Lesson Four

Welcome to lesson four, your last lesson O_O I hope everyone has enjoyed the class so far! For lesson four, we are going to discuss some of the games we share with muggles and some games that can be easily related to some muggle games.

Shuntbumps:

Shutbumps was a game played on broomsticks. First invented in Devon, England, the game involves people flying around and running into each other with the intent of knocking them off their brooms. Of course, any number of players can play at once, and the number of players diminishes as the game progresses. The entire point of Shuntbumps is to knock others off of their brooms. Once a player is knocked off of their broom, they are out of the game and have to leave the "playing field" if one has even been established. The game continues until everybody has been knocked off their brooms except for one person. The last person flying is the winner. This game never gained immense popularity with the older crowd (I can imagine it was rather dangerous and people had a habit of getting rather brutal as we see with Quidditch sometimes) and today, mostly only children play it for fun, but it's no longer a competitive sport.

Jousting:

Shuntbumps, as some say, is very much like the muggle form of jousting. Medieval Jousting was traditionally played on horses. Jousting is played between two people. The players have armor, which they call jousting armor. Each person has a lance, which is like a long pole of sorts. The purpose of the game is to damage the other person's armor and/or take away their lance while trying to knock the other horseman off of his horse. This sport was most popular during medieval times. 

Swivenhodge:

This sport was played on broomsticks, though it was one of the more disgusting sports in the wizarding world because it was played with an inflated pig's bladder. I don't know about you, but this would be an example of one of those games I wouldn't play ;) The game originated in Herefordshire, England. To play, you would have to have an equal amount of players on both sides. The players would situate themselves on either side of a hedge and sit backward on their brooms. They would throw the pig's bladder in the air and try to bat it across the hedge with the brush end of their broomsticks. Every time a player missed it, a point would be given to their opponent and the first person to reach fifty points was the winner. Surprisingly, Swivenhodge is still played, though it is not a popular sport by any means.

Tennis:

Not to relate something rather gross to a fun muggle past time, but there is a resemblance between Swivenhodge and Tennis. Tennis involves batting a ball across a short net and to the player on the other side, who then bats it back. If you miss a ball, the point goes to your opponent and you gain points when you are able to hit the ball back to your opponent. There are more restrictions to the game like how many times the ball bounces in your court and whether it touches the net and all, but I'm not going into too much detail there. The important point to realize is that Swivenhodge and Tennis are rather closely related. 

Flying Seahorse Fishing:

This game is like muggle fishing, but in this case, wizards and witches are trying to catch seahorses. This game is played a lot at Hogwarts and the seahorses are used for potions as they are a valuable potion ingredient, used in making the Girding Potion. To catch the seahorses, fishers use the Seize and Pull Charm to retrieve the seahorses from the water. This is required of students for homework and they must bring back three seahorses to be used for potions. 

Duelling:

Duelling, although commonly believed to be a form of combat, is also a sport that many wizards and witches engage in. A duelling club existed at Hogwarts where many young wizards and witches would practice duelling with each other in a safe and fun environment. Duelling is also a competitive sport like Quidditch and other games. Of course, in a sporting environment, duelling is not done with the intent to hurt anyone, and, instead, is done for fun and a bit of competition. The Ministry has, in the past, tried to ban duelling, but whether they were banning the competitive sport of duelling or the kind to solve conflicts is unclear. 

Puzzles and Riddles:

Just like muggles, wizards and wizards enjoy solving various puzzles and riddles as well. For instance, the Daily Prophet posts various puzzles and riddles for the magical community to solve. These games consisted of everything from crosswords to the Magical Symbols Game. The Magical Symbols Game was a game in which people would try to draw a certain symbol or guess what a symbol stood for. In addition, the Daily Prophet also published the Magic Lottery which was a form of gambling in which people would draw lots in hopes of winning a prize.

Potion Puzzle:

The Potions Puzzle was a puzzle that was created by Severus Snape to guard the Philosopher's Stone in 1992. The puzzle consisted of seven potions, three of which were poison, two of which were wine, and two would get them through the fire on either side. Along with the seven potions was a riddle that needed to be solved. The location of the two potions that would get them through the fire would be revealed upon finding the correct solution to the riddle. Hermione Granger successfully solved the riddle. 

That's the end of lesson four! I hope that everyone enjoyed this class. Before you go, head on over to Assignment Four and don't forget to complete the Final Exam as well :)