95 Fun Facts About Quidditch

How many players does each Quidditch team field?

Seven a side: a team fields Chasers, Beaters, a goal-minder and a Seeker, and the real-life ground version keeps the same number of players on the pitch.

How many points does a Chaser score by putting the Quaffle through a hoop?

Putting the Quaffle through one of the hoops scores 10 points; because a goal is worth so little beside the Snitch, critics call the scoring lopsided.

Catching the Golden Snitch ends the match and earns the Seeker's team how many points?

Catching the Golden Snitch ends the match and adds 150 points, so a team can win despite conceding many more goals, which is why the scoring is so often criticised.

The Golden Snitch is described as being roughly the size of what?

It has wings and is enchanted to dart around the pitch while staying inside the boundaries.

Bludgers are round, jet-black balls made of what material?

Bludgers are ten inches across and made of iron, per Quidditch Through the Ages; they fly around trying to knock players off their brooms, and Beaters bat them away with short wooden clubs.

What colour is the Quaffle?

The Quaffle is scarlet leather, about the size of a football; Chasers pass it between them and the goal-minder throws it back out to their own side after a save.

Where did J.K. Rowling say she came up with Quidditch?

Rowling said she dreamed up the game in a Manchester hotel room after an argument with her boyfriend, at the Bournville Hotel in Didsbury; she wanted a sport that made people congregate and signified the wizarding society's character.

According to Rowling, how did she arrive at the word "Quidditch"?

Rowling said she got the name by filling notebook pages with words beginning with Q, several pages' worth, before Quidditch felt right; she chose it with no etymology in mind.

Rowling once described writing Quidditch matches as what?

Rowling said Quidditch matches were the bane of her life as a writer: readers expected Harry to play, but there were only so many ways to make a match feel new.

The final Quidditch scene in the books features memorable commentary by which character?

Luna Lovegood's commentary, on cloud shapes and Zacharias Smith's 'Loser's Lurgy', marks the last match depicted in the books, in Half-Blood Prince; Rowling said she wrote it with 'fiendish glee'.

Quidditch appears in how many of the eight Harry Potter films?

Some subplots, such as Ron's own playing storyline, were cut for time.

Rowling's 2014 Pottermore Quidditch World Cup reports ended with a story about the final that featured what?

Rita Skeeter's gossip column on the 2014 final placed Harry, Ron and Hermione as adults in the VIP box, Harry at 34 with a mysterious cut on his cheek, the first new story of the grown-up trio since 2007.

Which of these teams from the books is based in a fictional place, unlike the Bats, Falcons or Magpies?

Chudley is invented, whereas Ballycastle, Falmouth, Montrose, Portree and Wigtown are real towns; the Chudley Cannons, Ron's beloved team, last won the league in 1892 per Quidditch Through the Ages.

Which all-female professional team does Ginny Weasley join after Hogwarts, according to Rowling?

The Holyhead Harpies, founded in 1203, are the sport's only all-female side; Quidditch Through the Ages recalls their week-long 1953 match against the Heidelberg Harriers, and Rowling said Ginny played for them after school.

After her playing career, what job does Ginny take?

Rowling said in 2007 that Ginny, after playing professionally, became senior Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet; her bylined match reports on the 2014 World Cup appeared on Pottermore.

Harry becomes Gryffindor Seeker in his first year, described as the youngest in how long?

Harry is the youngest house Quidditch player in about a century, as Ron reports; McGonagall saw him catch Neville's Remembrall in a dive and marched him off to captain Oliver Wood.

Which broom does McGonagall arrange for first-year Harry, by special consent of Dumbledore?

The Nimbus 2000 arrives at breakfast as a long parcel with a note from McGonagall; first-years are normally forbidden their own brooms, so Dumbledore had to bend the rule.

Lucius Malfoy buys a full set of which brooms for the Slytherin team so they will pick Draco as Seeker?

In Chamber of Secrets, Lucius Malfoy donates Nimbus 2001s, the newest model, to the whole Slytherin side and Draco is installed as Seeker; Hermione retorts that Gryffindor's players got in on pure talent.

Who sends Harry a Firebolt as an anonymous Christmas gift in Prisoner of Azkaban?

Sirius Black, then a fugitive, ordered the Firebolt by owl from his own Gringotts vault, using Crookshanks to carry the order; McGonagall confiscated it as possibly jinxed until it had been checked over.

What destroys Harry's first broom during the match invaded by Dementors?

Harry fainted and fell when the Dementors swarmed the pitch; his riderless broom blew into the Whomping Willow, which smashed it to splinters.

Outside of Quidditch, Harry uses his Firebolt to escape which creature during the Triwizard Tournament?

In the first task Harry summons his Firebolt with Accio and outflies the Hungarian Horntail, the most dangerous of the dragons, to snatch its golden egg.

Oliver Wood, Gryffindor's captain when Harry joins the team, is how many years above him?

Wood is a fifth-year when first-year Harry joins and leaves after his seventh year, Harry's third, so he is four years above him; Sean Biggerstaff played him in the films.

Which Gryffindor Chaser later becomes team captain and eventually marries George Weasley?

Angelina Johnson, in Fred and George's year, succeeds Wood as captain in Order of the Phoenix; Rowling said she married George, and Danielle Tabor then Tiana Benjamin played her on film.

Which Gryffindor student, best friend of Fred and George, is the Hogwarts match commentator?

Lee Jordan, Fred and George's best friend and dormmate, commentates under McGonagall's exasperated supervision until he leaves school; Zacharias Smith takes over the microphone after him.

Who referees Hogwarts Quidditch matches and teaches first-years to fly?

Madam Hooch, yellow-eyed and hawk-like, takes first-years' flying lessons and referees the school matches; Zoe Wanamaker played her in the first film.

Which house does Cho Chang play Seeker for?

Cho Chang plays Seeker for Ravenclaw from Harry's third year; she was also a member of Dumbledore's Army and Harry's first kiss.

Cedric Diggory plays Seeker for which house?

Cedric Diggory captains and plays Seeker for Hufflepuff, beating Harry to the Snitch in the Dementor-hit match in Prisoner of Azkaban; a prefect, he is later a Triwizard champion.

In Chamber of Secrets, who jinxes the Bludger that breaks Harry's arm?

Dobby tampered with the Bludger, hoping an injury would send Harry home from a Hogwarts he believed was in danger; Lockhart then removed all the bones in Harry's arm trying to mend it.

Why does Dolores Umbridge ban Harry and the Weasley twins from Gryffindor's team?

They brawl with Draco after he insults their families following a win over Slytherin: Draco mocks the Weasleys' poverty and Harry's mother, Harry and George punch him, and Umbridge bans Harry, George and Fred, Ginny replacing Harry as Seeker.

Which position does Ron play when he joins the Gryffindor team?

Ron wins the Keeper trials in Order of the Phoenix, the season of the 'Weasley Is Our King' chant, and keeps the post through Half-Blood Prince.

Which potion does Harry pretend to give Ron to boost his confidence before a match?

Harry only mimed adding Felix Felicis to Ron's pumpkin juice; he had won a real vial of the luck potion in Slughorn's first lesson and later drank it to extract Slughorn's memory.

Which Slytherin captain do Fred and George shove into a Vanishing Cabinet?

He was also a member of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad.

Ludo Bagman heads which Ministry of Magic department, which organises the Quidditch World Cup?

Ludo Bagman, a former Wimbourne Wasps Beater, heads the Department of Magical Games and Sports; his gambling debts to goblins eventually forced him to flee after the Triwizard Tournament.

Students of which wizarding school, the smallest of all, are noted for their skill at Quidditch?

Mahoutokoro in Japan, the smallest of the wizarding schools, is an ornate palace on the volcanic island of Minami Iwo Jima; legend says Quidditch arrived there centuries ago with Hogwarts students blown off course.

Which country won the 1994 Quidditch World Cup final even though the opposing Seeker caught the Snitch?

Ireland beat Bulgaria 170 to 160: Bulgaria's Seeker caught the Snitch with his side far behind, ending the match on his own terms; the Dark Mark appeared over the campsite that night.

Which star Seeker at the 1994 World Cup is Ron's favourite player and later a Triwizard champion?

Ron's admiration soured when Krum took Hermione to the Yule Ball.

Under what pseudonym did Rowling publish Quidditch Through the Ages in 2001?

Kennilworthy Whisp is the in-universe author, a Wigtown Wanderers supporter who lives in Nottinghamshire; Rowling wrote it for charity in 2001 alongside Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Which charity received the proceeds of the 2001 edition of Quidditch Through the Ages?

Rowling wrote the 2001 edition for Comic Relief, with most of its cover price going to the charity; later Hogwarts Library editions added her own charity, Lumos, as a beneficiary.

Which teacher confiscates Harry's library copy of Quidditch Through the Ages on a made-up rule?

Snape, limping after his encounter with Fluffy, takes the book off Harry in the courtyard with the invented rule that library books may not leave the castle; Harry tries to retrieve it from the staff room.

Which Walking Dead star narrated the 2018 audiobook of Quidditch Through the Ages?

Andrew Lincoln, Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead, narrated the Audible edition released in March 2018, a year after Eddie Redmayne voiced the companion Fantastic Beasts audiobook.

Per Quidditch Through the Ages, the sport is named after which place?

Gertie Keddle, an 11th-century witch living beside Queerditch Marsh, wrote the first account of the game after a ball landed in her cabbage patch; the marsh gave the sport its name.

Which live bird did Barberus Bragge release into a match, leading to the Golden Snitch?

Barberus Bragge, Chief of the Wizards' Council, released the Golden Snidget, a tiny fast bird, during a 1269 match and offered a purse of gold to whoever caught it; it stayed the Seeker's target until it was protected.

Which witch's ban on using a live bird in matches led directly to the invention of the Golden Snitch?

Elfrida Clagg, Chief of the Wizards' Council, made the bird a protected species and outlawed its use in matches; Bowman Wright of Godric's Hollow then built the mechanical replacement.

Which witch is credited as the first person to fly across the Atlantic on a broom, in 1935?

Jocunda Sykes made the first broomstick crossing of the Atlantic in 1935 on an Oakshaft 79, the 1879 broom designed by Elias Grimstone of Portsmouth.

According to Rowling's history, the Quidditch World Cup has been held quadrennially since which year?

Rowling's Pottermore history dates the first Quidditch World Cup to 1473, when only European teams took part; non-European sides did not compete until two centuries later.

What happened at the 1809 Quidditch World Cup final after Niko Nenad hit a Bludger into a nearby forest?

The trees marched on the stadium after the Bludger struck the forest; hours of fighting followed, and Nenad himself was killed early on by a violent spruce.

What is strange about the 1877 Quidditch World Cup?

Nobody has any memory of it happening: competitors and spectators alike drew a blank, and players woke with unexplained injuries, including a Canadian Seeker whose knees were on backwards.

Under modern World Cup rules, matches are capped at how long to prevent player exhaustion?

Modern World Cup rules cap a match at four hours to stop players collapsing from exhaustion; the rulebook runs to nineteen volumes and bans bringing dragons into the stadium for any purpose.

Real-world Quidditch was invented in 2005 by two students at which school?

Xander Manshel devised the rules and Alex Benepe helped organise the first match at Middlebury, in Vermont, on 9 October 2005; players run with a broom between their legs.

In 2022 the US governing bodies renamed the real-life sport what?

US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch announced the name quadball in July 2022, citing Warner Bros.' trademark on 'quidditch' and Rowling's positions on trans issues; the international body followed.

In the real-life ground version of the sport, what stands in for the Golden Snitch?

A tennis ball in a sock on a neutral runner, dressed in yellow, stands in for the Snitch; the runner, later renamed the flag runner, enters partway through and a catch ends the game.

What ball serves as the Quaffle in the real-life ground version of the sport?

A slightly deflated volleyball serves as the quaffle, the bludgers are dodgeballs, and a player hit by a bludger must dismount and run back to touch their own hoops before rejoining play.

Which theme-park ride flies riders through a Quidditch pitch near its finale?

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the flagship ride of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, sends riders through the castle, a Quidditch match and a Dementor attack before a Great Hall finale.

Which studio developed the 2024 video game Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions?

Unbroken Studios developed Quidditch Champions for Warner Bros. Games' Portkey label; it launched on 3 September 2024, day one on PlayStation Plus, with every position playable.

How many Chasers does each Quidditch team field?

Three Chasers handle the Quaffle and do the scoring; the rest of a side is a pair of Beaters, a goal-minder and a Seeker.

Which footballer co-narrated the chapter 'Quidditch' for the 2020 podcast Harry Potter at Home?

David Beckham shared the chapter with actor David Tennant, in a series where a different celebrity guest narrated each chapter of the first book.

J.K. Rowling said Quidditch most resembles which real sport, probably her favourite to watch?

Basketball is the closest match, Rowling said, though she had always wanted to see a game with more than one ball in play at the same time.

Barny the Fruitbat, mascot of the Ballycastle Bats, stars in adverts for which wizarding drink?

Butterbeer is the drink Barny promotes, on behalf of a club that has won the league twenty-seven times, the second-best record in its history.

Which hit 2023 wizarding-world video game annoyed fans by launching without any Quidditch?

Hogwarts Legacy shipped without the sport, so when a stand-alone Quidditch game was unveiled that April some fans complained about the omission all over again.

Dumbledore's will leaves Harry the first Snitch he ever caught, which hides what inside?

The Resurrection Stone was sealed inside by Dumbledore, and a Snitch's flesh memory meant it would open only for the player who first caught it.

Quidditch has how many recorded ways to commit a foul, all of which occurred in one World Cup match?

700 is the official tally, yet the Ministry has never published the full list, for fear of giving players ideas.

Quidditch referees whose brooms were turned into Portkeys have later been found in which desert?

The Sahara is where vanished referees turned up long after their matches, until the Department of Magical Games and Sports issued strict guidelines on broom security.

Draco's theft of which object from Neville leads directly to Harry becoming Gryffindor's Seeker?

A Remembrall, a glass ball that glows when its owner has forgotten something, reached Neville by owl post as a gift from his grandmother.

What takes over the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch for the third task of the Triwizard Tournament?

A maze of hedges was grown on the pitch in the weeks before the task, with the Triwizard Cup waiting at its centre for the first champion to reach it.

Which creatures are Bulgaria's team mascots at the Quidditch World Cup final that Harry attends?

Veela danced so distractingly that the referee, Hassan Mostafa, began trying to impress them and had to be brought back to his senses.

Which teacher is later revealed to have jinxed Harry's broom during his first Quidditch match?

Professor Quirrell admits it when Harry confronts him at the end of the year, adding that the teacher Hermione suspected had been trying to save Harry instead.

After a rogue Bludger breaks Harry's arm, which teacher botches an attempt to mend it?

Professor Lockhart made such a mess of the mending that Harry was sent to the hospital wing, an early sign that the celebrity author's heroic adventures were fabrications.

Which brass gadget that can replay and slow the action does Harry buy at the Quidditch World Cup?

Omnioculars were so expensive that Harry, buying a pair each for Ron and Hermione too, told them to expect no presents for about ten years.

Harry ends his first Quidditch match by catching the Golden Snitch in which unusual way?

In his mouth, which is why the Snitch's flesh memory later responds to Harry's mouth and not to his hands, as the Minister for Magic expects.

Harry and the Weasleys reach the Quidditch World Cup by touching which Portkey on Stoatshead Hill?

An old boot did the job because Portkeys are disguised as worthless junk that Muggles will not pick up; two hundred of them carried spectators to the tournament.

Bowman Wright, the metal-charmer who invented the Golden Snitch, came from which village?

Godric's Hollow is where Wright forged the first Snitch, a winged metal ball with one big advantage over what it replaced: it could be enchanted to stay within the pitch.

What shape is a regulation Quidditch pitch, with goal hoops standing at each end?

Oval, and big: an official pitch measures 500 feet long by 180 feet wide, with the scoring areas at either end.

Which Harry Potter film visits the Quidditch World Cup final but cuts the gameplay for time?

Goblet of Fire skips the match itself, a jump some reviewers called rushed, and has Harry and Ron back Bulgaria, although in the book Harry supports the other side.

In the real-life sport adapted from Quidditch, which balls do beaters throw in place of Bludgers?

Dodgeballs take the Bludgers' role, and a player hit by one must dismount, drop any ball in hand and touch their own hoops before rejoining play.

Who adds colour commentary to Rowling's report of the 2014 Quidditch World Cup final?

Rita Skeeter supplied it, gossiping about famous spectators while the minute-by-minute account of Brazil against Bulgaria was left to another reporter.

What served as Quidditch goals before hoops replaced them to stop teams fiddling with the size?

Baskets came in different sizes, which let a club gain an advantage by altering them, so some fans resented the fairer hoops that replaced them in 1883.

Which Quidditch tactic, since outlawed, had two Chasers shove the goal defender aside for the third?

Stooging caused so many severe injuries that it was declared a foul in 1884, a ruling so unpopular that fans pelted the Ministry's spokesman with Quaffles.

Which Quidditch foul, open to any player, means seizing an opponent's broom tail to slow them down?

Blagging sits among the ten most common fouls, and like any of them it earns the opposing team a penalty from the referee.

Which American broom game, with eleven players a side, is played with an exploding leather ball?

Quodpot is said to have begun when a Quaffle that had touched Abraham Peasegood's wand in his trunk exploded in his face; a player holding the ball when it explodes must leave the field.

In the banned broom game Creaothceann, what did players strap to their heads to catch falling rocks?

Cauldrons were the catching gear in what was probably the most dangerous broom game of all: it killed so many players that it was banned in 1762.

Which actress played the flying teacher and Quidditch referee in only the first Harry Potter film?

Zoë Wanamaker did not come back for any of the sequels, accusing the producers of underpaying their actors.

The first Harry Potter film's Quidditch kit used nineteenth-century breeches from which sport?

Fencing breeches joined preppy sweaters and arm guards after the costume designer rejected the robes on the American book cover as a mess.

Whom does Hermione secretly Confund at Gryffindor's Quidditch try-outs so that Ron wins the place?

Cormac McLaggen had already missed the previous year's try-outs after eating a pound of doxy eggs for a bet, and he did not take this defeat gracefully.

Which professional Quidditch club signs Oliver Wood to its reserve team after he leaves Hogwarts?

Puddlemere United, founded in 1163, is the oldest team in the league, though Wood had to start out in its reserves.

Cho Chang has supported which professional Quidditch club since she was six years old?

Tutshill Tornados take their name from the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, the location of one of J.K. Rowling's childhood homes.

A Quidditch Beater once batted what at the Appleby Arrows' Seeker, reputedly giving his own club its name?

A wasps' nest is said to have given the Wimbourne Wasps their name: the Seeker was so badly stung that he had to retire from the game, and Wasps fans, the Stingers, buzz to distract opposing Chasers.

Pride of Portree, a Quidditch club nicknamed the Prides, comes from which Scottish island?

Skye is home to the town of Portree, and the purple-robed club founded there in 1292 once had a captain who played for Scotland thirty-six times.

Which wizarding singer recorded a Quidditch club's anthem to raise funds for St Mungo's Hospital?

Celestina Warbeck recorded the rousing team anthem 'Beat Back Those Bludgers, Boys, and Chuck That Quaffle Here' as a fundraiser for the wizarding hospital.

In the game Hogwarts Mystery, which wheelchair-using student commentates on Quidditch matches?

Murphy McNully commentates even on practice friendlies that need no announcer, loves a statistic, and invented a strategy called the Thimblerig Shuffle.

Which team met Flanders in the first Quidditch World Cup final, a match featuring every known foul?

Transylvania and Flanders produced a final that went down in history as one of the most violent Quidditch matches of all time.

By what name was Quidditch's Bludger first known, according to Quidditch Through the Ages?

Blooder was the early name for a ball that began as an enchanted rock, a design dropped because Beaters' bats could eventually smash it into gravel.

Which Quidditch captain, a Slug Club favourite, is on the poster on Ginny Weasley's bedroom wall?

Gwenog Jones sends her old teacher free match tickets whenever he wants them, and has claimed that witches make better players than wizards.

Quidditch star 'Dangerous' Dai Llewellyn, namesake of a St Mungo's ward, was eaten by which beast?

A Chimaera ate him on Mykonos, and each season the Dangerous Dai Commemorative Medal goes to the league player who takes the most exciting risks.

What does the Japanese Quidditch team Toyohashi Tengu ceremonially do to its broomsticks?

Burn them: the ritual has been discouraged by the sport's international committee as extremely wasteful.

The Wigtown Wanderers were founded by the children of Walter Parkin, who followed which trade?

Butcher Walter Parkin's trade lives on in the club's kit: blood-red robes with a silver meat cleaver on the chest.