Harry Potter: What Are The Rules of Quidditch?

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What Are The Quidditch Positions?

What Are The Rules of Quidditch?

Famous Quidditch Players In Harry Potter

Quidditch is an integral part of the Harry Potter series. It's the main wizarding sport, and because it becomes one of Harry's main interests, it factors into a large part of the plot. Quidditch has become a sensation in fan circles as well, with many real-life Quidditch leagues forming for fans of the books who happen to be on the sportier side as well.

However, because it was a sport made up for the Harry Potter series, it can be tough to remember all the rules, especially since a lot of them are strange compared to typical sports rules. This is a handy little guide to the basics of Quidditch, including the positions, how to score points, what counts as a foul, and some interesting strategies that players use to bring their team to victory.

Feature Image of Harry Potter 7 Fascinating Sport In The Wizarding World

Harry Potter: 7 Fascinating Sports In The Wizarding World

The magical sports within the Harry Potter series are a lot more dangerous and fun than the average game of soccer.

What Are The Quidditch Positions?

There are seven players on every Quidditch team: three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and one Seeker. The Chasers handle the main ball, the Quaffle, and attempt to score on the other team's goal. The Keeper is in charge of goalkeeping and stopping the other team's Chasers from scoring. The game also involves two balls called Bludgers, which fly through the air and try to knock the players off of their brooms. The Beaters are responsible for hitting the Bludgers with their bats to defend their teammates and keep the Bludgers away from them. The Seeker spends the match looking for the Golden Snitch, a small ball that flies very quickly, and will attempt to get it before the opposing team's Seeker.

What Are The Rules of Quidditch?

Much like other sports games, the goal is to throw a ball through a goal to earn points for your team. The Chasers hold onto the Quaffle and attempt to score in the other team's goal while the Keepers defend against them. Each goal scored with the Quaffle is worth 10 points. At the beginning of the game, all the balls are released onto the pitch, with the Bludgers and Snitch flying off on their own while the Quaffle is tossed in the air by a referee.

The thing that distinguishes Quidditch from most real-life sports is that there's technically no limit on how long the games can be. The game can only end once the Golden Snitch is caught (or if both Captains come to an agreement, as these games could go on for days if the Snitch had not yet been caught by the Seekers). The Snitch moves quickly and is hard to see, which is why the Seeker's job is difficult and important. Catching the Snitch ends the game and earns 150 points for the team of the Seeker that caught it. The winner of the game is the team with the most points, regardless of who caught the Snitch. It was possible to catch it and still lose, if the other team had more points to begin with.

Quidditch Fouls

According to the Harry Potter series, there were over 700 Quidditch fouls listed in the Department of Magical Games and Sports records. However, ten fouls were more common and tended to occur the most:

Blagging: holding another player's broomstick in an attempt to slow them down.
Blatching: flying with intent to collide with another player.
Blocking: a player intentionally and violently puts themselves in the way of a Seeker who is trying to catch the Snitch.
Blurting: locking broom handles with another player as a way to make them veer off course.
Bumphing: hitting a Bludger towards the spectators.
Cobbing: excessive use of elbows toward other players.
Flacking: a Keeper putting any part of their body through the goal in an attempt to push the Quaffle out, as they are supposed to defend from the front.
Haversacking: when a Chaser's hand is still on the ball as it goes through the goal, as the Quaffle must be thrown through.
Quaffle-pocking: tampering with the Quaffle in any way that makes it act abnormally.
Snitchnip: any player who is not a Seeker touching the Golden Snitch.
Stooging: when more than one Chaser is in the scoring area.

Quidditch Strategies

Various Quidditch strategies have been attempted and proven to be successful over the years, including these moves:

Body Blow: when two Chasers box in the opposing team's Chaser from either side, which physically forces them to let go of the Quaffle.
Dopplebeater Defence: when both Beaters hit a Bludger at the same time, which doubles the force behind their swing.
No Hands: when the Seeker has to take both hands off of their broom in order to grab the Snitch.
Sloth Grip Roll: a player hangs upside down on their broomstick to avoid being hit with a Bludger.
Spiral Dive: to descend quickly with the player's broom turning in a spiral motion, which was often used by Seekers to attempt to grab the very quick Snitch.
Starfish and Stick: the Keeper keeps one hand and foot on the broomstick, but stretches out with the others in a starfish shape to protect a wider area of the scoring zone.
Wronski Feint: a Seeker dives quickly toward the ground as if in pursuit of the Snitch to get the opposing Seeker to follow them, only to pull up at the last send, which sends the following Seeker crashing into the ground.

Famous Quidditch Players In Harry Potter

Many of the characters in Harry Potter, specifically the students at Hogwarts, are on their house's Quidditch team, including Harry himself, Ron Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Oliver Wood, Draco Malfoy, Cedric Diggory, Cho Chang, Angelina Johnson, Cormac McLaggen, and James Potter. There were also a couple of characters who were professional Quidditch players at some point. Viktor Krum was the Seeker for the Bulgarian National Quidditch team, which is a plot point in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. After the end of the series, it is revealed in ancillary material that Ginny Weasley went on to play Quidditch professionally as a Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, an all-female Quidditch team.

Harry Potter

When Harry Potter learns that he is a wizard, he enters a world beyond belief. Aside from continuing his studies at Hogwarts with best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry must also face Voldemort and his dark wizarding forces. The Harry Potter franchise is a worldwide phenomenon, spanning seven books, eight movies, three spinoff movies, a stage play, and numerous video games.