How many balls do you need to play Quidditch?

Living in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would be enchanting for many reasons, starting with the fact that it would allow us to use magic and see all of the fantastic beasts. Another aspect that would be truly remarkable would be the opportunity to watch and play Quidditch.

The game is quite complex and involves multiple rules, roles, and balls. While flying on a broomstick, two teams consisting of seven players each fly around a pitch and endeavor to beat the other team. How do they claim victory? By using the balls provided to score points, throw rival players off course, and even win more points.

Let’s discuss the different types of balls, how many there are of each, and how exactly the teams score points in the game of Quidditch.  

The Quaffle

In Quidditch, the only ball that is not be able to fly around on its own is the Quaffle. The ball is roughly the size of a soccer ball and is, in most cases, red. Three players on each team, called Chasers, are responsible for chasing the Quaffle and hitting it through one of three hoops on either side of the Quidditch pitch. Characters who played Chaser in the Harry Potter series include Ginny Weasley, Katie Bell, and Harry’s father, James Potter. If a Chaser manages to score by throwing the Quaffle into one of the opposing team’s three hoops, they score 10 points for their team. 

There is also one Keeper per team and their role is to stop the Quaffle from getting into any one of their team’s three hoops, stopping them from receiving the 10 points. The characters who played Keepers in the Harry Potter series are Ron Weasley, Oliver Wood, and Cormac McLaggen. All of these characters played for the Gryffindor House team at Hogwarts, and interestingly there aren’t many other popular characters who played Keeper. There is only one ball to share between all six Chasers and two Keepers, making it the main source of attention on the pitch, especially when you consider that Quidditch games can last for days.

The Bludgers

The most aggressive of the Quidditch balls, there are two Bludgers in every Quidditch match. Bludgers are bewitched before they get on the pitch, making them fly around on their own. Their purpose in any match is to knock players off of their broomsticks. Colored black and made of iron, a Bludger’s blow to a broomstick would certainly knock players off course and might even succeed in knocking them off of their broom. It is the role of a Beater, of which there are two on each team, to divert the Bludgers from hitting any of their teammates and to knock the Bludger towards the opposing team. To divert the Bludger, a Beater carries a short wooden bat to hit it with. Hogwarts students who played Beater included Fred and George Weasley, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe.

The Bludger was also a major plot point in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Dobby the house-elf enchanted the ball to chase after Harry Potter in a Quidditch match instead of letting it go after everyone. Despite being targeted, Harry managed to outmaneuver the Bludger and catch the Golden Snitch to win the game. He did land rather dangerously, however, and broke his arm in the process. Gilderoy Lockhart attempted to mend Harry’s arm, but failed tremendously, removing all of the bones from it instead. Fred and George wrestled with the Rogue Bludger after Harry won the match, and even though it was still trying to target Harry, the twins managed to force it back into its crate.

The Golden Snitch

The Golden Snitch is a small round ball with wings. There is only one Snitch in a Quidditch match and it’s extremely quick as it flies around the Quidditch pitch, looking like a hummingbird as it does so, its wings flapping rapidly. This ball has an extremely vital role in the game of Quidditch. If a Seeker were to catch the ball, it signals the end of the game and awards an extra 150 points. Only the Seeker can collect the ball, and when they do, it signals the end of the game. The Snitch is why Quidditch games can last a long time, because if nobody catches it, the game continues. However, a Seeker snatching the Snitch does not necessarily mean that their team wins, as only the team with the most points wins. Hogwarts students who played Seeker included Charlie Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Regulus Black, and of course Harry Potter himself. 

Out of all the balls used for Quidditch, the Golden Snitch is no doubt the most famous amongst Harry Potter fans, as it was Harry’s objective to catch it throughout all his Quidditch matches at Hogwarts. Quite remarkable for a first-year, Harry caught the Snitch in his very first game of Quidditch by almost swallowing it. This becomes a major plot point in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Albus Dumbledore bequeathed that same Snitch to Harry after his death. Harry held the Snitch and Hermione Granger theorized that Dumbledore may have hidden something inside it, as the Snitches react to the Seeker who caught them by flesh memory. Because of this, every Snitch is unique and no same Snitch is used for more than one game. In fact, everyone, including the maker of the Snitch, must wear gloves so that the integrity of the flesh memory is not compromised. 

It turns out that Dumbledore did utilize the flesh memory of the Snitch, but Harry first touched it with his mouth. Touching the Snitch to his mouth revealed the words “I open at the close.” Once Harry had accepted his fate ⏤ that Voldemort needed to kill him for Harry to ultimately defeat him ⏤ the Snitch opened to reveal the Resurrection Stone, which allowed Harry to see his loved ones who had been killed for a brief time.

Muggle Quidditch

In 2005, some clever Muggles created a Muggle-friendly version of Quidditch that we can play in real life. This version of the game has the same types of balls, except they’re obviously not magical in nature and are substituted by other sports balls. For example, the Golden Snitch is a tennis ball, the Quaffle is a deflated volleyball, and the Bludgers are deflated dodgeballs. The amount of balls stays the same except for one extra Bludger, making the total ball count used in this version of Quidditch five as opposed to the four used in Wizarding World games.

In real-world Quidditch, the Quaffle is used in the same way as wizard games. Chasers pass it through hoops to score 10 points. The Bludgers are used in a similar way in that any player from the opposing team that gets hit by one suffers a knockout effect, which is almost like a time-out for the player. They then need to touch their hoops before resuming play. The Golden Snitch is the biggest diversion from the original sport. The Snitch, aka a tennis ball, is attached to the shorts of a runner who runs around the pitch. The Seekers then need to chase them to get the ball attached to their shorts to end the game, usually awarding 30 points to their team. 

Hopefully we’ll get to see another Quidditch match play out on the big screen again when the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore arrives in theaters this April.