For those of you who grew up with Harry Potter or just read the books, you always get left wanting more – to revisit that magical world, over and over again. And while you may not be able to head to Disney for a Hogwarts adventure every week, you can get some magic in through Harry Potter board games.
The best way to enjoy all the magic and all the fun is through collecting an assortment of Wizarding World games. Think party games like Unmask the Death Eaters and Codenames: Harry Potter for large crowds, quick-play games like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Mystery at Hogwarts, and some in-depth thinker games like Harry Potter Talisman for your ultimate Harry Potter board game collection. And just in case you didn’t know which ones to pick, we’ve found a bunch of top-rated HP games that will help you relive the magic of the books and movies as often as you could want.
The 10 Best Harry Potter Board Games
Hogwarts Battle
Age: 11+ (Community 8+) Players: 2-4 Time: 30-60 minutes
For Harry Potter fans who enjoy cooperative deck-building games, Hogwarts Battle allows you and three other players to recreate the Battle of Hogwarts from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Players must defend the iconic Hogwarts castle from evil forces. Players choose between Hogwarts students Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville – each with their own unique personal deck of cards used in gameplay. As the game progresses, you must use your character decks to gather resources such as spells, magical items, and other characters from the Harry Potter series. By acquiring more powerful cards, players gain influence to enhance their abilities and strategies. Then, you use these resources to protect Hogwarts when under attack in battle.
The gameplay is similar to other deck-building games but is designed with flavor that makes it unique to Harry Potter. While there is nothing grand breaking in and of itself about this game, if you are a Harry Potter fan, getting to spend an hour with your friends at Hogwarts is going to be a blast. And because this is a cooperative card game, you and your friends win and lose as a team, so it’s especially great for folks looking for fun without hefty competition.
Read our Full Review of Hogwarts Battle here.
Unmask the Death Eaters
Age: 11+ Players: 4-29 Time: 60-90 minutes
For large groups of Harry Potter fans, the party game Unmask the Death Eaters is the ideal game night get. Similar to other team games that involve hidden identities, you and your friends take on the roles of members of the Order of the Phoenix. Players must combat the dark arts, facing various villain attacks and managing resources to protect Hogwarts. There’s an air of paranoia because everyone should naturally be opposed to the terror of Voldemort, yet, some members of his evil group of followers, the Death Eaters, are prepared to do anything to help their dark lord rise to power – and they’re mixed among the players.
The game works best when you have eight players but you can have up to 29 playing at once. Gameplay begins with everyone being given an identity they must keep hidden throughout the game. Some characters include Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood, with some characters having special abilities they can use during the game to win favor with the dark lord or rule the day.
During each player’s turn, you reveal encounter cards and brace yourself to face recruits of Lord Voldemort that range from dementors to inferius. After surviving the battles, you have to cast a vote to determine who may be the Death Eater working against the group. If the Death Eaters are outed before time’s up, you win! Otherwise, it’s a dark day for all…
Codenames: Harry Potter
Age: 11+ (Community 8+) Players: 2+ Time: 15 minutes
For a quick, fun icebreaker or opening game, try Codenames: Harry Potter, the Harry Potter adaptation of the popular game Codenames. The game aims for you and your friends to work together to reveal each other’s secret identities. Players must guess an identity using cards with pictures on one side and phrases on the other. Harry Potter-themed card games like this one are part of a broader range of gaming options that appeal to fans.
Instead of the normal version of Codenames where two teams work against each other in a race to identify all of the secret operatives among a grid of cards, in Codenames: Harry Potter, the two teams work together to discover the identities of all the members of the Order of the Phoenix. At every turn, clues are given out to help identify the characters – each clue is a single word and a single number. Word games like this are another popular category among fans, showcasing the variety of Harry Potter-themed games available. One advantage of this game, too, is that if you prefer the original rules of Codenames, you can use those rules just as easily as the new ones.
Harry Potter Labyrinth
Age: 7+ Players: 2-4 Time: 20-30 minutes
Harry Potter Labyrinth is a game in which you aim to explore a labyrinth to find various characters from the Harry Potter series. The key to victory is making quick decisions as you explore, ultimately seeking to get through the quickest. Tactical thinking’s required, though, or you won’t be able to outwit your friends and win.
By design, the game is intended to have a ton of replayability built into the game. Its play time is only 20-30 minutes, so you and your friends can play multiple times throughout a single game night, as an opener, or for a quick, fun moment any other time. In addition, the game is easy to pick up and play straight from the box. And if you have children who want to play, Harry Potter Labyrinth is a great choice thanks to the easy-to-understand rules and intuitive gameplay. Kids 7 and up will enjoy playing the game – and beat your socks off! So gather your family or friends for an amazing Harry Potter game night.
Munchkin: Harry Potter Deluxe
Age: 11+ (Community 8-16+) Players: 3-6 Time: 60-120 minutes
For those of you who are a fan of both Munchkin and Harry Potter, you’ll be excited to buy a copy of Munchkin: Harry Potter Deluxe. As you’d expect, this game comes with plenty of items, spells, characters, and artwork from the Harry Potter series. As the game starts, you choose which house you want to represent, and then players compete against the other houses to get more points by defeating monsters and finding loot.
The game works best with 3 to 6 players and can run anywhere from one to two hours. Depending on how the play goes, it’s easy to play multiple games of Munchkin in a single evening. It’s also ideal for a game night with multiple groups playing simultaneously and rotating games. And one good thing about this being a variant of Munchkin is that if you already know the standard rules, you’re set on instantaneous play for this one since it plays like the standard game.
If you haven’t played, Munchkin means you’ll aim to reach level ten before the other players do – and in the Harry Potter Deluxe version, that means kicking down doors, beating monsters, and grabbing any treasure not nailed down.
Harry Potter Talisman
Age: 11+ Players: 2-6 Time: 90-120 minutes
Harry Potter Talisman is the alternate version of Talisman that you’ve been waiting for! Taking the gameplay of Talisman and melding it with the Wizarding World results in a tense game where you and your friends decide who among you are members of the Order of the Phoenix and who are Death Eaters. Both groups have the same goal of reaching Lord Voldemort, but the Death Eaters want to deliver a powerful artifact to Voldemort while the Order of the Phoenix is looking to deliver a final blow to the dark lord.
The game comes with a custom illustrated board and nine custom-made figurines that represent main characters like Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Minerva McGonagall, and, of course, He Who Must Not be Named. As you progress through the game, your characters will acquire items they can use and characters like Ginny Wesley as followers that can help you as the game progresses.
Harry Potter Potions Challenge Game
Age: 6+ Players: 2-4 Time: 45 minutes
If you’ve got younger kids eager to explore the Wizarding World, the Harry Potter Potions Challenge is just the ticket. The goal of the game is to complete potion-making assignments from Hogwarts’ very own Master of Potions, Severus Snape. The gameplay consists of exploring the castle to find all of the ingredients necessary for brewing up your potion homework and crafting the right potions needed. Players take turns rolling dice for movement and during the moves, you hunt for the right ingredients for the right potions to score points.
The first person to make it back to the potion’s class wins! But complications arise as you compete against the clock to beat your fellow Hogwarts students to the end – and as you try to hide from the caretaker, Filch, who wants to prevent you from finishing your homework.
Magical Beasts
Age: 8+ Players: 2-4 Time: Unknown
For those who love the amazing creatures in the Harry Potter Books, you’ll love the Magical Beasts Board Game. In this game, you hunt for clues to find the magical beasts at Hogwarts. You and three friends can choose between the characters Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. The game rules are easy to grasp, so grown-ups and kids alike will enjoy this dive into the wonderful Wizarding World.
The Magical Beasts Board Game features a unique board that flips and allows for exploring the inside of Hogwarts and its grounds, uncovering clues, and discovering those wonderful creatures all around. The winner of the game is the first player to collect enough clues to determine the identity of the beast.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Mystery at Hogwarts
Age: 8+ Players: 2-6 Time: 30 minutes
For those who love Clue and similar deductive games, and also love Harry Potter, you’ll love Mystery at Hogwarts! The goal of this game is to investigate the use of a forbidden spell. This involves searching for clues, exploring rooms, and determining which room the spell was cast in and who cast the spell.
A twist on the Clue formula is that when you think that you know who did it and where, you have to go to the forbidden third floor. On that third floor, “Fluffy”, Hagrid’s giant three-headed dog, is keeping the information safe and you have to find a way around the dog. Another unique feature of the game is that there’s a ghost character that a player can choose to move on their turn instead of moving their character. The ghost can be moved so that it can block other players from advancing and accomplishing their goals.
Unfortunately this is no longer to buy new, so if you want to enjoy this one, you’ll need to track down a used copy.
House Cup Competition
Age: 11+ Players: 2-4 Time: 75-90 minutes
The House Cup Competition centers around you and your friends getting your magical education at Hogwarts, with players choosing a Hogwarts House to represent as you compete against each other’s houses. While this game was designed to be easy to learn, it has a depth that helps make every game play out differently – meaning loads of replayability lies ahead.
As you progress through the game you’ll gain magic and knowledge by attending classes and completing challenges to score points for your house. At the end of the seventh turn, points are added up and the highest score wins. This game takes around 90 minutes to play and works beautifully for players as young as 11 years old.
Also Read: Harry Potter Deck Building Game: Hogwarts Battle Review
Conclusion
All the gloriously magic fun you could ask for lies ahead in these Harry Potter board games. Be sure to collect an assortment of gameplay mechanics, game lengths, and age-appropriateness to ensure everyone who might play on game night is included. And since many of the games are limited to 4 players, you may want to have at least 2 or 3 on hand for a game rotation night so everyone gets their Wizarding World fun on without waiting for their turn to play.
Harry Potter Board Games FAQ
What age ranges are these Harry Potter board games suitable for?
The games mentioned in this article are suitable for various age ranges, typically from 6 to 11 years old and up. Some games, like Harry Potter Potions Challenge, are suitable for children as young as 6, while others, like Hogwarts Battle, are recommended for ages 11 and up.
How many players can typically participate in these games?
The player count varies widely among the games. Some games, like Harry Potter Labyrinth, accommodate 2-4 players, while others, like Unmask the Death Eaters, can handle up to 29 players for large group settings.
What types of gameplay mechanics are featured in these Harry Potter board games?
The games offer a variety of mechanics, including deck-building (Hogwarts Battle), hidden identity (Unmask the Death Eaters), cooperative play (Codenames: Harry Potter), maze exploration (Harry Potter Labyrinth), and deduction (Mystery at Hogwarts).
How long do these games typically take to play?
Play times vary significantly. Some games, like Codenames: Harry Potter, can be completed in about 15 minutes, while others, like Harry Potter Talisman, can take 90-120 minutes.
Are these games suitable for both casual fans and hardcore Harry Potter enthusiasts?
Yes, the games cater to a wide range of fans. Some games, like Harry Potter Potions Challenge, are more accessible for casual fans and younger players, while others, like Hogwarts Battle and Harry Potter Talisman, offer more depth for enthusiasts and experienced gamers.