harry potter trading card game
TRANSCRIPT
You and your opponent are wizards dueling at Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Many spells and magical creatures you play will 'damage' your
opponent, which means your opponent has to discard cards from his or
her deck.
You win the game when your opponent's deck runs out of cards.
Before You Play
o Pick which deck you want.
o Put your Wizard or Witch card in the 'Wizard/Witch' spot.
o Shuffle your deck and put it in the 'Deck' spot.
o Draw 7 cards for your starting hand. o Decide who goes first.
Steps of Your Turn
Step 1. Draw a card from your deck and put it into your hand.
Step 2. Damage your opponent with your Creatures that are already on
the table.
Step 3. You have 2 Actions.
You can use an Action to:
o Play a Lesson card; or o Play a Creature card; or
o Play a Spell card; or
o Draw an extra card.
You can do the same Action twice instead of doing two different Actions.
The types of cards are:
-Lessons -Creatures
-Spells
-Items
-Locations -Quidditch Matches
-Adventures
-Characters
Full rules can be found at:
http://www.pojo.com/harrypotter/ccg/ccgrules.shtml
2 Full rules
Harry Potter TCG Rules
(Pojo Note: We painstakingly retyped these rules from the Wizards of the Coast Harry Potter Starter playmat
and advanced rulebook. We highly recommend buying one starter set to learn the basic rules. These rules
have been altered to clarify and support the expansion sets and advanced play.)
You and your opponent are wizards dueling at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Many cards you
play will damage your opponent, which means your opponent has to discard cards from his or her deck. You
win the game when your opponent's deck runs out of cards.
INDEX
I. Before You Play
II. Steps Of Your Turn
III. Types Of Cards
A. Lesson Cards
B. Creature Cards
1. Power Needed
2. Damage Each Turn
3. Health
4. Damage To A Creature
C. Spell Cards
1. Power Needed
2. What The Card Does
D. Item Cards
1. Power Needed
E. Match Cards
1. To Win
2. Prize
F. Location Cards
G. Adventure Cards
1. Effect
2. To Solve
3. Opponent's Reward
H. Character Cards
1. Using Other Character Cards
2. Ability
IV. Playing And Card Information
A. Cards In Play
B. Cards That Are Unique
C. Keywords
V. Building Your Own Deck
A. Optional Deck Building Rule
B. How To Build A Deck Like The Pojo Harry Potter Deck Mech's
Before You Play
Pick which deck you want. Both play your starting Wizard or Witch card on the table at the same time. Shuffle your deck and place it on the table faces down. Draw 7 cards from your deck for your starting hand. Decide who goes first.
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Steps Of Your Turn
(Your turn begins when the other player ends their turn.)
1. Before you draw a card. If a card tells you to do something before your turn, do it now.
2. You draw a card
3. Your creature cards that do damage, damage your opponent now. 4. You use 2 Actions. (You can do the same action twice instead of doing two different actions.) You can
use an action to:
Play a lesson card; or Play a creature card; or Play a spell card; or Play an item card; or Play a match card; or Play a location card; or Draw an extra card; or Use 2 actions to play a character card; or Use 2 actions to play an adventures card. (Character and adventure cards require 2 actions to be played.)
5. If a card tells you to do something at the end of your turn, do it now.
6. End of your turn.
Back to Index
Types of Cards
Lesson Cards-
Lessons give you the power you need to play other cards. When you play a lesson card, all you need to do is
take it from your hand and play it on the table. Lessons stay in play after you play them. Lesson cards have
lesson symbols on them (Care of Magical Creatures = foot, Charms = heart, Potions = cauldron,
Transfiguration = butterfly, Quidditch = snitch)
Creature Cards-
Creatures damage your opponent's deck - and not other creatures unless their card states it. They stay in play
after you play them.
Power Needed: In one corner of the card, you will see a number and a lesson symbol. You must have this
many lessons on the table to play this card, and ONLY ONE OF THEM HAS TO MATCH the lesson symbol.
For example, Surly Hound has a cost of 3 'Care of Magical Creatures' (foot). To play it, you'd need 3 lessons
in play, and at least one of them would have to be a Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
Damage Each Turn: Your opponent discards this many cards from his or her deck every turn. This damage
happens on step 3 of your turn, so your creature DOESN'T do damage on the turn that you play it.
Health: If your opponent's card does this much damage or more to your creature, discard it.
Damage To A creature: If you do less damage to a creature than its health, you'll need to mark the damage somehow. You can use counters or markers of any kind. For example, if you have a creature on the table with
6 health and it takes 2 damage, put 2 counters on it. If it later takes 4 or more damage, discard it.
Spell Cards- To play a spell card, show it to your opponent, do what it says, and put it in your discard pile. Spells don't stay
on the table like other cards do.
Power Needed: You must have this many lessons in play to cast this spell card, but ONLY ONE OF THEM
HAS TO MATCH the symbol on the card.
What The Card Does: This is what happens when you play the card. Some cards do damage to your
opponent or to creatures on the table. (You need to be able to complete the required steps that the card tells
you to do in order to play it. If a card tells you to do something and then says you 'may' do something else,
that part is not required.)
Item Cards-
Items are a lot like creatures. Once you play them they stay on the table (unless some card tells you or a
condition is met to discard them). Some items (Wands and Cauldrons) give you extra power - just like
lessons, but even better. Other items have all sorts of different effects.
Power Needed: You must have this many lessons in play to cast this spell card, but ONLY ONE OF THEM
HAS TO MATCH the symbol on the card.
Match Cards-
To play a match card, you need the required amount of power and you use up 1 of your actions. There can be only one match on the table In Play at a time. So if you or your opponent already has a neither of you can play
another one.
To Win: This is what a player needs to do to win the match. It does not all have to be done at once. So a
player might win by doing some damage on each turn. (This means each player needs to keep track of how
much damage he or she has done towards winning the match.) Also, either player can win the match.
Prize: The winner gets the prize explained on the card. When a player wins a match, the match is put in the
discard pile of the person who played it.
Location Cards-
These represent different places in Harry's world. You'll find location cards for each different lesson type. To
play a location card, you need the required amount of power and you use up one of your actions. When you
play a location card, it stays on the table. Since you can be in only one place at a time, only one location can
be in play at a time. When you play a location card, check to see if your opponent already has a location in
play. If there is one, discard the old location from play.
Adventure Cards- Adventure cards are a kind of card you can play to give your opponent a challenge to overcome. You don't
need any lessons on the table to play adventure cards, but you do have to use 2 Actions to play them instead
of 1. Each player can only have one adventure in play at a time, so if you already have an adventure in play,
you can't play another one. An adventure card has three parts.
Effect: This is what the adventure does as long as it's in play.
To Solve: This is what your opponent needs to do to solve the adventure. They can do this any time during
their turn after they have drawn their first card, but they have to solve the adventure all at once, not one piece
at a time (unless the card specifically says otherwise).
Opponent's Reward: If your opponent solves the adventure, they're the school hero! The adventure card will
say what their reward is. Then you put the adventure in your discard pile.
Character Cards-
When you play the Harry Potter TCG, you always start with a character in play that represents you (this is
your starting character). Your starting character is special in another important way: it can never be discarded
from play for any reason. For example, if a card tells you to discard three cards from play, you can't pick your
starting character as one of those three. As long as the game is still going, your starting character is there -
because it's you!
Using Other Character Cards: In the game, you can also have other character cards in your deck. Just like
adventure cards, you play a character card by using up 2 Actions, and it doesn't matter if you have any lessons
or not.
Ability: Once you've played a character card, you can use its special ability. Whether it's the character you started with or one you played during the game, you can use the ability any time during your turn after you've
drawn your first card.
Back to Index
Playing And Card Information
Cards In Play-
Cards are described as In Play when they're on the table. The cards in your hand, deck, and discard pile are
not in play. Cards that can be in play are printed sideways (Lessons, Creatures, Characters, Items, Locations,
and Adventures); cards that can't be in play are printed vertically (Spells). Unless the card says otherwise,
whatever is written on the 'sideways' cards happens only while that card is in play. In general, there's no limit
to how many cards you can have in play. The only exceptions are adventures (only one can be in play on each
side at a time) and cards that are 'Unique.'
Cards That Are Unique-
All character cards, and some other special cards, say Unique on them. This means there can be only one of
them In Play at a time. There is one exception. If you and your opponent both have the same starting character that's fine. Otherwise, only one of each Unique card can be 'in play,' at one time. Nobody else can
play another copy of that same 'Unique' card unless it has been discarded from play. Keep in mind that
starting characters can never be removed from play. Also, this 'Unique' rule does apply to two different
'Unique' cards that represent the same character. For example, if Harry the Seeker is in play, nobody can play
Harry Potter, Harry the Seeker, or any other Harry Potter character card for that matter.
Keywords-
Some cards have special words on them that other cards, or the rules, refer to. These keywords come right
after the type of card. For example, the card Boil Cure has the keyword 'Healing' after 'Spell'. If some other
card makes you discard all Healing cards from your hand, and you have Boil Cure in your hand, you'd have to
discard it. For most keywords, everything you need to know is on the cards, but there are special rules for the
Unique, Wizard, Witch and House keywords (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff). Other
keywords are there for fun or for other cards to refer to.
Back to Index
Building Your Own Deck
One of the most exciting parts of the Harry Potter TCG is building your own personal deck! You can build
your deck however you want, as long as you follow these simple rules:
1. Your deck must have exactly 60 cards. You must ALSO have 1 card that's your starting character
(which has to be a Witch or Wizard). So, you will have 61 cards total.
2. Your deck can have, at most, 4 copies of any card, except for lesson cards (you can have any number
of those).
Optional Deck Building Rule-
If you want, you can build a 'House deck'. This means that all the cards you choose are from a single House
(Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Pojo.com's House of Pain). Pick a House, and use cards that
have keywords from that House or that have no House keywords at all, but don't use cards from any of the
other Houses.
How To Build A Deck Like The Harry Potter Pojo Deck Mech's-
1. Decide what kind of spells, items, and or creatures you want to use to beat your opponent. Try
thinking of cards that would make a good combo or just work well together.
2. Select a starting character that best supports your idea.
3. Pick out your lesson cards and items you will need to support your deck idea.
4. Keeping in mind what types of lessons you chose, fill in the remaining room with spells, items, locations, or creatures. Remember to add adventure or other character cards if you want to use them
too.
5. All you have to do now is take time playing out a few hands by yourself to see how it's working.
Adjust cards in your deck by swapping out certain cards that you need to make your deck play the
way you want it too. GOOD LUCK!
Back to Index
WIKIPEDIA
Harry Potter Trading Card Game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harry Potter Trading Card Game
Harry Potter Trading Card Game's card back design
Designer(s) Paul Peterson
Skaff Elias
Mike Elliott
Publisher(s) Wizards of the Coast
Players 2
Age range 9+
Playing time ~ 20 minutes
Random chance Some
Skill(s) required Card playing
Arithmetic
Reading
Logic
The Harry Potter Trading Card Game, (colloquially "HPTCG") is a strategy and collectible card
game based in the magical world of the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling. Created byWizards of the
Coast in August 2001, the game was designed to compete with the Yu-Gi-Oh!,Pokémon and Magic: The
Gathering card games.[1][2][3]
It was released to coincide with the release of the first film in the
series.[4]
The game was praised for the way it immersed children in the Harry Potter universe.[5]
At one
point the game was the second best selling toy in the United States;[6]
however, the game is now out of
print.
Contents
[hide]
1 Game play
o 1.1 Types of cards
o 1.2 Lesson types
o 1.3 Keywords
2 History
o 2.1 Card sets
o 2.2 Card value
o 2.3 Card availability
o 2.4 Playing online
o 2.5 Lawsuit
3 References
4 External links
[edit]Game play
The game is for two players, each with 60-card decks (with the addition of a starting Character; see
below). The aim is to force the opposite player to run out of cards from their deck first.[7]
When cards do
"damage" to a player, cards from the deck are placed into the discard pile. Each player begins with a
hand of seven cards, and draws a card before each of their turns.
[edit]Types of cards
There are eight different types of cards in the Harry Potter Trading Card Game.[8]
Lessons are the basic units of the game. Each provides 1 "Power", which is needed to play other
cards. The number of Lessons in play determines the player's capabilities to play cards with different
costs. There are five different Lesson cards, each of which has a different symbol and colour that is
used to identify it on other cards.[8]
Spells are cards that are played directly into the discard pile and have a given effect. They have a
printed Power cost; there are Spells for each Lesson type.[8]
Creatures stay on the table when played. All Creatures have a printed Power cost, and require Care
of Magical Creatures Lessons to play. They have a Health number that determines how much
damage they can take, and a "Damage each turn" number that dictates the amount of damage done
to the opposing player each turn. Not all Creatures do damage; some have special abilities.[8]
Characters do not have a printed Power cost or Lesson type and thus do not require Lessons to
play, although they do require two Actions. Characters stay on the table and have special abilities
that can be used by the player; some also provide Power. Each player must have a starting
Character to represent them: the starting Character begins the game on the table and cannot be
discarded from play. Only Characters with the "Witch" or "Wizard" keyword designation can be used
as starting Characters.[8]
Adventures, like Characters, do not require Lessons to play, and require two Actions. They have an
Effect on the opposing player; a "To Solve" condition that must be accomplished for the opposing
player to remove the Adventure; and a Reward, which the opposing player receives when they have
solved the Adventure. Each player can have only one Adventure in play at a time.[8]
Items stay on the table when played. They have a printed Power cost and can be of any Lesson
type. Some have effects that can be used, while others provide extra Power.[8]
Matches were introduced in the Quidditch Cup expansion. They all have a printed Power cost of
one, requiring Quidditch Power. They have a condition "To Win", and a "Prize" for the first player to
fulfill that condition. Only one Match is allowed in play at one time.[8]
Locations were introduced in the Diagon Alley expansion. They have a printed Power cost and can
be of any Lesson type. Locations have the same effect on both players. There can be only one
Location in play at any one time; playing a Location removes any previous Locations from play.[8]
[edit]Lesson types
There are five Lesson types in the game, each applying to different cards. There is no limit on the Lesson
cards in a player's deck: a player may have as many different types as they prefer.[8]
Care of Magical Creatures (brown) is mostly used for Creature cards, although there are also a
small number of Spells, Items and Locations requiring this Lesson. Care of Magical Creatures focus
mainly on dealing damage.
Charms (blue) can be used for Spells, Items and Locations. Charms specialises in low but versatile
damage and some other effects, such as locating cards from a player's deck.
Potions (green) can be used for Spells, Items and Locations. Potions cards are often very powerful
and require comparatively low Power costs, although they usually require a sacrifice of a certain
number of Lessons.
Quidditch (yellow) can be used for Spells, Items, Locations and Matches. This Lesson type was
introduced in the Quidditch Cup expansion, and specialises in cards that have two effects at once.
Transfiguration (red) can be used for Spells, Items and Locations. These cards specialise in the
removal of Creatures, Lessons and other cards from play.
[edit]Keywords
Some cards have keywords in addition to their card type. These keywords allow other cards to refer to a
specific type of card. The "Wizard" or "Witch" designation on Character cards is an example of a
keyword, as is the "Healing" designation on some other cards. Other common keywords include
designations representing each of the four Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff,
and Slytherin.
Some cards (including all Characters) have the keyword "Unique", which indicates that only one of them
can be in play at a time (for either player).[9]
The only exception is if both players have the same starting
Character.
[edit]History
[edit]Card sets
The expansions are represented by a symbol on each card.
The first set of cards, now commonly called the base set, was introduced in August 2001. Since the 116-
card base set was first released, four expansion sets have been introduced to vary play and expand card
availability. The first three expansions, which each consist of 80 cards plus 30 Foil or Hologram Portrait
Premium rares, include Quidditch Cup (November 2001), Diagon Alley(March 2002), and Adventures at
Hogwarts (June 2002). Notable differences in these expansions include the addition of
the Quidditch lesson type and Match cards introduced in the Quidditch Cupexpansion,[10]
location cards
introduced in the Diagon Alley expansion,[11]
and a larger pool of adventure cards in the Adventures at
Hogwarts expansion. The fourth and final expansion released was Chamber of Secrets, which has 140
cards plus 55 Foil or Hologram Portrait Premium rares (October 2002). This last expansion features
cards based on the Chamber of Secrets book, where all previous cards were based on the Philosopher's
Stone book.
From its conception in 2001, through 2003, the Harry Potter Trading Card Game was popular among
many people and age ranges and several gaming leagues were formed.[12]
After releasing the last
expansion set in 2003, Wizards of the Coast decided not to continue makingHPTCG cards, though no
explanation was given to the public for this decision.
[edit]Card value
Each card has its own specific value, the most valuable being "rare" and the least being "common". The
value of a card is shown by a symbol at the bottom right of the card, followed by the expansion set
symbol and set number. A circle means that the card is common, and therefore not very valuable; a
diamond means the card is uncommon, so the card has a bit of value; and a star means the card is rare,
and is more valuable.
There are also cards of more value than "rare" cards: foils and holofoils. "Foil premium" cards are
partially "shiny", having thunderbolts and stars as theme for the "additional covering". These are normally
rare cards, but common and uncommon foils do exist. "Holo-portraits premium", (colloquially "holofoil")
are the most rare and the most valuable of all types of cards. These cards are only available for
"character" cards, which have the portrait of the character on them (origin of name). They are similar to
foils, except that the picture of the character has a holographic quality that gives the impression of
"popping out".
Given the variety of card values, single cards have a price range of $.05 to $15.00.[13]
[edit]Card availability
The cards from this game are sold in three ways: booster packs, starter decks, and theme
decks. Booster packs were released for every set. Each pack contains eleven cards, which includes
one rare card, two uncommon cards, six common cards, and two Lessons. If a premium card was
included in a base set booster pack, it replaced the rare card. In the expansions, a premium card
replaced one of the common cards.
Starter decks were made with the Base set, Diagon Alley set, and the Chamber of Secrets set. Each
included two introductory decks of 40 cards, a playmat, additional instructions and two premium cards.
Theme decks, a special kind of starter pack, were released to the public with the Chamber of
Secrets set. These decks are the Percy Weasley Potions deck and the Twin Trouble deck. Included in
each was a full 60-card deck, playable right out of the box. The packaging for two additional theme decks
(Hannah Abbott's Spellcaster and Dean Thomas' Restrike) was made for a toy fair in 2001, but the
products were never produced.[14]
[edit]Playing online
Since Wizards of the Coast is no longer producing cards, there has been a decrease in the number of
players for this game. For those who can not find others to play with in person, a program
called LackeyCCG allows players to meet and play online. An alternative to LackeyCCG is to
use Apprentice with a patch made by Pojo.com.[15]
[edit]Lawsuit
In 2002, Wizards of the Coast filed a lawsuit against former vice president of operations Charles
Federline, alleging that he cost the company more than $93,000 by undermining the bidding process for
the print work for the cards.[16]