93 Fun Facts About Quidditch

How many players does each Quidditch team field?

Seven take the field for each side, but one of them can end the match alone: a Seeker who catches the Snitch stops play on the spot.

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

10 points for a goal, and a foul hands the other side a free shot: one Chaser flies in from the centre circle with only the goal defender allowed to stand in the way.

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

150 points usually settles a match, but not always: one World Cup final ended with the Snitch in the hand of the losing side's Seeker, whose team was still too far behind to win.

In the Harry Potter books, the Golden Snitch is a winged Quidditch ball about the size of what?

A walnut: whoever catches that one tiny ball nearly always wins, Oliver Wood tells Harry, which is why Seekers get fouled so much.

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

Iron replaced lead, which proved too soft: each dent left by a Beater's bat spoiled a lead Bludger's flight.

What colour is the Quaffle?

Scarlet since 1711: the Quaffle was coloured so it could be spotted once dropped, after a rain-soaked match left the plain leather ball lost against the mud.

J.K. Rowling says she invented Quidditch in a Manchester hotel straight after what?

A row with her boyfriend: Rowling wrote that she already knew her wizards needed a sport, and that its scoring infuriates men, which she found satisfying given her mood that night.

How does J.K. Rowling say she arrived at the word Quidditch?

Filling pages with Q words: Rowling wanted a name starting with Q on a whim and covered about five notebook pages before Quidditch appeared. She was tempted to let a journalist believe it came from 'quiddity'.

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 match shown in the Harry Potter books features memorable commentary by which character?

Luna Lovegood's commentary drifts to cloud shapes and whether one player has 'Loser's Lurgy', and never gives the score; Rowling said writing it gave her 'fiendish glee'.

Rowling's 2014 Pottermore reports on the Quidditch World Cup ended with a story featuring what?

Harry, Ron and Hermione as adults turned up in a mock newspaper piece that dwelt on Harry's first grey hairs, Ron's thinning hair and a mysterious cut on Harry's cheek; it was their first outing since 2007.

Which Quidditch team, without a league title since 1892, does Ron Weasley support through thick and thin?

Chudley Cannons fans have little to cheer: in 1972 the club dropped its motto 'We shall conquer' for 'Let's all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best'.

Which professional Quidditch team does Ginny Weasley go on to play for after leaving Hogwarts?

The Holyhead Harpies have only ever hired witches. After their week-long win over Heidelberg in 1953, the beaten captain proposed to the Harpies' captain, who concussed him with her broom.

After retiring as a professional player, Ginny Weasley takes which job?

Daily Prophet Quidditch correspondent was Rowling's answer in a 2007 web chat, and in 2014 she wrote Ginny's match reports from the World Cup herself, published under the character's byline.

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

A century, Harry tells Ron: instead of punishing him for flying unsupervised, McGonagall marched him straight to Oliver Wood and announced she had found Gryffindor a Seeker.

Which broom does Professor McGonagall send first-year Harry after he joins the Gryffindor team?

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

Which brooms does Lucius Malfoy give the whole Slytherin team in the year Draco becomes its Seeker?

Nimbus 2001s had been on sale for only a month; Slytherin's captain showed off the 'generous gift' from Draco's father and sneered that it swept the board with Gryffindor's old Cleansweeps.

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, reputedly the most dangerous dragon breed, to snatch a golden egg from its nest.

Oliver Wood says Harry may turn out better than which former Gryffindor Seeker?

Charlie Weasley could have played for England, in Wood's words, but went off to chase dragons, and has worked with them in Romania ever since.

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

Angelina Johnson became captain in Harry's fifth year. She went to the Yule Ball with Fred but later married his twin, and the couple named their son Fred.

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

Lee Jordan's commentary favoured Gryffindor so openly that McGonagall stood by to take the megaphone off him; years later he hosted the secret wartime radio show Potterwatch.

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

Madam Hooch had to walk an injured Neville to the hospital wing during her first lesson with Harry's class, and the flying Harry did while she was gone won him his place in the team.

Which house does Cho Chang play Seeker for?

Ravenclaw's Cho Chang chose to shadow Harry in their first match instead of hunting the Snitch herself, until Oliver Wood yelled at him to stop being a gentleman and knock her off her broom.

Which rival Seeker asks for a rematch after beating Harry to the Snitch in the Dementor-hit match?

Cedric Diggory caught the Snitch just after Harry fell and, on seeing what had happened, tried to have the result called off; even Oliver Wood agreed Hufflepuff had won fair and square.

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 school he believed was in danger; he had already sealed the barrier at King's Cross to stop him arriving.

Why does Umbridge ban Harry and the Weasley twins from Quidditch after Gryffindor beat Slytherin?

They attacked Draco Malfoy after he taunted them about their families; Umbridge overruled McGonagall's punishment with lifetime bans, adding Fred although only Harry and George had thrown punches.

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

Keeper: Slytherins sang 'Weasley Is Our King' to shake Ron's confidence, but after his saves helped win the Cup in the season's last match, Gryffindor sang it back with new words in his praise.

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.

Fred and George shove Slytherin captain Montague into which object?

A Vanishing Cabinet left Montague stuck until he Apparated out and turned up jammed in a toilet; its twin stood in the shop Borgin and Burkes, which is how Death Eaters later walked into the school.

Which former star Beater heads the Department of Magical Games and Sports and commentates on the 1994 World Cup final?

Ludo Bagman bet heavily on that final, paid Fred and George their winnings in gold that vanished, and spent the next year dodging the goblins he owed.

Students of which wizarding school practise Quidditch over a stormy sea, dodging planes from a Muggle airbase?

Mahoutokoro in Japan has the fewest students of the great wizarding schools; legend says Quidditch reached it centuries ago with Hogwarts students blown off course while trying to fly round the world.

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?

Viktor Krum, barely eighteen and still at school when he played in that final, lost Ron's hero-worship at a stroke by taking Hermione to the Yule Ball.

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

Kennilworthy Whisp is the invented expert on the cover; in the foreword, Dumbledore says the Hogwarts librarian parted with the book so unwillingly that he had to prise her fingers from its spine.

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

Comic Relief received Rowling's royalties, and the book played along with the appeal: it was printed as the Hogwarts library's own copy, down to a borrowing log listing students' names.

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

Snape invented a rule that library books may not be taken outside the school; when Harry went to ask for it back, he caught sight of Snape's injured leg, which fed his suspicion of him.

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

Andrew Lincoln, the lead of that American zombie drama, is English and London-born; his 2018 recording adds Rowling's own reports from the 2014 World Cup as bonus material.

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.

What was the Golden Snitch's forerunner, released by Barberus Bragge into a 1269 match?

A tiny bird, the Golden Snidget, was chased by every player for a cash prize until spectator Modesty Rabnott Summoned it away from them; she was fined, and the Snidget chase became part of the game anyway.

Which charm does Hermione cast on Harry's glasses so he can see during a rain-lashed Quidditch match?

Impervius made the lenses repel water: Hermione ran over with the idea during a time-out, though the match still ended with Harry falling from his broom.

Rowling's 2014 match reports set that year's Quidditch World Cup in the Patagonian Desert of which country?

Argentina staged the tournament, and its mascot-themed opening ceremony went badly wrong: rival teams' magical creatures turned on each other and then on the crowd.

What followed when a Bludger was hit into the forest beside the 1809 Quidditch World Cup final?

The trees marched on the stadium because Romania's Niko Nenad had jinxed the whole forest beforehand; wizards needed hours of hard fighting to win the battle, and Nenad was killed early on by a violent spruce.

What is strange about the 1877 Quidditch World Cup?

Nobody has any memory of it happening: ticket-holders and players alike drew a blank, yet an English Beater was missing most of his teeth and a Canadian Seeker's knees were on backwards.

At the 1974 Quidditch World Cup, fans beat a stadium ban by disguising what as instruments called Dissimulators?

Their wands: when the official behind the ban took his seat at the final, a hundred thousand Dissimulators blew raspberries and turned back into wands, and he resigned on the spot.

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

Middlebury, in Vermont, is where a few dozen students first ran about with brooms between their legs; the game they made up went on to be played in dozens of countries.

In 2022, US governing bodies gave the real-life version of Quidditch which new name?

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 real-life Quidditch, which ball, tucked in a sock on a neutral runner's shorts, stands in for the Golden Snitch?

A tennis ball hangs from the shorts of a neutral runner dressed in yellow, who joins the game late and is free to dodge both seekers until one of them grabs it.

What ball serves as the Quaffle in the real-life, on-the-ground version of Quidditch?

A slightly deflated volleyball is easier to grip, which matters when every player also has to keep a broom between the legs.

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

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey has Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak visitors out of a dull history lecture on an enchanted bench to watch a match, which Dementors promptly gatecrash.

Ron Weasley, raised on Quidditch, argues with dormmate Dean Thomas about the appeal of which Muggle sport?

Football baffled Ron, who could not see the thrill of a game with one ball and no flying; he was caught prodding Dean's West Ham poster to make the players move.

Harry's Firebolt is lost when it falls from which vehicle during his final escape from Privet Drive?

A flying motorbike flipped over to dodge pursuing Death Eaters and the Firebolt plummeted to earth. The broom had come back from confiscation by both McGonagall and Umbridge, but the books never show it again.

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.