Wizard's Court Rules

Here's how to play Wizard's Court!
Video: Coming Soon.

2-6 Players
15-30 Minutes

“Court officials and members of the jury, it is my deepest pleasure and honor to officially announce that all participants in this trial have unanimously agreed to settle this case in the honorable tradition of ‘Trial By Ball.’“

Pre-Game:
  Each player before the game begins should have a deck of 10 unique cards 
  Each player should also be able to track their own score

Game Start:
  Each player shuffles their cards and places them face down on the table, this is their deck
  Each player should have enough space for their own bench and field
  Each player takes the top 3 cards from their deck and adds them to their hand
  Choose a player to go first, then the round begins.

In a Round:
1.  Each player takes a turn
2.  Score Check

In a Turn:
1.  I - Recover
2.  II - Enlist
3.  III - Place
4.  IV - Cast

I - Recover:
a.  Take all the face down cards on your bench, and put them into your hand 
b.  Take all the face up cards on your bench, and shuffle them into your deck
c.  For each card shuffled into the deck, take the top card of your deck and add it into your hand

II - Enlist:
a.  Put any amount of cards from the top of your deck face down onto your bench

III - Place:
a.  You may shuffle any amount of cards from your hand, bench, or field into your deck
b.  For each card shuffled into the deck, you may play a card from your hand face up into your field or face up into your bench

IV - Cast: 
a.  You may activate any number of card abilities on your field
b.  In order to use a card’s ability you must have cards exactly equal to its opportunity on the bench
c.  After activating a card's ability, move it into your bench

Score Check:
  After each round ends and all players check if they have 10 more points than any other player, any who do win the game!
  If nobody wins the game, another round begins.

Opportunity:
  At the top right of each card is a bolded number, this is that card’s opportunity 

Special Terms:

  Potential - Your potential is the sum of all the opportunities of face up cards on your field and bench, you have the highest potential if your potential is greater than all other players, if there is a tie, all tied players have the highest potential

  Advantage - You have advantage when you have more cards on your field than any other player has on their field, if there is a tie, no one has advantage

  Leading - You are leading if you have the most points, if there is a tie, no one is leading

  Penalize - When a card penalizes a player, the player must subtract from their score the stated value, this can make a score negative

  Sunrise - If the Sun card is face up on any player's bench the following effect occurs

  Moonfall - If the Moon card is face up on your bench the following effect occurs

  The Hour - The current value of The Timekeeper (A 12 sided die)
    At the start of the game The Timekeeper is put between all players, and The Hour is set to 1 
    At the end of each round, The Hour increases by 1

Hand, Deck, Field, and Bench:
  The amount of cards in your hand, deck, field, and bench are public.
  The cards in your hand are only known to you.
  The cards in your deck must be face down, and you cannot look at what any of the cards are.
  The cards on your field must be face up.
  The cards on your bench can be face up or face down, if they are face down you cannot look at what card it is.

 

Wizard’s Court is ©2025 William van der Bokke. All rights reserved.