Glossary

Action: You have 2 Actions on each of your turns. You can use an Action to draw a card or to play a card. You don't have to use all your Actions.

Adventure card: A card you can play to present a challenging situation for your opponent. It takes 2 Actions to play an Adventure card, but it doesn't need any Power. The card tells you what effect it has on your opponent, what he or she needs to do to solve it, and the reward your opponent gets if he or she does. Each player can have only one Adventure in play at a time.

card type: There are currently six different card types in the game: Adventure, Character, Creature, Item, Lesson and Spell.

Character card: A card that represents a specific Harry Potter character. You play Character cards from your hand (they take 2 Actions to play but don't need any Power). You'll also have one as your starting Character, which needs to be a Wizard or a Witch.

Creature card: A card that, when in play, damages your opponent's deck turn after turn.

damage: You can do damage to your opponent, which forces him or her to discard cards from the top of his or her deck. You can also damage a Creature in play. If the total damage a Creature takes during the game is greater than or equal to its Health, it's discarded. (Use counters to keep track of damage that's less than the Creature's Health.)

discard: To remove a card from play, from someone's deck, or from someone's hand. No matter where the cards came from, they go to the discard pile of the person they belong to.

discard pile: This is where all discarded cards go. Your discard pile is always face up, and either player can look at it whenever he or she likes.

draw: To take the top card of your deck and put it into your hand.

flavour text: This text appears in italics on the bottom of some cards. It's usually a quote from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Flavour text has no effect on the play of the game -- it's just there for fun.

hand: The cards you are holding but haven't played yet. You are still considered to have a hand even if there are no cards in it.

Health: The amount of damage a Creature can take before it gets discarded.

House deck: A deck made with cards all having the same House keyword. It can include cards with no House keyword at all.

in play: Cards that have been played and are still on the table. Your deck and your discard pile are not in play.

Item card: A card that, when in play, may give you extra Power or have some other ongoing effect.

keyword: These words are found on some cards after the card type. Keywords are sometimes referred to by other cards or by the rules. Some keywords have special rules -- like the Unique, Wizard, Witch and House keywords (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff).

Lesson card: A card that gives you the Power you need to play other types of cards. Each Lesson provides 1 Power. The current kinds of Lessons are Care of Magical Creatures , Charms , Potions and Transfiguration .

Power needed: The number found on the upper-left corner of Creature, Spell and Item cards that tells you how much Power you need to play them. That Power comes from the cards you already have in play -- usually Lessons, but sometimes Items or other cards.

special ability: The text on a Character card that says what the card can do if it's in play.

Spell card: A card that you play from your hand, do what it says, and then put in your discard pile. Spell cards don't stay in play.

starting Character: The Character you have in play at the start of the game. It can never be discarded from play. Your starting Character must be a Wizard or a Witch.

Unique: A keyword found on some cards, usually Character cards. You can't play a Unique card if there's already a copy of that card in play. It's fine if both players have the same starting Character, though.

Witch: A keyword found on some Character cards. Only a Wizard or a Witch can be a starting Character.

Wizard: A keyword found on some Character cards. Only a Wizard or a Witch can be a starting Character.

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