MORE about HP gifts...

[Kimberly]

No: HPFGUIDX 7933


> 
> Also, I don't remember who menntioned a game called something like 
"mystery
> at Hogwarts" - but I'd also like to hear about that...;-)
> 
> Thanks!
> Maya

Maya,

I got the game for my cousin's sons, and (happily) they insisted that 
we play it.  It is, as some have said, almost exactly like Clue, but 
with several clever things adapted from other games like Monopoly and 
Sorry.  There are quite a few more places than in Clue, including most 
of the classrooms and the library and great hall.  For some reason on 
the character cards Draco and either Goyle or Crabbe (can't quite 
remember) are only in sillhouette, while the others have drawings of 
the characters.
Some of the clever touches:
-The person who's birthday is closest to Harry's gets to go first, 
according to the rules.
-There is a ghost figure on the board.  You can either move your own 
playing piece, or the ghost, or split your roll and move them both.  
Players cannot pass the ghost, so it is used to block other players.  
Also, if the ghost lands directly on someone's game peice, they are 
sent back to the beginning and must show one of their cards to the 
player who moved the ghost.
-There are 'Hogwarts cards'.  The # 1 was replaced on the dice with a 
little H symbol so that if you roll one of these, you get to pick a 
Hogwarts card.  Some cards are sort of like in monopoly, where it will 
say something like: you learned a new potion, you may do 
such-and-such.  The best of these is the invisibility cloak card, as 
when you have this card, the ghost cannot block you.  From these cards 
you can also draw the secret passageways (like in Clue).  They are not 
accessible until someone draws the card for them and places them on 
the board.
At first I thought the game was going to be a little too complicated 
for my cousin's boys, who are 9 and 10, but after struggling through 
it once, the second time they really had picked up on it and were 
getting into strategizing.  And even my niece, who's 17 and refuses to 
have anything to do with Harry Potter because she doesn't like all the 
hype, was watching by the end of the first game and played with us in 
the second game.  Her comment?  "This is the coolest game - it's Clue, 
it's Sorry - how come they didn't have this when I was little?"
I had to bite my tongue to quit while I was ahead and not try and 
foist the books on her.

Hope that makes a little sense, at least,
kimberly