to sell the playing cards could help.
US Games Systems has recently granted distribution rights to Amigi-Spiele for all countries outside North America and Australia. I hope to see better distribution to stores in countries such as Spain, Portugal, The UK, etc as a result.