What is Magic?

For the people who are making pledges for the players, you might be wondering what is this game that we'll be playing?

Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game that premiered in 1993. Since then, over 10,000 different cards have been published, with about 700 new cards each year. In a trading card game, players build their own decks using their own collections, and play against each other. Using cards to represent creatures and spells, a player usually wins by dealing 20 points of damage to theid opponent, though other ways of winning are possible. With so many cards available, there are many different strategies that players can build their decks around, in order to win the game.

In 1994, Magic won the "Top Five mind games award" from the annual Mensa Mind Games competition. Currently, the game features yearly national and world championship tournaments, as well as a professional tournament circuit, which pays out over $200,000 in prizes at each Pro Tour tournament.

For more information, see the official game website, or the wikipedia entry on the game.