Directions for the "Harry Potter: Mystery at Hogwarts" game

The "Harry Potter: Mystery at Hogwarts" game is similar to the classic detective game, "Clue." Instead of players figuring out who murdered Mr. Boddy, where, and with what weapon, the goal is to deduce which witch or wizard conjured what spell or potion and where. The characters of the game are the well-known heroes, Harry, Hermoine, and Ron, as well as the three baddies, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. Fans of the Harry Potter books and movies will also be familiar with the room and spells and potions cards.

Place all of the game pieces, which are magician hats, in the middle of the board. Each player chooses what colour to be. Place the ghost game piece on the board's blue circle spot in front of the Great Hall.

Separate all of the green cards. Place them in a pile face down next to the game board. Sort out the blue cards into three piles: faculty, culprit, victims, and spells. Place each pile face down next to the game board.

Have a player choose one card from each of the four blue piles, without looking at them, and place them in the three-headed dog envelope. These are the answers you will be playing to find out: which faculty member caught someone conjuring a spell and on who. Place the envelope on the board on the trapdoor above the Library.

Hand each of the players one of the Faculty cards. Put the remaining Faculty cards with the other blue hint cards, without looking at any of them, and shuffle them together. Put the pile face down beside the game board.

Give each player a piece from the paper checklist pad. Look at your hint card, but do not let anyone else see it. Mark the card you have in your hand off on your checklist. Do not let anyone else see what you've marked down.

Have each player roll one of the dice and see who rolls the highest number. That person goes first. A fun, alternative way to choose the first player is to choose the person with a birthday closest to Harry Potter's. His birthday is July 31st.

Roll both of the dice and move the player's piece the number of spaces on the dice. The pieces can go in any direction. You cannot land on any space already occupied by another player and you cannot jump the ghost or another player, unless it is on the stairs.

Head toward one of the classrooms. You can enter from any direction, but diagonal. Once in a room, you can take a blue hint card and mark it down on your sheet or make a guess. If you're making a guess, go down to the Making Guesses section. Once you are done moving, the turn goes to the next player.

Use the ghost piece to move on your turn if you'd like. The ghost can be used to bump another player's piece back to the Hogwarts seal. It also allows you to look at one of the other player's cards. There are two options if you do. You can move the ghost the total number of spaces on both dice or move your game piece the number on one of the dice and move the ghost the number indicated on the other dice. The ghost piece cannot enter rooms.

Roll the Hogwarts emblem on the dice and you can pull one of the green cards from the pile that was set aside during the set-up. If you roll two of the emblems, draw two of the cards. They must be played right away. Skip to the next section for directions.

Follow the directions on the green Command cards. Place the card back on the bottom of the pile when finished. Anyone who draws a "Ghostly Attacks" card keeps it the rest of the game and is immune to ghostly attacks.

Place a green card with a coloured key on the board where there is a same coloured key. These types of green cards fix broken pathways for players. This card will stay on the board the rest of the game, as will the coloured footstep cards in the next step.

Match the image on the coloured footsteps card to the similar image on the board. This will provide a shortcut for players to skip from one coloured footstep space to the other on a turn. Again, this card will stay on the board the rest of the game.

Visit the classroom of a professor you believe might be the one who caught someone casting a spell and whose card might have been placed in the envelope during the set-up.

Make your guess by asking a phrase like, "Professor McGonagall, did you catch Draco Malfoy casting an Expelliarmus spell on Hermoine Granger?" You could name one or two of the cards you have in your hand to throw off other players, too.

Look at the cards any other player shows you. The other players should show you at least one of the cards they have that you just named.

Mark down on your check-list sheet any cards anyone shows you. This will help you know those cards cannot be one of the cards in the envelope. If you are not right, the turn goes to the next player. If no one says or shows you anything, you can mark down that they are possibilities or choose to look at the cards in the envelope. However, if you look and you are wrong, you are expelled and out of the game. If you are right, you win!