Licensed games can be a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes, they are absolutely fantastic and give the property its based on the royal treatment. Fantasy Flight Games and Gale Force 9 have an excellent track record with this. Yet many other times, they are clearly quick cash grabs trying to prey on people’s love of the source material.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle

I’m very happy to report that our newest Game of the Week, Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle, falls into the former category. Published by USAopoly, Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle seeks to take players through the 7 books of the Harry Potter series, and does an excellent job at that.

What is the Game?

In Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle, each player takes on the role of one of the main characters of the Harry Potter novels: Harry, Hermione, Ron, or Neville. At its core, Hogwarts Battle is a deck building game. If you aren’t familiar with the term, it’s basically a game where you build your play deck as the game progresses. Each turn, players will be attacking villains, fighting off the dark arts, and recruiting new allies, spells, and items. If you can defeat all the villains before they take over every location, the players will win.

Why Should You Play It?

One of the great things about Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle is that players don’t have to have any experience with deck building games before hand. The game actually eases players into this style of game over the course of the seven books. This slow ramp up helps get players up to speed before anything too tricky is introduced to them. This makes Hogwarts Battle the perfect gateway deck building game.

However if you are a veteran gamer, never fear. You can jump past the first three book if you want to get to the new stuff. Or, you can head right to book 7 if you want to experience everything Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle has to offer right away. Once you play through all seven books, the game doesn’t have to end. Book 7 is essentially the full game and can be played from there on forward.

Even though I’m a veteran of deck building games, I still started with game one, because I wanted to see everything this game had to offer, one piece at a time. And I actually enjoyed every play of it. While it was far from the most challenging cooperative game, it was still a really solid one. Finally, Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle also makes for a great family game with its easy to learn rules and highly accessible theme.