DIY Harry Potter Escape Room

Guys! I am SO excited to share this with you today!

Growing up, I always wanted to go experience Hogwarts: owls, Quidditch, potions, wands, magic maps, etc. And mysteries. Lots of mysteries. What is there not to love?!?

When I set out on my mission to design a Harry Potter escape room I had one goal: To create a meaningful experience with puzzles and activities to make it feel like we were at Hogwarts.

After over 100 hours of designing, leaning into my science background, and playtesting it with over 150 people, I finally came up with something that I felt matched the magic of Hogwarts and that I feel comfortable sharing with you today.

This blog post will highlight what we did, how this game works, and help you know if this is the right game/activity for your next event.

Important notes:

• For a more enjoyable experience reading through this blog post, feel free to listen to this Harry Potter music playlist by opening it in a different tab.
• This is a SPOILER FREE review of the game. The majority of puzzles and the answers to the puzzles are not shown here.
• At the end of this post you can download the FULL instructions to set up this game in your home FOR FREE (you will be prompted to enter your email address so we know where to send the document)
• This game requires a lot of different props to play. At the end of the post, you will see some affiliate links to buy some of those props through Amazon. Using our link will not affect the amount you pay, but we will receive a slight commission. It will really help us out to make more of these types of activities if you buy some of your props through our link.

Without further ado…

I present…

Quest for the Quidditch Gear

The premise of the game is that you are members of your House Quidditch Team, but Peeves has recently stolen all of the Snitches.

A letter from Madam Hooch begins the game and tells you that if you want to keep playing Quidditch, you must find the Quidditch equipment.

As you can see, we have played this game in lots of different places with lots of different levels of “immersion”.

Sometimes we have gone all out and decorated the whole house.

Other times we’ve played it more simply with simple props and few decorations.

Luckily the puzzles and the game play are super fun both ways! The advantage of DIY is that it’s totally up to you.

The game includes multiple puzzles and multiple locks… everything leading and building up to the final goal: UNLOCKING THE QUIDDITCH SNITCHES.

There are around 12 different puzzles that need to be solved to complete the quest.

Some of the puzzles are common and straightforward. Others require some ingenuity and out of the box thinking.

Some require you to be good at logic. Others require you to be good at words.

The good news is that there are puzzles for everyone and everyone can contribute. And all the puzzles immerse you even further into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

You will find yourself:

This game was designed for groups of people ages 15 and up.

It’s an intellectually and socially engaging activity for adults and teenagers alike.

That said, we have played this game with younger audiences too. It works best if they have adults to play with them, or at least someone willing to give them some extra hints.

We’ve played this with families, with youth groups, for teenage dance dates, for adult date nights, and more.

Everyone can appreciate a little bit of Harry Potter.

More Details

Be prepared… if you want to host this game, it’s a lot of prep work. We’ve estimated probably about 10 hours of your time putting things together and understanding how everything works (plus or minus a few hours depending on how immersive/fancy you want to get).

That effort makes for a FANTASTIC, MEMORABLE Harry Potter experience. See what these people had to say:

Reviews

“For all you Harry Potter buffs, and even those who don’t know much about Harry Potter out there, this is a must play! It has a great mix of clever challenges and Harry Potter lore. This escape game was tons of fun, challenging, and finally very rewarding when you finally get it! I recommend to everyone!” – Max Johnson

“I have hosted this Harry Potter escape room multiple times and it has been amazing each time! My friends have been blown away at how everything comes together at the end. The clues and challenges are well thought out, fun, and have the perfect touch of Harry Potter “magic”! It has been such a fun way to host a get together in the comfort of my own home.” – Megan Monk –

” The Harry Potter game was so much fun! I wish we’d had a chance to take our kids because they would have loved it too. I loved how the puzzles made us think. They weren’t super easy, but none were impossible. Everyone in the group was able to contribute in some way, which meant no one was left out and everyone had a really great time. We would definitely recommend this to others. ” – Angie Dayton

“I loved being able to play this game with friends! Not only was it great to have something to constantly talk and laugh about, but also because it was a great way for me and my friends to have fun and work through puzzles and challenges together 🙂 Highly recommend!!!! SO MUCH FUN.” – Hailey Johnson

Do you want to host Quest for the Quidditch Gear in your home?

We are giving away all of the instructions on how to create this game in your home. If you would like to support us in creating more games like this please use our Amazon Affiliate links (listed below or more in depth here) if you buy something for the game. We get a small commission for each purchase

1. Download the first document (Quest for the Quidditch Gear)
2. If you are wanting to modify it for a younger group, download BOTH documents

** Note, these are zip files, so you will need to download onto a computer to unzip them and use all the puzzle files within.

** Note 2: This game is designed for 4-6 players. If you want to play with a larger group do the following:

• Split the larger group into smaller groups of 4-6 players.  
• Instead of having the entire game be in a single room, you will want to split different parts of the game into different rooms. 
• In the PDF document is a map of how the puzzles in the game are organized.  Each “line” of puzzles should be in its own room.
• Make sure each group has their own copies of the Reading List, since that is the only prop that will be needed in all of the rooms.

What Items Do I Need to Buy?

The full list of things you will need for your Harry Potter escape room is listed in the PDF document and in this blog post where we outline which are easy to make/find at the thrift store and links for purchases. But here some affiliate links for the most common items that people tend to buy from Amazon (buying something after clicking on one of these links won’t change the cost of the items for you, but Amazon will give us a commission for the referral which will help us fund additional games for the future):

• Word Lock
• Number Lock
• Directional Lock
• UV Pens and Light
• Plastic Spiders (Unless it’s around Halloween time, then you can get them at a local craft store for cheaper)
• Aged Stationary Paper (Not necessary, but it adds a lot to the ambiance with aged parchment paper)

And finally, you can see more required and optional DIY props on our Harry Potter Pinterest Board or purchases in our follow-up blog post.

Some Frequently Asked Questions

How do I download/see the game?

Just a few paragraphs above this one there’s a question called:
Do you want to host Quest for the Quidditch Gear in your home?
Go to that section and click the “Download” button.

I saw the game overview, but I don’t see the extra documents I need… Where are they?

All the instructions and documents you need for the game are in a zip file you will download. When you unzip it, there will be a “START HERE INSTRUCTIONS” file as well as a separate “SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS” folder. All the extra documents are in that supporting documents folder, so look in the original unzipped folder you downloaded.

What if I don’t have the right Harry Potter Books?
(i.e. I don’t live in the United States?)

You will have to recreate a couple of the puzzles if you don’t have the Scholastic version of the Harry Potter books. You will need to modify the (1) Reading List puzzle, (2) Math and Maze puzzle in the Tri-Wizard tournament, and (3) change the reference on the Anagram puzzle at the end of the year 2 path.

1. Here are the paragraphs you will need to find in your own book to fix the Reading List:
   • Year 1: When Harry puts on the sorting hat for the first time
   • Year 2: When Hagrid says “if someone wanted to know something, all they’d have to do is follow the spiders”
   • Year 3: In the Marauder’s Map chapter, when Fred and George first give Harry the map and show him how it works. Specifically, the paragraph that says, “he took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly and said, ‘I solemnly swear I am up to no good’ “.
   • Year 4: In the House Elf Liberation chapter, when Fred reveals how to enter the kitchen. The paragraph says, ” ‘Easy’ said Fred, ‘concealed door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. Just tickle the pear and it giggles…’ ”
2. The math and maze puzzle in the tri-wizard tournament will need to be completely redone as they give the numbers for the 4th book.
3. The anagram puzzle in the Year 2 path includes a reference to the part in the second book where Tom Marvolo Riddle writes his name in the air then waves his wand and it reorders to “I AM LORD VOLDEMORT”. 

Any questions for me? Did you try it with your family or friends? Let me know in the comments below!

I hope you enjoy your game! (If you want to say thank you, feel free to buy me a butterbeer 🙂 )