Blog de Puree

The game of quidditch is now a reality at select college campuses on the East Coast.

What was once a game from the imagination of J.K. Rowling in her brilliant Harry Potter books, is now actually being played on an intercollegiate level, Boston.com reports. Teams such as the Amherst College Acromantulas play the Middlebury College Mollywobbles in a muggle (non-magical folks) version that doesn’t use flying brooms or self-propelled golden snitches.

Instead, a small group of inventive collegians at Middlebury College came up with an improvised version of the game that includes the following revised rules and muggle work-arounds:

• Broomsticks are held between players’ legs, similar to how a child might use a hobby-horse.
• The golden snitch is a tennis ball in the end of a sock that is attached to the back of a cross country runner’s shorts. That person then runs around the quidditch pitch (like a soccer pitch) to simulate the roving nature of the snitch. (Other college teams have used remote control helicopters or bouncing balls.
• Bludgers are red rubber balls instead of hard flying items that can give unweary players a concussion or knock you off your broom.
• The quaffle is a deflated volleyball.
• Penalties have also been amended to reflect the ground-borne nature of muggle quidditch.

Other than that, the same basic rules of quidditch are the same. Teams wear capes and uniforms similar to actual quidditch players in the Rowling-verse. And this sport is played with elements of dodge ball, soccer, football, tag and basketball.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team before a match.

The muggle version of Quidditch has gained so much notoriety that some students who are avid Potter fans are actually making the decision to attend these schools just so they can actually play! There’s even a Facebook chat group that has been started for for those looking to join the Quidditch League at Middlebury College next year.

If I were in high school, I believe that the ability to play quidditch would most definitely factor into my school decision. As for now, if anyone knows of a quidditch league in northeast Massachusetts or Essex County, please leave a comment. I want to play, and play now!