So do you remember the first time you read Harry Potter? I have to admit I had so much prejudice at first because I was the worst type of reader, the judgemental one. I was trying to fit in and whatever my nerd friends were reading, I was reading too and Harry Potter was a kid’s book.

It was the year 2001 and I watched the trailer for the first movie and then I saw him – Alan Rickman – and that was enough. I had to read the books because I had to see that movie. And I had 5 days to do so because I had a trip.

I went to the boys I used to babysit and borrowed the first book and I read in one sit, my dad joked about it, he left for work and came back and I was still there.

“You didn’t move”

“Nonsense… I… I…. oh well, I guess I didn’t”

I finished books 2,3 and 4 in the next 4 days. I used to read so fast. This was bad because I had to wait 2 years for The Order of Phoenix and until there I was a fan, completely immersed in fanfics and theory groups.

So you get it, I love Harry Potter

And after all these years I still love it.

Photo by Emma Grace Grdina

immersive experience

I got the Hogwarts Battle board game as a birthday gift last year and I must say I usually don’t like themed board games because they are sloppy. They just take a known game like Monopoly and add the theme so they can make as much profit as possible.

But this one is amazing. It’s a card build game, and if you’re not familiar with it, allow me to explain. You start the game with a small set of cards, each player has a different set based on their hero (Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville), then you buy cards and add to your deck and you stay with it until the end. You start the game during the first year and you grew with it until the 7th. The best part: the characters get abilities after the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.

It’s a battle so you have to fight evil. There are levels of difficulty in the game, you can do one villain or all. On the 7th year, you can try to defeat all “You-know-who”s that appear in the game. You don’t have to play all games at once, but once you start, and see how fun this game is, you just can’t stop.

You can make it extra fun adding props like wands and Funko pops. Just don’t let the evil win! This is a fun immersive experience of Hogwarts if you can’t go to Disney or the UK Studios every day. Get yours here.

Do you celebrate Harry’s birthday?