The Quidditch Card game is designed for two players - no more, no less. As I'm the default "other player" in our house for our eleven-year-old daughter, my Christmas evening was spent across the table from her as we worked out the rules and laid out the cards. Of course I couldn't let her first win carry the day, so we played best two out of three... and when I won that, she insisted on three out of five, and the playing ended only when I insisted on bedtime.

We LOVE it.

So what's Quidditch? If you don't know, you've lost your first game already. Might I interest you in a game of Yahtzee instead? But, if you must know, Quidditch is a complicated sport played at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, by young wizards flying on broomsticks, who handle four flying balls of three sorts on a circular "pitch", or field. In the much-loved Harry Potter novels, this game is the scene for heated rivalry between the school's four teams.

"Quaffles, Chasers, Bludgers, Beaters.
The Golden Snitch Has Its Seekers."

The packaging's requirements simply read: "Ages 8 and up / 2 players". That's a bit optimistic - it's not really that simple. This is a game for Harry Potter FANS. What's a Quaffle? How many Beaters are playing? Who's Professor Snipe? How many points for a Golden Snitch? If you don't know the answers (without flipping through your child's books), playing this game will be strange and unnerving territory - I strongly recommend you avoid it entirely, and leave the play to the experts, ah I mean, kids.

The first hazard to a Harry Potter novice will be the lingo - understanding the rules of this game depends, mind you, DEPENDS, on a knowledge of the vocabulary of Quidditch. If you haven't read the novels and enjoyed them enough to retain the sport's rules and oddities, then you may as well read the game's instructions in Welsh, for all the good they could do you. (No offense to the Welsh of course, but they could do with some vowels.)

Another important entry in your parenting resume will be a history of playing cards with your kids. I'm not talking about the card games we all grew up on - you'll need experience with the mysterious culture surrounding the latest generation of trading cards and adventure games. I managed to survive the Pokemon card-game battles and deck-building, and my reward has been Quidditch.

Let's Play

While Hogwarts School of Wizardry hosts four school "Houses", the Quidditch game interests itself with only two of these: Harry Potter's own house, Gryffindor (the scarlet deck in the game), and their arch-rival, Slytherin (represented by the green deck). An excellent rule eliminates fighting over who will go first: the player whose birthday lies closest to Harry Potter's gets that privilege, along with the Gryffindor deck. To eliminate further fights resulting from this, the Slytherin player always goes first.

Players begin by drawing five cards from their own decks, and shuffling the 28 "Pitch Cards", which are blue, belong to neither player, and represent the balls in play.

To begin a round, a Pitch Card (a ball) is laid down on the table between the game's oponents. Each player then lays down a card representing a Quidditch team member, and those two team members win or lose the ball by virtue of the points they're worth.

The closest comparison I can offer you is to the old card game, War: if you've played this, then you know that when both players lay down equal cards (say, two queens or two fives) they must then lay more cards down on the table, before turning over a final card in the round - which wins or loses the whole pile in play. Now, imagine that the Quidditch game's "ball in play" is that pile, and the team member cards laid down by the players are the final round cards - winner takes all. In the case of Quidditch, what the winner takes is the ball card, and the points it's worth.

The game is complicated a bit further by the fact that there are three kinds of Quidditch balls:

1. Quaffles are bright red and the size of a football (oops - SOCCER ball for my American friends), and score 10 points when put through goals. There are six of these goals around the Quidditch field, each one a small round hoop.

2. Bludgers are used to distract or even knock down opposing players; they are black and smaller than the Quaffle.

3. The Golden Snitch is a tiny, speedy and elusive thing, whose capture ends the game. The teams' earned points are then calculated to determine the winner of the match, but as the Snitch alone is worth 150 points, and the Quaffles only 10, it takes a minor miracle for the non-Snitch-holding team to win. But it could happen...

Just as there are different balls, there are different players. Chasers handle the Quaffles, Beaters manage the Bludgers, and each team has one Seeker to chase down and capture the Golden Snitch. (Due to an extraordinary and apparently inborn ability on flying broomsticks, Harry managed to become his team's Seeker in his very first year at Hogwarts - unheard of!)

However...

While strategy is important in this game, it's often a slave to luck - who knows what ball will be drawn next, and each player is only working with five cards (typically) during each turn. Hopefully you'll have the right type of team member on hand for the ball in play, and hopefully that team member will have a higher points value than your opponent's card, thus scoring you a goal. Fortunately, there are also spell cards to cast, which complicate the game still further, as well as "instant goal" cards to create those lucky breaks we often see in real-life sporting events. And, just like any other sport, there are also Fouls, and Referees.

Because of these complications on complications, and the cards that cancel out the complications, all surrounding the regular rules, having the rule sheet on hand is a must. It's a strip of paper about 3" by 15", and fortunately well-organised into sections such as "Starting a New Round", "Playing On a Bludger", and "Jinx and Spells". During our first game, my daughter and I referred to the sheet at almost every turn, but by that fourth or fifth game, we were flying solo.

And it's great! Just as you've breathed a sigh of relief that the ball in play is one you can play for, your opponent may jinx you with a "leg-lock" or "full-body bind", leaving you helpless - until YOU play a spell that cancels it, or strike back with an offensive of your own. This way, each play for a single ball can become an absorbing game on its own, and raise the stakes for the match. Like many classic games, it's addictive: once mastered, you're hooked.

And one more thing...

The Quidditch Card Game has other advantages as well: it's beautiful, for one thing. The colours are deep and lovely, and the paintings for the cards are attractive without being too serious - it is, after all, a game for kids. All the cards can be stored in their cardboard packet - more a folder than a box - keeping them tidy and making the game portable for trips to friends' houses. A few missing cards won't hurt the game (unless you lose the Snitch!), and getting an extra set for Christmas doesn't hurt - we've combined two sets to make a longer and slightly more unpredictable match for ourselves. Included in the decks are "reference" cards with definitions and points, for forgetful mothers (ahem) to refer to while playing.

Another advantage is the price - there's a lot of staying power here, and several quiet hours, for just five quid (US$7.50 or so). On the other hand, Monopoly here costs £24 ($36) and Playstation games... oh, I don't want to think about that.

Quidditch is certainly never dull. But if you'd like to play:

1. Know your Harry Potter.
2. Make sure your opponent knows Harry Potter.
3. Be prepared for a learning curve, and keep the rule sheet handy.
4. GET THAT SNITCH!!

Most of all, have fun, and good luck taking home the Quidditch Cup!

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 7.50 (£5)
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older