Attack staysAttack on a villain stays there until it is defeated. Rewards are not optional.
The short version
All players are on one team. On your turn you reveal Dark Arts events, let the villains act, then play your cards: Attack defeats villains and Influence buys better cards. The heroes win when the last villain is defeated. They lose when the villains control every Location.
Setup
- Put the board in the middle. Each player takes a player board and sets the Health tracker to 10.
- Put the Attack, Influence and Villain Control tokens in a supply.
- Stack the Location cards of the current Game in their printed order, first one on top.
- Shuffle the Dark Arts events face down.
- Shuffle the villains and reveal as many as the Game allows: one in Games 1 and 2, two in Games 3 and 4, three from Game 5.
- Take out the four starting decks, shuffle the other Hogwarts cards and lay out six face up as the market.
- Each player picks a hero, places the Hero card and Turn Order card above the player board, shuffles the ten starting cards and draws five.
From Game 2 on, shuffle the cards of all earlier Games in with the new ones. Only the Locations are replaced.
A turn in four steps
Your turn
1 Dark Arts
The Location shows how many Dark Arts events to reveal. Resolve them one at a time.
2 Villains
Every active villain uses its ability, from left to right.
3 Your cards
Play cards in any order. Put Attack on villains and spend Influence on market cards. New cards go to your discard pile.
4 Clean up
A full Location falls, villains and market are refilled, you discard everything and draw five.
Tokens another hero gives you on their turn can be kept until the end of your own turn.
Villains, rewards and losing Locations
Control tokensDark Arts events and villains add them to the Location. When it is full, you have until the end of the turn to remove one.
Lost for goodA Location that falls never comes back. Extra control beyond the free spaces is ignored.
Refill at the endDefeated villains are replaced only at the end of the turn, so leftover Attack is lost.
Stunning: what exactly happens
When Health reaches 0
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Frozen HealthNo more Health lost or gained for the rest of the turn.
Tokens goneSaved Attack and Influence go back to the supply.
Half the handDiscard half your cards, rounded down: two of five. Discard effects still trigger.
One control tokenAdd it to the current Location.
Stunning happens at once, even on another player's turn. If it is the stunned hero's own turn, they keep playing with the cards they have left. Two designer rulings: a stunned hero cannot pick a "lose Health" option to dodge another penalty, and Health never goes above 10, so a hero at 9 who gains 3 only gains 1.
House dice (Game 4 onward)
Some Hogwarts cards show a house crest and let you roll that house's die. Every result helps all heroes:
1 Influencefor every hero
1 Healthfor every hero
1 Attackfor every hero
1 cardevery hero draws
The four dice are not identical, but each has every symbol at least once. You roll first and then decide what to do with the result, which matters for the Horcruxes in Game 7.
Proficiencies (Game 6 onward)
Each hero picks one of nine Proficiency cards, school subjects such as Charms, Potions or Transfiguration. It replaces the Turn Order card above your player board and, unless it says otherwise, works only on your own turn.
Voldemort (Games 5 to 7)
10Health in Game 5
15Health in Game 6
20Health in Game 7
Voldemort goes face up at the bottom of the villain stack. His ability works from the moment he is revealed, but nobody may put Attack on him until every other villain is defeated.
Horcruxes (Game 7)
Roll
Only the top Horcrux of the six is active, with a penalty while it lies there. Roll house dice with Hogwarts cards.
Collect
Place the symbols it asks for, over several turns and by different heroes. A result used here gives none of its normal effect.
Destroy
The hero who completes it takes the card and may use its ability for the rest of the game, on their own turn.
You can work on Horcruxes from the start. Voldemort can only be attacked once all six are destroyed and the other villains are gone.
Official solo rules
The Op published official solo rules in 2020. The PDF says they are designed for Game 5 onward. The main changes:
One hero, 12 cardsAdd one starting Item from each of two other heroes.
Permanent controlTwo tokens on the first Location, one on every later one. No Imperio! cards.
A protectorOne villain lies face down above Voldemort, three are face up.
Stronger diceHouse die results count double; cards that help all heroes cost 1 less.
Many players find the solo mode easy and prefer to run two to four heroes alone under the normal rules.
Easier or harder: the official options
Easier
- Leave the Horcruxes in the box for Game 7.
- Once per game, a hero may skip buying to replace all six market cards. It is printed in The Monster Box of Monsters rules.
Harder
- Start at Game 3 if you know deckbuilders.
- One or two control tokens on the first Location, or one on every new Location.
- Stack all three Voldemort cards in Game 7.
Rules questions
Do we keep the cards we bought for the next Game?
No. Every Game starts from the ten starting cards, and everything you bought goes back into the Hogwarts stack.
Which cards from earlier Games stay in?
All Dark Arts events, villains and Hogwarts cards stay and are shuffled together with the new ones. Only the Locations change. Hero cards are swapped in Games 3 and 7, the Voldemort card in Games 6 and 7.
Do you discard your whole hand at the end of your turn?
Yes. Played and unplayed cards both go to your discard pile, then you draw five. The designer confirmed it, and the Turn Order card says so too.
When does a stunned hero get their Health back?
At the end of the turn in which they were stunned, whoever was playing. They go straight back to 10 Health.
Can Health go above 10?
No. A hero at 8 or 9 who gains 3 only gains up to 10, and effects that need "3 or more Health gained" do not trigger (designer ruling).
Can we refresh the market when nobody can afford anything?
Yes, once per game for the whole team: a hero skips buying and replaces all six market cards. It is an official optional rule, printed in The Monster Box of Monsters rules.
Does Attack on a villain stay there between turns?
Yes, it stays until the villain is defeated. Attack you still have once every visible villain is defeated is lost, because new villains only appear at the end of the turn.
Can a lost Location be won back?
No. A Location that falls is gone for good. Defeating a villain only removes control tokens if its reward says so.
We defeated the last villain on the turn the last Location filled up. Who wins?
Most players agree the heroes win: a villain is defeated the moment the last Attack goes on it, while a full Location only falls at the end of the turn. There is no official ruling.
In which order do the villains act?
From left to right. In Game 7 the order is Dark Arts events, the active Horcrux, Voldemort, then the other villains (designer ruling).
Do we play with open or hidden hands?
The rules do not say. Most groups play with open hands because the game is cooperative. Hidden hands are a common way to make it harder.
Is there a third expansion?
No. There are two expansions, The Monster Box of Monsters and The Charms and Potions. See Hogwarts Battle expansions.
The rules PDFs
Game 1 is taught by the rulebook in the box, and boxes 2 to 7 each contain a fold-out rule sheet. The publisher no longer hosts the files, but USAopoly's original PDFs are saved in the Internet Archive. Some cards pictured on the sheets differ slightly from the printed cards; the card text always wins.
Game 2 rule sheetUSAopoly PDF, saved in the Internet ArchiveGame 3 rule sheetUSAopoly PDF, saved in the Internet ArchiveGame 4 rule sheetUSAopoly PDF, saved in the Internet ArchiveGame 5 rule sheetUSAopoly PDF, saved in the Internet ArchiveGame 6 rule sheetUSAopoly PDF, saved in the Internet ArchiveGame 7 rule sheetUSAopoly PDF, saved in the Internet Archive