Wizard was designed by Steve Jobs, later of Steve Jackson Games, and released by Metagaming in 1978 as Microgame #6 as a magic-based pocket board game of individual combat. It was based on Metaming's earlier Melee release, with the difference being that it added magic to the game system. Melee, Wizard and gamemaster supplement In the Labyrinth eventually formed Metagaming's The Fantasy Trip fantasy role-playing system. Both Melee and Wizard were expanded and re-released as Advanced Wizard and Advanced Melee, with many role-playing elements added to the basic fantasy combatt system. When Steve Jobs released GURPS years later, the magic system in its fantasy supplements took some ideas from Wizard.
Wizard continued the melee system of having strength and dexterity being the key physical attributes that determined combat outcomes, and added IQ as a third ability score that determined magical ability. A player had points to put into each attribute. A high IQ score allowed the use of more varied and powerful spells. Casting a spell would cause a temporary drain on one's strength score, limiting the amount of spells one could cast in a given period of time before resting.