Harry Potter Hogwarts House Cup Challenge - In Stores Now Hot

Anybody played this? My son would probably enjoy the Harry Potter theme. I might pick it up if it is good.

I haven't played, but I have read the rules. It sounds like a solid, if simple, family/childrens dice-less Talisman-like game. You move, encounter adventure cards, make a skill check, recieve a reward (points) for a sucess or penalty for failure. Objective is to have the most points at the end of the game.

Randomness is significanly reduced by:

1. Movement is players choice of 0-3 spaces.
2. Rather than blind draw of the top of a deck, players have a hand of adventure cards, and have a choice to play a card on themselves, another player, or an empty space.
3. Skill checks are deterministic. Such as, you succeed if your intellegence is greater than 3.

Characters 'level up' a skill/ability every 25 points. There's a timer on the game to bring out adventure decks of increasing diffuculty.

Looks like it's aimed at kids ages 10-12, but it also includes a 30 minute variant for play with younger kids.

Doesn't sound like a big thrill, but I imagine young Harry Potter fans would have some fun with it.

Also the new images released by WizKids say "Collectable Adventure Game." I don't know if that means there are going to be more cards or something like that released.

Thanks Uba! Sounds like something right up my son's alley.

The big question is if Dumbledore hands out arbitrary bonus points at the end of the year, surreptitiously rewarding the house whose members most flagrantly defied authority and endangered their lives and the lives of others.

This sounds pretty neat, I may take a look at it. I like Potter and Parks a couple of good designs out there.

Is there a completely pointless game of Quidditch included?

I just saw this at a store today and thought it must be an old copy... I didn't realize they were reprinting it. I might have to get it, as my girls are big HP fans and I've read that this game is pretty decent.

Andrew Parks is great. He does a lot of IP-tie in stuff through his company, Quixotic, and he has a game that is back-burnered that I've been waiting for FOREVER. I have a great interview with him that I haven't published because I was waiting on word on release.

Maybe time to dust it off.

It's actually a great game if you are a HP fan. Best HP board game out there. We have played it quite a bit (my daughter and I). One funny thing about the game is the board is HUGE!

I wish WotC would re-start the HP tcg as a living card game. Recently got a ton of cards and am having fun making decks. Also, I've been working on re-doing Epic Duels as a HP game. :)

I was interested in this when it first came out, but never gave it a shot. I wish I would've bought it when Borders was still open and you could use one of their 25%-40% off coupons. Borders always had it.

Just played this tonight. It's actually a really good family game. We had a lot of fun with it. I like that you can team up and and split points. The Spawn and I were way behind, but we formed a temporary alliance and worked together to meet at a certain location and do a couple team up challenges. We caught up to the boys and she eventually pulled ahead for the win (with a little help from me putting the beat down on her god-daddy on the last turn). It made me thing that it would be cool to play it as a team game.