WIZARD NEWSLETTER 2015
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1


The Wizard Newsletter is being rebooted, restarted, restored, renewed, reinitiated….you get the picture…

This issue will be a general introduction to what you can expect to find in upcoming issues. So let’s just get right to it.

The Newsletter will be released quarterly (Weiz, that means I will be doing 4 of them per year). A year-end edition or special edition may be released at any time as well.

The Newsletter will attempt to keep players up to date on what is happening in the world of Wizard Cards, including updates on the Facebook site and where things are with the completion of the new platform. Each year, I will update Master Points (MP) earned and tournament wins. I will try to add an article or two for fun reading, and I do hope that other players may want to add things as well. I will also outline some facet of the current site that people may have forgotten about or never even knew was available.

YOUR PARTICIPATION

You can help to keep the site up to date and keep me on my toes in the following ways:

(a) Let me know about any new records that may be established during a game in which you are involved. Taking a ‘snapshot’ of the score sheet and sending it to me would be helpful.
(b) Send me any questions you would like to see answered in the Newsletter, or suggestions for topics that you think would be of interest, along with any other suggestions you may have for the site or for the Newsletter.

NEW RECORDS

Some of you may not be aware that the online site has a RECORDS area, where various accomplishments are kept and stored. The last recorded record was in 2014, and I find it hard to believe that no player has been able to match or beat any of the records listed there over the last two years.

This may be because players are unaware of the records, or even where the records are kept. Did you get a perfect score in a game? If you did, have you checked the records area to see if you matched or beat a Perfect game record? For example, there is no entry for a perfect score in a 3-player game. What about a Quick 6-player game? How about a perfect game in 5-player hidden bid? Did you get one? It hasn’t been recorded.

So how do you find out about the record scores and how do you submit a record score for entry?

1 To find out about the record scores, all you have to do is go to the regular wizardcards site: www.wizardcards.com/portal.php .(or just scroll up to the top of this page) There is a link at the top called RECORD SCORES. When you click that, you will see 4 options. One is called Perfect Game Record, which is only used for scores from a perfectly bid game. Honorable Mention: No Record Category. This is used for various situations where something unique or outstanding happened. For example, in January 2009, smurf, lucky, moosehead and hook played a Quick Four game with only 2 scratches in the entire game (30 blue-2 pink). This is not a real record, but it is something unique or interesting that happened in a game.
Next up is Record Online Tournament scores, which is used for records achieved within a Tournament setting, and finally Record scores and more, which contains various records and accomplishments.

While you are sitting around waiting for a host, take a moment to look at the various records. Maybe even see if there’s something you want to try to accomplish yourself.

2 Now that I have achieved a record, how do I get it recorded? First of all, congrats on getting a record score! The best way to get your record score recorded is to take a screen shot of the score sheet and e mail it to me (markosapiano@teksavvy.com), along with a quick explanation of the score that you surpassed.

TOURNAMENT UPDATES

WIZFEST 2015 was held on August 1 in Scarborough, Ontario (Canada). 32 players attended this year’s tournament, including three players from Texas and xxAriesGirlxx all the way from New Zealand!!

The tournament was played with a preliminary round of four 4-player games using the Matrix scoring system. The top 10 scores after 4 games were as follows:

Ken Fisher (Wizard): 177.5
Marina Navarrete (Aniram): 171
Stephen Mills (thesteve): 159
Marko Sapiano (Mactonight): 158
George Wellsbury (Merlin): 152
Brian Weippert (BrianW): 146
Kathy Sato: 145
Trish McCoy (tishy): 145
Phil Joachim: 127.5
Wayne Fairless: 125

The Final round consisted of two games with combined scores. The final results were as follows:

MACTONIGHT: 530
WIZARD: 470
THE STEVE: 390
ANIRAM: 370

This was Mactonight’s first Wizfest tournament win, and he can (and will) brag that he has placed, 3rd, 4th, 2nd and 1st in the last 4 Wizfest tournaments. Congratulations Mactonight!!!

How close was the preliminary round? Merlin, Brian, Kathy Sato, and Trish never finished lower than 2nd place in any of their games, but didn’t make the top 4.

There were two online tournaments held in order to choose the players who will represent Canada and the USA at the World Championships in Prague.

The Canadian Tournament consisted of 5-player games, and was held over a period of 2 weeks with 8 games played. The results were as follows:

Ken McCoy (abacus): 245
Mario Phenix (Mphenix): 201.33
Marko Sapiano (Mactonight): 188.83
George Wellsbury (Merlin): 153.33
Mario Forest: 139.5

Congratulations to Abacus and Mphenix, and good luck as you represent Canada at the Worlds.

The USA tournament had 8 players playing 4-player games over a two-week period. The top 5 results were as follows:

Mr. Wizard: 304
Aniram : 250.5
JMB5779: 232.5
The_wiz: 229
ORCA: 217

Congratulations to Mr. Wizard and Aniram, and good luck as you represent the USA at the Worlds.


To conclude this edition, here is the latest information regarding the Facebook site, as taken from the Blog site (http://wizardcardgame.blogspot.ca/).

We hope to post a crude BETA version of the new WIZARD program on Facebook this Friday, August 14 (do not be surprised if it doesn't happen).

Note: It didn’t happen.

More information will be available on the Blog site as it becomes available, so check frequently.

Thank you for the very interesting and informative newsletter