Harry Potter Clue

Harry Potter Clue

by Carolina Pla

(Boardgame Beast HQ)

Click to order CLUE Harry Potter from Amazon!Click to order CLUE Harry Potter from Amazon!

Harry Potter Clue


Board game manufacturer:
Hasbro
Number of players:
3-6
Age:
9+

Quick Verdict

Harry Potter Clue is a perfect combination for those who loved the original Clue, and for the army of millions JK Rowling has amassed with her Harry Potter series.

The game and gameplay

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A few extra game elements, like spinning boards, a Hogwarts dice and a Dark Deck adds that extra bit of tension and complexity that most will welcome. Turn the lights down, get some candles and this becomes a perfect ghoulish game for Halloween!

Each player is given the traditional sheet from the notepad, with a list of all suspects, weapons/spells and rooms.

A Help Card is given to each player at the start, more can be collected throughout the game.

House Point tokens are given to each player, and whenever a card from the Dark Deck appears, one or more players is susceptible to losing HPs. When a player loses all of their House Point tokens, they are out of the game.

At the start of the game, the six Student cards are shuffled and one removed. The card is turned face up; the beloved Harry Potter character that is revealed has gone missing, and it is everyone’s task to figure out which evil Death Eater is trying to kill him/her.

The Mystery Cards hold the suspects, weapons/spells and locations of the evil deed. As in the traditional Clue, these are separated into three piles, shuffled and one from each pile relegated to the Envelope. The rest of the cards are then reshuffled and distributed evenly among the players. Differing from the traditional version, any leftover cards are placed in Dumbledore’s office. These can be viewed one at a time by simply entering the office upon a player’s turn.

Each player looks at the Mystery cards they hold, then checks them off on the sheet. It is time to start the game. Game play starts with the highest dice roll, or the person whose birthday it is next. Play continues clockwise.

Click to order CLUE Harry Potter from Amazon!Click to order CLUE Harry Potter from Amazon!

At the start of a turn, the player rolls two regular dice, and the special Hogwarts die. The Hogwarts die may show one of four house crests; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw, or a Help Card symbol, or the Dark Mark symbol. If it shows one of the House crests, the player moves the corner of the rotating board one notch clockwise.

If the Dark Mark appears, either on the die or on the board, a card from the Dark Deck is taken and read aloud. Each card describes what dark event is happening, who is affected, how many house points could be lost, and what Help cards can protect the player who owns it.

Once this is done, the player can then move their game piece the number of spaces they rolled on the two regular dice, or less if they choose. Or they can use the secret passageways to move directly into another room. Sometimes doorways are blocked by the rotating boards under the main board and this adds another obstacle to player movement around the school.

Finally, it is time to make a suggestion, take a Help card, or end your turn if you can do neither. If you make a suggestion, it must be from the room you’re currently in, but the suspect and weapon/spell can be of your choosing.

At this point, the game follows the traditional Clue board game. You mark off any card revealed to you, or those that nobody has, and eventually make an accusation. If you are wrong, you can no longer play, except to answer questions about the cards you hold.

Whomping Willow!

Whomping Willow

Pros and cons

There is quite a bit of set-up involved in Harry Potter Clue, which may prove daunting for those who like more streamlined games. For some – too many pieces and cards that take some time to differentiate. If you’ve played once, though, it’s all pretty straightforward.

The night we played, we had a diverse player selection. My mom, who is from the puritanical “don’t fix what ain’t broke” league, preferred the traditional, simpler version of the game.

My step dad revealed he must have been raised by wolves (or coyotes; he’s from Texas) because he’s NEVER played Clue in any form. He found the game a little confusing, but by the end he was getting the hang of it, if not perfecting his Latin spell pronunciation.

My husband (not to name-drop, but Ash the Boardgame Beast-Man himself) graced us with his presence. Not particularly a Harry Potter fan, he quite enjoyed the game, but found the extras mostly just that – extras that weren’t necessary.

See more Harry Potter Games

Read our Halloween Game Ideas

The Verdict

I am the perfect embodiment of a Harry Potter fan AND a Clue fan. Simply put, I loved Harry Potter Clue. It was nice to reminisce with all the characters and spells and such, and I thought the extras added more layers to the game.

Boardgame Beast gives Harry Potter Clue four-and-a-half footprints out of five. Click here to leave comments and submit your OWN score for this game!
Click to order CLUE Harry Potter from Amazon!
Click to order CLUE Harry Potter from Amazon!

More Harry Potter Reviews


Comments for Harry Potter Clue

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Jan 27, 2013

Finally!

NEW

by: Live laugh


I got this game for my tenth birthday, and now, three yrs later, I find it in my closet and decide its time to finally play it. I lost the instructions(or, more likely,my brothers lost them) ages ago, so this site is really helping me right now. I’m about to play it with my mom, and I’m hoping I’ ll like it. Thx!


Feb 10, 2011

Room question

by: Anonymous


If you have a card showing a particular room, can you go to that room and guess that room, which is deceiving to guessing the room to me? Thanks!


Dec 27, 2010

Fun Variation on clue, rules need a little tweek

by: D.Rodriguez


Got this for my mother who is a huge clue fan as well as a huge HP fan so this was perfect for her.

CONS: Initial set up takes a bit longer than regular clue but not that bad. We played 3 times with four players following the official rules and all 3 times game ended cause everyone lost all their house points and Luna was always the missing student. Another problem was two players just kept going in to Dumbledores office to see the cards there. All adults were playing but this game is going to be a bit complicated for the younger Harry Potter Fans.

PROS: Harry Potter fans will love it, also the moving gameboard adds a nice twist. love to see the face of someone who gets locked in/out of a room.

In the end we increased the number of House Points everyone started with and shuffled the cards everytime someone went to Dumbledores office to look at a card. stopped people from just going there cause chance you would see same card over


Sep 26, 2010

LOVED IT

by: Anonymous


I got this game for my birthday, it is a little tricky with the House Points and the extra cards but I love it. It was so much fun, I love playing it. Its so much fun, I love Harry Potter, and I love clue, both obsessions mixed in one, great game!

Charlie Serena


Jul 06, 2010

some observations

by: Anonymous


Since I have lost my instructions for the game play of the Harry Potter Clue game, I was hoping to get information on the number of house points that you start with at the different levels. Also if one of the “beloved” characters has been kidnapped I believe that that character cannot participate in the game meaning that only the other five characters can actually participate. I also kind of remember that there are certain situations that cause all four house wheels to be turned, that was not addressed in your generous instructions. Thanks for any help you can give.


Feb 16, 2010

Solid game

by: The depraved dark mark


I didn’t find the game hard to set up or confusing. Then again, I play some pretty complex games and I was already familiar with Clue.

I found the gameplay to be quite fun. The Harry Potter changes to classic Clue were a welcome addition that added a new component of fun and strategy. Clue is an interesting mix of skill and luck, and I think most people over 12 or so will enjoy it.

The game board itself should have bigger fonts to make it easier to read. Other than that it is well put together.


Jan 18, 2010

Lovely Game

by: Vidhi Patel


Can you send me things about Harry Potter and friends?

My email address is smartyhotcoolpants@yahoo.com.

Please send e things. Can you send me your email address too!

Thank You

By Vidhi Patel


Jan 10, 2010

I like it!

by: Anonymous, 9yrs old


I like it!


Jan 08, 2010

Some questions about game play

by: Anonymous


We have just played for the first time, and enjoyed it, although the children less so because they got eliminated. Not reading the set up correctly was a major fault as no players received help cards until the landed on a star.

Another thing that did not help either was rolling a Dark Mark on the die or having a Dark Mark come up on the board a number of times before we our Help Cards.

I have two questions as well which I hope somebody could answer:

1. Do we keep all of the help cards that have been accumulated, or give them back as soon as they been used?

2. Do the secret passages need to be opened at ends (ie appear at both wheels/ends) before we can use them?

Regards,

Mark.


Dec 29, 2009

too complicated!!

by: Myka, Liverpool


My 11 year old son was really pleased when he opened this present and was looking forward to playing it. When we opened the box, it looked a bit complicated to set up, so myself along with 3 other adults decided to set it up ready and call the kids when we were ready. An hour and a half later my son came in to see if it was ready, sadly not. This is the most complicated game I have ever tried to set up. There is far too much to it. After getting everything ready we couldn’t even work out how to play it. It was the most disappointing board game I have ever bought, i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It’s going back.


Aug 26, 2009

hours of fun fun fun!

by: Anonymous


title says it all!


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