Harry Potter Quidditch The Game

by Mattel

Product Features

• Year Published: 2000
• Publisher: University Games
• # of Players: 2 - 14
• Playing Time: 30 minutes
• Manufacturer's Suggested Ages: 8 and up

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000056CGV
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,610 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

Product Description

Players control 14 Quidditch pieces on a hex board Quidditch field. Teams take turns rolling and moving, turning over tiles to search for the snitch, or finding quaffles to shoot thru the hoops. Various other tiles reveal bonuses and penalties.

When a player wants to score with a quaffle, he loads a quaffle ball into a miniature catapult and tries to launch it through hoop. That scores 10 points. If a seeker token finds the snitch, the team scores 150 points, ends the game, and more likely than not, wins.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and frustrating, October 31, 2001

By 

Nicholas R. Hunter (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Harry Potter Quidditch The Game (Toy)

My idea of hell is a little girl (8 years old) disappointed on her birthday.

This game creates a good first impression. The box is nice looking and the playing pieces are well printed.

The first problem starts to arise when one finishes punching out the one hundred fiddly little game pieces and starts to read the rules, which, although quite well written, are still very confusing.

One begins to play the game, hoping that the rules will become clearer. Unfortunately they do. As the confusion clears, the boredom sets in.

The board is far too small, and initially covered in the aforementioned one hundred fiddly little game pieces. This makes maneuvering the player pieces awkward for a grown up and frustrating and difficult for a child. There is no clear objective to the game other than to move the players aimlessly around the board, waiting either for a catcher to pick up a quaffle or a searcher picks up the snitch. When a catcher lands on a quaffle piece, the player gets to attempt to fire a plastic ball with a catapult through a plastic "goal" at the opponent's end of the board. This is arguably the most fun you're going to have this evening. When a searcher lands on a snitch piece, the game is over. Period.

As my daughter pointed out, attention to the details of Harry Potter's world is also patchy.

(1) As everybody knows, the Gryffindor Quidditch team includes several girls. As far as we could tell, all the players in this game are represented as boys. That is a huge demerit for this father of a daughter.

(2) The Searcher for the Slytherin team is depicted as a dark haired boy. Again, as every one knows, Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Searcher is blonde.

(3) In Quidditch, a goal counts as ten points, not as one point as stated in the rules of this game.

In conclusion, good production values are let down by poor attention to detail and a confusing and boring game concept. Way over priced. Parents, save your money for the books!

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY, December 12, 2001

By 

Kate Behr (Tuckahoe, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Harry Potter Quidditch The Game (Toy)

Whoever designed this game obviously did not play it. The concept looks fun - real hoops and a catapult to launch the Quaffle through them to score - but try spending a couple of hours fruitlessly launching the fingernail-sized ball at a hoop only to miss and watch it disappear under the sofa, under a table, into a dark corner, into dust-dinos, into a child's mouth. Add to this, incomprehensible rules, and 150 (someone was being too cute for words here) tiny, tiny tokens that conceal the Snitch. The game is cumbersome and deadly boring, with none of the grace, finesse, speed and strategy that make Quidditch the best game in the wizarding world. Save your money! The Quidditch card game (...) is much better.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars how to put your kid asleep, January 29, 2003

By 

a parent who tries (connecticut) - See all my reviews

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Harry Potter Quidditch The Game (Toy)

My daughter received this game for her 9 year old birthday. It is probably the most confusing and boring game a kid could get. A zillion pieces and the most confusing rules imaginable. We are both familiar with the Harry Potter books and movies so I was expecting something playable and fun. I guarantee she will never play this game again after setting up for a 1/2 hour and playing for a tedious 20 minutes. Boring, boring , boring. A total waste.
This game is a good example of someone just trying to make money off a popular franchise name.