LEGO's Harry Potter Hogwarts game is a rather new addition to the block-building collection based on the popular series. It's fun for the entire family, and can easily be built by a child if they can follow the instructions (which are, as all LEGO creations, drawn out to show how the sets are put together). It is a rather small set, however, at about a square foot, and all the pieces, including the characters, are far smaller than the regular-sized LEGO person. The size of the set and characters does not really deter from playing it, however.
There are set rules for the LEGO game, albeit a bit confusing when it comes to what exactly can be moved around - with each roll of the single LEGO die, a character can move one, two, or three spaces, supposedly, move a staircase, or break through a locked classroom or dorms entrance. According to the rules, with a roll of three, a player must pick up a staircase (which are detachable from the floorboard), and shift staircases and classrooms all around the grounds, though in a rather peculiar manner. They either move one staircase over to a free spot, then two classrooms, and another staircase, but it seems a bit arbitrary and none-too-clear in regards to exactly HOW a character can move. The characters used for the original rules mock-up are random students of each of the four Houses - who look remarkably like Oliver Wood, Cho Chang, Cedric Diggory, and Gregory Goyle - and not the main five that have been advertised with the set: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Dumbledore.
The purpose of the game is to get the character from their House dorms, around the castle through staircases that may lead nowhere, be stuck against a wall, or mercifully attached to another staircase, to the four classrooms and library rooms, collect four colour-coordinated ingredients or books - according to their Houses - and try to get back to the dorms before the rest of the players. It's actually quite fun once the rules are manipulated a bit, and with the LEGO game, there is a wide berth in regards to twisting the rules. Instead of using the four House characters, for instance, the trio and Draco can be used to get around the school.
There's also an option for students to duel if they happen to be standing on adjacent staircases. Like Hogwarts, the LEGO set really doesn't have a great deal of set rules, and like the staircases, rules can shift. With that thought in mind, kids can have just as much fun destroying the rules of the game along with adults, or, if they want to give it a go, actually play by the rules.
The LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts game is a quick game (which hardly lasts more than a half hour) where even kids have a great chance, if they're clever and get the right roll of the die, to beat adults.
The LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts game, out today, August 1, can be ordered via the following links:
Amazon.com;
Amazon.co.uk 
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Review: LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts board game 
