7 facts about Quidditch you didn’t know

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With the recent release of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, there’s hardly a better time to talk about the best wizarding sport in the world. We’ve got some exciting facts for you that will make you a Quidditch expert.

What is Quidditch? Quidditch is a magical sport from Harry Potter that is played on flying brooms.

  • Each team consists of seven players: three hunters, two beaters, a keeper and a seeker.
  • The game is played with four balls: the Quaffle, two Bludgers and the Golden Snitch.
  • The game ends when the Golden Snitch is caught by the Seeker.

    • Here you can get an impression of the new Quidditch game:

    Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions – The official gameplay trailer shortly before launch

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    1. Quidditch comes from “Queerditch Marsh”

    The name “Quidditch” comes from the origin of the wizarding sport, the moor “Queerditch Marsh”. A witch named Gertie Keddle lived there in the 11th century.

    Gertie observed a strange game played on brooms, in which the players threw balls and stones at each other. Although she was particularly annoyed by the noise of the activity, she recorded all the details in her diary.

    This then developed into “Kwidditch” in Great Britain, which later became the Quidditch we know today.

    2. Germany had its own “Quidditch”

    Although Quidditch is the only broom sport that has achieved worldwide fame, there are several other similar sports. Many of them are probably even precursors to Quidditch, which made the sport’s enormous popularity possible in the first place.

    These predecessors were usually only known in individual countries or regions. For example, Germany also had its own “Quidditch” variant:

  • Stitching stick (Germany): Players had to try to pierce a dragon’s inflated bladder with sharpened broomsticks. The bubble was defended by a player – presumably the inspiration for the Guardian position.
  • Aingingein (Ireland): Players had to fly through burning barrels and at the end hit a ball into the goal.
  • Creaothceann (Scotland): A particularly brutal game in which players had a cauldron strapped to their heads and had to catch falling rocks. It is said to have inspired the position of the beaters.
  • Shunt bumps (England): Players tried to knock each other off their brooms with lances.
  • Swivenhodge (England): Similar to tennis, a ball was thrown back and forth over a hedge. This may have been the inspiration for the hunters.

    • 3. The birthplace of Quidditch

    In real life, Quidditch originated in Manchester. It was in a small hotel that author JK Rowling came up with the idea for the wizarding sport. In an annotated copy of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” that was auctioned off for charity, she wrote about the background of Quidditch:

    I had been thinking about the things that hold a society together, bring it together and express its special character, and I knew I needed a sport.

    JK Rowling (via tbsnews) 4. The snitch used to be a bird

    Harry and Draco hunt the Golden Snitch
    From the game “Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions”

    For a long time, Quidditch was only played with three balls, the Quaffle and two Bludgers. It was not until 1269 that the forerunner of the Golden Snitch was added.

    However, it wasn’t a ball, but a small, round bird called a “snitcher”. Snitchers are known for their high speed, which is why catching them was a real challenge for the searchers.

    However, the birds were often crushed during the capture process. And as Quidditch became more popular, the Snitches slowly died out. So in the 15th century, a wizard named Bowman Wright invented the modern Golden Snitch – a small metal ball that perfectly mimics the Snitches’ behavior.

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