HARRY POTTER TOYS & GAMES, PART 1:
BOARD & CARD GAMES

With the Harry Potter book and movie target audience being ages 8 to 12, there is a vast array of toys and board and video games either currently on the market or to be released. Warner Bros.' major toy licensees include LEGO Systems, Inc., Mattel, Inc. and Hasbro, Inc. Mattel will have board and card games, puzzles and action figures.

Hasbro will have candy, electronic games, card and trading games. Hasbro's divisions are OddzOn, Tiger Electronics, CAP Candy and Wizards of the Coast. LEGO will offer about a dozen of its familiar interlocking block and figurine play sets with Harry Potter themes.

Electronic Arts, Inc. (The Sims series of games) has won licensing rights for video games for all game platforms, including Nintendo Game Boy, Sony PlayStation, PC's, Internet and even cellular phones.

MATTEL BOARD AND CARD GAMES

Product: Harry Potter Mystery at Hogwarts Board Game Suggested Price: About $25 Description/Comments: In the game's premise, spells cannot be cast outside of class, yet some Hogwarts student has done so. Players must figure out which character performed what spell in what room. Sounds like a wizard version of Clue. Peeves the Poltergeist adds an extra wrinkle to the game, as he can send players back to "start."

Product: Harry Potter Trivia Game Suggested Price: About $35 Description/Comments: A game along the lines of Trivial Pursuit. You travel around Hogwarts, as represented on the board, and can put spells and curses on opponents to hold them back. Game includes 840 questions, and up to six persons or teams can play.

Product: Quidditch Card Game Cost: About $7. Description: This is one of two games based upon Quidditch released into the market (the other is by University Games, see below). Individual cards represent players and balls, and it's Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Players have to "dodge" the Bludgers while trying to score 10 points with each Quaffle. One player or team could win the whole thing by getting the Golden Snitch. The stand (above right) is another accessory over and above the basic card game, or might have been a toy fair display thing. I must find out.

The Harry Potter Casting Stones board game was unveiled at the International Toy Fair in New York in February 2001. Players battle each other with different spells, just like the dueling contests featured in The Chamber of Secrets. The game also comes with computer chips, which link it up with the Harry Potter action figures to enable them to face off as well, in the Powercaster set. The packages featured are starter packs for $9.99, and booster packs for $6.99. There will be 125 spell stones in all to collect, which is reminiscent of Enesco's Collector Stones.

Product: Harry Potter Adventures Through Hogwarts 3D Game Cost: $24.99. Description: This looks like a fairly complex mingling of roleplaying and board games with a lot of little pieces that could get lost (sorry, that's the mom in me commenting). It is based upon Hogwarts School, with graphics of the Mountain Troll and life-sized chess game in evidence. The Hogwarts setup rotates for playing action. Kids can reenact the entire Sorcerer's Stone novel. Call it being a virtual witch or wizard. (Image from Action Figure Collecting/About.com)

Product: UNO -- Harry Potter Edition Price: About $15 Description: "UNO!" This 1971 classic, acquired by Mattel when it bought out International Games, Inc. some years ago, now gets an HP makeover. The popular movie graphics by Warner Bros. artist/chief HP character designer Fred Bode appear on the cards, along with the usual numbers, color suits, and comand cards, such as that annoying "Draw 4" card. This is pretty much the same game, except a few new twists, such as Invisiblity Cloak and Howler cards. Packaged in a fake woodgrain treasure chest -- whoopee!

GAMES BY UNIVERSITY GAMES

Other Harry Potter board games and puzzles were made by University Games, Inc., of San Francisco. This board game manufacturer was founded on April Fool's Day 1985 by two college friends. The company's aim is to "offer educational games that encourage social interaction and imagination through gameplay."

Product: Harry Potter Magic Puzzles Suggested Price: About $15 Description/Comments: Puzzle set features three two-sided puzzles, one with 60 pieces, and two with 81 pieces. There are also a magic spinner to make things "move," and 10 "mind reading cards."

This board game recreates the entire Quidditch match, and I mean the whole thing, due to it being so detailed. There the Seekers, Beaters and Chasers; the Bludgers, Quaffles and Snitch; and a board with the "field" and six hoops as described in Rowling's books. Up to 14 people can join in the bid for broomstick victory. Cost is about $25.

THE UNITED STATES PLAYING CARD CO.

U.S. Playing Card Co., maker of the familiar "Bicycle" brand in its domestic market, produced two licensed Harry Potter playing card sets for sale in America. The company took an approach used by a number of others: first release a "book" version of HP cards, followed by a "movie" version closer to The Sorcerer's Stone release in fall 2001.

	The Magical Cards deck was the book version. Illustrations were by Warner Bros. artist Fred Bode, with Hogwarts shield crest as card back image. The storage book shown doubled as a trick box that could make cards "mysteriously" vanish and reappear. Cost, about $7.
	The movie card deck came in a metal tin shaped, appropriately, like a book and had the three Gryffindor friends on the cover. The standard 52-card deck had movie stills and could be used for most games. Card back was Harry Potter name title. Instructions also were included for a Harry Potter matching game. Cost, about $6.

Also, check out the European Harry Potter card decks from Carta Mundi in the Foreign Markets section.

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