Wizard Newsletter for December 2008


Mac’s Moments!

Christmas Edition with Wizard

Mactonight – Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle all the way

Wizard – Oh what fun it is to play Wizard everyday

Mactonight – Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle all the way

Wizard – Oh what fun it is to play Wizard Jr today

Mactonight – Dashing through the snow

Wizard – To a Wizard game we play

Mactonight – O’er to the internet we go

Wizard – Clicking all the way

Mactonight – Cards and bids are made

Wizard – Causing such a fright

Mactonight – What fun it is to play and win….

Wizard – Mac! You never win.

Mactonight –I win sometimes

Wizard – Yes and Haley’s Comet comes around occasionally too

Mactonight –Are you mad at me for some reason?

Wizard – I am

Mactonight –What did I do to you?

Wizard – First of off do you know who I am?

Mactonight –Umm, you’re Wizard!

Wizard – I’m THE WIZARD

Mactonight –ok

Wizard – Ken Fisher, Creator of Wizard Cards and the creator of the popular series of books and games titled “SuperQuiz”.

Mactonight – I see

Wizard - The quiz is now in its 15th year in daily newspapers syndication across North America.

Mactonight –Wow is there a website for more information?

Wizard – There is, areyousmartenough.com

Mactonight –Wow, I still don’t know why you’re mad at me.

Wizard – That’s because you’re a simpleton

Mactonight – I’m sensing no Xmas spirit here at all

Wizard – Why am I third?

Mactonight - Third?

Wizard – Don’t you think I deserve to be first?

Mactonight – But Merlin has more Master Points than you and so does Ken Mccoy, I’m honored that you think I have that kind of power, but really what can I do? Plus, umm, Cargobeep has passed you, you’re now fourth.

Wizard – Seriously, who puts your pants on for you in the morning?

Mactonight – I’m so lost.

Wizard – I’m talking about these Mac Moments.

Mactonight -Oh

Wizard – Why am I the third person to be interviewed?

Mactonight –Oh

Wizard – I mean I am Wizard!

Mactonight – We’ve established that

Wizard – So why third?

Mactonight –I thought I’d honor you with the Xmas edition

Wizard – I don’t feel honored

Mactonight –Well let me try to fix that

Wizard – This should be fun

Mactonight –Well it goes without saying, as the inventor of the game that you are beyond loved on the site

Wizard – This is better... keep going.

Mactonight – You hold countless records including being the only person to win all four rounds of an online tourney and then winning the Triad as well.

Wizard – I did do that didn’t I?

Mactonight –Yes, you have the record for the highest score in a perfect game with 370 in a 6 person game

Wizard – I’m very proud of that one.

Mactonight –and so you should be

Wizard – I have a joke for you

Mactonight – I like jokes

Wizard – Two antennas were about to be married

Mactonight – ok

Wizard – It wasn’t much of a wedding, but they had a great reception

Mactonight – I don’t get it.

Wizard – Why do I bother?

Mactonight – If you could have 5 players on a final table who would they be?

Wizard – only the best of the best

Mactonight – who would they be?

Wizard – They know how they are

Mactonight –But I want to know who they are

Wizard – Well it’s not you

Mactonight –This I know

Wizard – Wow, maybe you’re not as simple as I thought.

Mactonight –Thanks Wizard. Merry Christmas to all.


Join me next month when Mac’s Moment features its first female guest and learn a little bit about memories of a first online game.


Wizard in Japan

The Japanese have no cultural background with playing cards as we know them and consequently George Yonekawa is struggling to establish Wizard in the marketplace. He has created a simplified version which basically is the regular game but does not use any TRUMP. He hopes that the Wizard game can more easily be understood if the concepts of TRICKS and BIDDING and of course the special use of the Wizard & Jester cards can first be established before moving on to the concept of TRUMP. He has just completed his second National Tournament and will be sending the champion to the 2009 Wizard Tournament in Toronto.


Wizard Junior

The second online Wizard Junior tournament was successfully concluded on Sunday, November 30 and the first complete session will end with the year 2008.

There are some who feel that the black screen is hard on the eyes although the entire Wizard website has a black field. Consequently Victor is working on an option that would enable the host to select a different background color. He is also working on an option that would enable play without the use of TRUMP (see above article). This is aimed both at the Japanese players and players who are new to this type of game. It would act as a stepping-stone to the regular game. Neither of these options may come to fruition but they are being researched.


2009 Tournament

Current plans continue to call for 2 separate National Tournaments in 2009. One to establish an American Champion and 1 to establish a Canadian Champion.

At present we are hoping to host the USA championship at the “Con-Gen” event. This is an annual gaming convention. This year it is being held in Indianapolis from August 13-16. More on this at a later date.

The Canadian championship will be held in the Toronto area probably in July. The leading contender to host the event is the Delta Toronto East Hotel located near the intersection of the 401 and Don Valley Parkway although no decisions have been made.

If this format of establishing both a USA and Canadian champion proves successful we would hope to repeat it in 2010 with the champion of each event winning a trip to Germany where we expect the 2010 World Championship to be hosted by Amigo-Spiele.


Amego Spiele and Europe

Currently Wizard is only widely circulated in the European Community in a German language edition. In 2009 we anticipate that Wizard will be marketed in several other countries and in several other languages…Spanish, French, etc.


Virtual Host

If you have hosting problems, then please take a minute and email vslawson@verizon.net with details of the problem. If we do not get feedback we cannot fix your hosting problems. Also, many people do not realize that the virtual host connection is really the same thing as connecting to someone else's host (except that the wizard cards server is the host). So, if you can join another person's host, then you should be able to join the host on the server (i.e. your own virtual host).

To resolve problems we need to identify them and we need you to help us do so.


New Wizard Levels

The No. 1 ranked player, merlin, has amassed 701 Master Points. To attain the Arch Wizard level 600 Master Points are required. To date only merlin has attained that level although ken mccoy is quickly closing in with 587 Master Points.

Three new levels have been established to provide additional challenges and goals for the leading players. There are now 4 levels of Arch Wizard and merlin has now reached the second level of a 1-star Arch Wizard.

The new levels of Arch Wizard are:

Level 1........600-699

Level 2........700-799...*

Level 3........800-899...**

Level 4........900-999...***


November Session

Congratulations to cargobeep who continues to dominate the monthly sessions. This is her 16th win which easily outdistances anyone else in winning the monthly sessions. Nobody has won more than 2 sessions except for Fizzwiz1 and his streak stopped at 10. Cargobeep appears to be unstoppable.


Stimulus Package?

At this time of the year with the festive season upon us and at a time, “when need is most sorely felt” I feel it incumbent upon myself to reach out to others with solutions to these trying times. Although nobody has asked me I offer a simple and effective solution to the current economic crisis.

First we need to revive and continue JFK's Executive Order 11110 which he made about 6 months prior to his assassination. (Could there be a connection?) It is still valid and what it did was effectively return to the US Government the power to issue currency. Presently only the Feds (Federal Reserve System) can print paper currency. The $700 billion bailout by theFeds is to save the big banks.(Like Citi Group) Guess who owns the Federal Reserve? No, not the US Government. It is privately owned by the large banks. (Not just American banks). Every dollar that gets printed is immediately loaned to the US government with interest attached.

Solution: The US Government starts printing its own currency, (Greenbacks) with which it pays off the National Debt, which is mostly owed to the Feds. Note that from that point on the US Government pays no further interest payments. Voila!

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Merry Christmas to all and to all a good-night!


Ken Fisher

wizard