Harry Potter: The Trading Card Game is a 116 card set from Wizards of the Coast. It is currently available in all your finer gaming establishments as well as most national chain bookstore and toy stores. It should be relatively easy to find given the popularity of the subject matter. This review will focus mainly on the Starter set and basic game play.
What you get:
In the basic starter set you get two playable decks, each featuring one Character card (Wizard or Witch), some Lesson cards (various 'classes' one must attend at Hogwarts), Creature cards (various animals and monsters), and Spell cards (the magic bit). Also included is a full color rules booklet for advanced play, and a play mat to help beginning players with basic game concepts.
Booster Packs contain 11 Random game cards of the above types as well as some additional card types (Adventures and Items) and some premium 'Holo-foils' of select rare cards.
What it looks like:
Card art is done in a very pleasing Children's Fantasy style. While being somewhat cartoonish it is pleasing to the eye and captures the spirit of the books quite nicely. Fans of the series may have some preconceived notions about what each character should look like, but by and large the card art is not wildly out of line with anything described in the books.
The cards themselves are laid out in a clear and easy to understand manner. Text is, in most cases, well in proportion to the rest of the card often times taking up only a small portion of the face of the card. Also included are relevant quotes from the books themselves. Important information is clearly indicated and requires only a breif glance to find. All in all one of the nicest visual designs I've seen in a CCG/TCG.
Game Play:
The basic set of rules provides for one of the fastest playing games I've ever picked up. Of the five games played so far, not one, including the first in which the rules were being learned, took longer than about 15 minutes to play. In fact, the final game took about 5 minutes from start to finish. Using the included play mat makes rules comprehension quite easy.
To begin with, each player selects one of the included decks to play with. In the starter box I purchased the decks featured Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. This is your starting Witch/Wizard. Your starting character is laid to one side where it will be visible to all. Make a note of the special ability on your Witch/Wizard card and you are ready to shuffle. The object of the game is to eliminate the other players deck. Once the opposing player has been forced to discard all the cards in his or her deck the game ends and the winner is declared. You are forced to discard cards from your deck in one of two ways in the basic game, either by Spell effect or by attack. There is a hard limit of 60 cards in any one deck. You may not have more or less than this. Curiously, the decks in the starter set only had 40 cards each. I can only assume that this was done for ease of play while learning the game.
Players begin by drawing seven cards into their hand. Thereafter, each subsequent round allows you to draw one additional card. Certain exceptions apply and will be covered below.
You begin by performing any two of the following actions. You can do the same action twice, or two seperate actions.
1. Play a lesson card. Lessons represent the classes Harry and Freinds attend at Hogwarts. Available lessons include Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration. Each lesson has an individual shape and color. Lessons are necessary in order to be able to perform any spells or bring any creatures into play, so it is best, on your first turn to play lesson cards.
2. Play a Creature Card. Each Creature Card has a Lesson requirement indicated in the upper left corner. The requirements indicate which specific type of lesson is needed and how many overall lessons must be in play in order to use the card. If you meet all requirements you may bring the creature into play. Creatures have both a 'Damage Each Turn' and a 'Health' rating. Damage Each Turn indicates the number of cards your opponent must discard from his deck on each of your turns. Obviously, the more creatures you can bring into play, the quicker you can cause your opponent to burn through his deck. The Health rating simply indicates how much damage your creature can sustain before it must be discarded from play.
3. Play a Spell card. Spell card have numerous effects ranging from 'Do one damage to your opponent (make him discard one card) OR to a Creature of your choice (causing creatures with one Health to be discarded)' to 'Discard one of your opponents Lesson cards' Each Spell Card, like Creature Cards, has a lesson requirement that works in the same way. Some spells are quite powerful, forcing your opponent to discard more than one card at a time, or allowing you to look through his play hand and discard cards of your choice. The more powerful the card, the more its Lesson cost.
4. Draw an Extra Card. Means just what it says.
After the first round is played, players may draw one card at the start of each round. Following this draw any damage your Creatures do to your opponent takes effect now.
It should be noted that there is no minimum hand size. You can sit there with no cards in your hand, or with ten or twenty. The only occasions on which you are allowed to draw additional cards are those indicated in the turn sequence or as a Card Effect.
Your starting Witch/Wizard can never be removed from play, which makes their special abilities quite significant, Hermione for example allows the player to play two Lesson cards at a time instead of the more normal one at a time. Spell Cards have a one time effect, and once used are discarded from the playing field. Lesson Cards and Creature Cards stay on the playing feild until removed either by damage or card effect.
Fun Factor: Normally I play much more complex CCGs like Warlord, Doomtown, or L5R. My playing partner had never played a CCG before. We both found this to be immensely fun and easy to learn. Within a few minutes we were both wrapped up in trying to eliminate each other, even to the point of getting quite frustrated when we were forced to discard more than one or two cards at a time. This was good frustration mind you, the sort that indicates we were both quite pleased with the game.
The Good Points:
1. Easy to Learn
2. Fun to Play
3. Quick Play Time
4. Pleasing Card Art
The Bad Points:
1. Only two can play at a time.
2. The Card art is intended for children of course, or people with a whimsical turn of mind. If you are looking for more serious artwork, this isn't the game for you.
3. The simple game mechanic could eventually lead to a certain amount of boredom with the game. It does involve laying lots of cards down on the table and this is the cheif mode of play. If you are looking for more depth and strategy, perhaps something else would suit you better.
Overall: As I've said before, it's fun, fast, and simple. Even if you aren't a fan of the books, this game is well worth a look. If you don't play a lot of Trading Card Games, or have never played them before, this is a great introduction to the medium and well worth picking up to have a go at. If you have played TCG/CCG's before this makes a good game for those times when you are burned out on your usual game of choice. I'd recommend it for anyone looking to have a good afternoon.
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