Board Game Guide · Unofficial
Defenders of Hogwarts Rules & Setup Guide
Set up your first game, check each side’s turn, and resolve common rules questions with references to the official rulebook.
By Harry Potter House Quiz Editorial Team
Published · Updated · Rules checked
One against many
One faces one to four House Players. House Players work against the side, but do not share victory.; ;
Ages 13+ · Listed play time: 90 minutes
First-game tip: Allow extra time for setup and learning the rules.
Before Your First Turn
What Is Defenders of Hogwarts?
This page is a guide to the physical board game by MinaLima. It brings together setup, turn choices and rules to check at the table. Keep the official rulebook nearby for card interactions and full details.
One player must take the . Each other player chooses a different Hogwarts house. For a first game, give the to the player most familiar with the rules.
Defenders of Hogwarts Setup by Player Count
Give the four, five, six or seven pawns for one, two, three or four House Players respectively. Put four on the Deployment Spaces and keep the rest in reserve.
| Total players | House Players | Dark Arts Players | Dark Arts pawns | On board | Reserve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
- One player must take the . Each other player chooses a different Hogwarts house. For a first game, give the to the player most familiar with the rules.
- Place the Main Board in the centre. Shuffle the Defence Shields and put one face-up on each shield space; put all seven Hogwarts Tokens on their marked spaces. Each House places three pawns in the Great Hall. Keep the Room of Requirement piece and D.A. Coins nearby.
- Place the Side Board above the Main Board. Shuffle the Library Book Deck and reveal two books. Shuffle the House Acquire Deck and deal two cards to each of the Acquire and Advanced Acquire rows. Put the Marker on the first path space, the three Progress Tokens on their spaces, and the Dark Detector and Scrolls on their spaces. Put each House’s fourth pawn at the start of the Loyalty Track. Shuffle the two Location Decks separately and place them on their spaces.
- Shuffle each player’s Starter Deck on their own board. Each House keeps its House Marker and draws three House Location Cards. The also shuffles their Acquire Deck, keeps reserve pawns nearby, and shuffles the white, orange and red Event Decks separately. Everyone draws five Starter Cards. Return unused house components to the box.
- The House Player to the left of the takes the first turn. Continue clockwise.
Defenders of Hogwarts: Two-Player Setup
Yes—Defenders of Hogwarts supports 2 players. Choose 1 House Player and 1 . Give the 4 pawns: all 4 start on the Deployment Spaces, with 0 in reserve.
Use the same board, deck and starting-hand setup above. Count House Players separately from total players when checking the official setup instructions.
Who goes first?
The House Player to the left of the takes the first turn. Continue clockwise.
How do you win with two players?
The first House Player to collect two Defence Shields wins. Other House Players do not share that victory.
The wins by holding all three Progress Tokens and having the required three, two or one pawns at their Location at the same time. The requirement depends on the Event Space where they took the Location Card.
Use the same final-hand and draw rules as other player counts.
How to Play Defenders of Hogwarts
The House Player to the left of the takes the first turn. Continue clockwise.
House Player turn
Choose one: Explore / Learn / Replenish.
- Explore: play a card and resolve its movement and/or effect in either order. Finish that card before playing another through a card effect. Resolve any Bonus Space you activate.
- Learn: you need a pawn outside the Protected Areas. Discard one card to acquire a face-up Acquire Row card or the top Acquire Deck card; alternatively, discard two for an Advanced Acquire Row card and advance on the Loyalty Track. Put the acquired card face-down on top of your Draw Deck and refill the row.
- Replenish: optionally discard cards, draw until you have five, stand up your stunned pawns, then advance the Marker one space and resolve the resulting event, if any.;
- Free actions: return a Hogwarts Token gained on an earlier turn to take an extra Explore action with a matching card type; or claim a Parchment Scroll by revealing two Location Cards with your pawns in the indicated areas. Return those cards to the bottom of their deck. After your first Scroll draw two replacement locations; after your second, return the remaining location card and draw no more.
Dark Arts Player turn
Choose one: Explore / Replenish.
- Explore: play a card and resolve its movement and/or unlocked effect in either order. Bringing a reserve pawn onto an unoccupied Deployment Space costs one movement point. A Deployment Space with a Pawn, even a stunned one, is occupied.
- Replenish: first stand up your stunned pawns, then draw until you have five cards. You cannot discard cards as part of this action. This action itself does not advance the Marker.;
- When a Pawn ends its move on a House Pawn, choose one House Pawn if several are present. Return that House Pawn to the Great Hall and the Pawn to reserve. Take that House’s Marker if you do not already hold it. Holding every House Marker advances the path one space and returns the markers to their owners. Finally, draw two Acquire Cards, put one on top of your Draw Deck and the other at the bottom of the Acquire Deck; this acquisition happens only once per turn, even after multiple bumps.
End your turn
After resolving your main action and its consequences, discard the cards you played and pass play to the player on your left.;
Defenders of Hogwarts: Dark Arts Path
When the marker moves
Advance the Marker one space when a House Player Replenishes, when an event instructs you to, or when the collects every House Marker. Landing on an ordinary path space has no event to resolve.
Resolve events in order
On an Event Space, draw the top Event Card matching that space’s colour. House Players resolve their part first, if possible. The then chooses their event effect or that zone’s Progress Token if still available. They must take a zone’s Progress Token before entering the next zone. Discard the resolved Event Card; after leaving a zone, its Event Deck is no longer used.
Unlock card colours
White card effects are available from the start. Orange effects unlock at the first orange path space; red effects unlock at the first red space. Previously unlocked effects stay available.
Take the Location Card
Taking the final Progress Token at the first red Event Space gives you a Location Card with a three-pawn win requirement. Waiting until the next red Event Space reduces that requirement to two. At the last path space you must take the Location Card if you have not already, with a one-pawn requirement. Use the requirement set when you take the card; later movement does not automatically reduce it.
How Defenders of Hogwarts Ends
House Player victory
The first House Player to collect two Defence Shields wins. Other House Players do not share that victory.
Dark Arts Player victory
The wins by holding all three Progress Tokens and having the required three, two or one pawns at their Location at the same time. The requirement depends on the Event Space where they took the Location Card.
Draw
After the Marker reaches the final space, the game ends in a draw if all players run out of cards before anyone fulfils their victory condition.
The final hand
When the marker reaches the last space, all players draw up to five cards and cannot Replenish again. Continue playing until someone wins or the draw condition is met. Card effects and draw spaces remain exceptions to this restriction.
Reaching the final space starts the final-hand procedure; it does not itself award victory or immediately end the game in a draw.
Defenders of Hogwarts First-Game Checklist
Print this checklist or choose “Save as PDF” in your browser’s print dialog.
| Total players | House Players | Dark Arts Players | Dark Arts pawns | On board | Reserve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
Set up in order
- One player takes the . Everyone else plays a different Hogwarts house.
- Place the Main Board in the centre. Shuffle the Defence Shields and put one face-up on each shield space; put all seven Hogwarts Tokens on their marked spaces. Each House places three pawns in the Great Hall. Keep the Room of Requirement piece and D.A. Coins nearby.
- Give the four, five, six or seven pawns for one, two, three or four House Players respectively. Put four on the Deployment Spaces and keep the rest in reserve.
- Place the Side Board above the Main Board. Shuffle the Library Book Deck and reveal two books. Shuffle the House Acquire Deck and deal two cards to each of the Acquire and Advanced Acquire rows. Put the Marker on the first path space, the three Progress Tokens on their spaces, and the Dark Detector and Scrolls on their spaces. Put each House’s fourth pawn at the start of the Loyalty Track. Shuffle the two Location Decks separately and place them on their spaces.
- Shuffle each player’s Starter Deck on their own board. Each House keeps its House Marker and draws three House Location Cards. The also shuffles their Acquire Deck, keeps reserve pawns nearby, and shuffles the white, orange and red Event Decks separately. Everyone draws five Starter Cards. Return unused house components to the box.
- The House Player to the left of the takes the first turn. Continue clockwise.
Before your first turn
- Exactly one player must take the .
- House Players do not share victory: the first House Player to collect two Defence Shields wins.
- A House Player's Replenish advances the Marker; the 's Replenish does not.; ;
- Pawns cannot enter or pass through any of the four Protected Area spaces.;
If a card effect conflicts with a general rule, follow the card effect. Check the official rulebook for details.
Defenders of Hogwarts FAQs
These Defenders of Hogwarts answers cover player counts, choosing roles, winning and playing time. Use the rulebook references for the full setup and victory conditions.
How many players do you need for Defenders of Hogwarts?
For 2–5 players, ages 13+, with a listed playing time of 90 minutes. One player must take the . Each other player chooses a different Hogwarts house. For a first game, give the to the player most familiar with the rules.
Can you play Defenders of Hogwarts with two players?
Yes—Defenders of Hogwarts supports 2 players. Choose 1 House Player and 1 . Give the 4 pawns: all 4 start on the Deployment Spaces, with 0 in reserve.
Can everyone play a House in Defenders of Hogwarts?
One player must take the . Each other player chooses a different Hogwarts house. For a first game, give the to the player most familiar with the rules.
Defenders of Hogwarts Official Resources
The source links below lead to the publisher’s rules, tutorial and product information.
Where to get the game
Visit the official MinaLima product page for purchase information.
About this guide
Written by Harry Potter House Quiz Editorial Team. Rules checked on 2026-10-16 against the official 17-page PDF. Source links show printed page numbers and open the corresponding PDF viewer page.
This is an unofficial fan guide, not affiliated with or endorsed by MinaLima or Warner Bros. Harry Potter names and characters belong to their respective owners. We have not playtested the game; this guide summarizes its published rules.
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