DIY Harry Potter Party Game – Obstacles in the Underground Chambers
Play this fun Harry Potter game using the free printable game cards! Participants will need to get through all seven obstacles from the underground chambers to recover the sorcerer’s stone and win this game! Similar to minute-to-win-it games, these are perfect to play at home with your family or at a Harry Potter-themed party.
Hello! Today I am excited to share this fun homemade Harry Potter game with you! This past summer my kids finished reading book one of the Harry Potter series and we planned to watch the first movie on Harry Potter day, July 31st. As a huge fan I was really looking forward to making this a fun and special day for our whole family! I made this game, based on the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, to play that day.
The object of the game is to get through all seven obstacles in the underground chambers to retrieve the sorcerer’s stone – just as Harry did at the end of book one. I searched online hoping to find a game like this that already existed but didn’t find anything – so I decided to create my own! I made printable game cards for each challenge and came up with a simple activity to represent each obstacle.
We played it inside, starting at one end of our house and moving to the other, but it can also be played outside. I set up an obstacle in each room/area of our house and included the challenge card. The activities were all a big hit with my kids – even the chess one which was the most difficult to come up with since we didn’t want to take the time to play an actual game of chess!
We did this game with just our kiddos but I think it would be really fun with a group too. I am sharing the free printable cards and props I made for the game so you can try it out too! We used things around our house to make each challenge work (I even found a roll of green streamers in our basement) but if you do need to purchase supplies there aren’t many and you can always make substitutions where needed.
I hope you enjoy the game if you play! I’d love to know if you give it a try – tag me @craftingcheerfully :)
Complete Supply List for Harry Potter Game
- Free Harry Potter Party Game printables – Grab the free files by filling out the purple form at the end of this post.
- White cardstock to print the challenge cards on
- Paper trimmer or scissors
- Green Crepe Paper Streamers
- Winged keys – Skeleton Keys, Winged Key Kit, OR a Vintage Keys digital file from Freepik.
- Glitter paper and Glue Stick for key wings
- Black cardstock and white cardstock
- Clear Spinner brad and paper clip, or dice
- Riddle to print
- Seven potion bottles, cups or Google search “Potions Riddle” and print the picture that comes up.
- Rocks and Metallic Red Paint
Ideas for Game Prizes
- Harry Potter Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans
- Wizard Black Round Glasses Frames
- Witch Broom Pens
- LEGO Harry Potter Minifigures
Prepping the Game
Download and print the free printable game cards from my Resource Library. Cut them all out including the spinner and smaller potion label cards. The specific prep and items needed for each challenge are listed under each obstacle. You will also find a complete supply list with links at very end of this post :)
Starting the Harry Potter Game
Start by handing the game participants the starting card and let them know they have a mission! The sorcerer’s stone is in danger and it up to them to find and protect it! If you are playing this at a themed-party encourage everyone to dress up and bring their wands – you never know when they’ll need them :)
Obstacle One – Fluffy
The first obstacle Harry encounters is Fluffy, created by Hagrid. The group will need to come up with a song to keep Fluffy asleep, then perform it to get through this obstacle. I set out a bunch of toy instruments and our kids had a great time coming up with a song. Was it a harp? No! But they didn’t care. Set a timer to keep the game moving.
Obstacle Two – Devil’s Snare
Next up, Devil’s snare! Set this obstacle up with a roll or two of green crepe paper streamers. We wrapped our kids up in the streamers and they had to get loose. It took us way longer to wrap them than it did for them to bust out of them – but they still loved it. If you have a larger group, they can wrap each other!
Obstacle Three – Winged Keys
Obstacle three is the winged keys by Filius Flitwick. For this obstacle there is a little more prep involved. The group will need to search for the right key, for us that meant the key with the damaged wing. We hid all of the keys in a room and they had to find all 16 keys including the one with the damaged wing. You could have them just search for the correct key if you want, but I had made 16 keys and figured they could find all of them!
To make the keys, you can purchase actual Skeleton Keys and add wings or even purchase a Winged Key Kit on Amazon! How cool is that? Since I thought of this the day before our party, I opted to print my own keys and add paper wings with glitter paper. They worked great! I printed this key file of gold and silver vintage keys from Freepik.com and then added glitter wings with a gluestick. I bent one of the wings on the special key.
Obstacle Four: Chessboard
Obstacle four, the chessboard. This obstacle was by far the hardest to find a matching activity. One of my kiddos knows how to play chess, but even if both did, we didn’t want to sit down and actually play a game of chess! So instead I created a life-size chess board and the object is to get from one side to the other, just like Harry, Ron and Hermione were trying to do in the book. I will add that I know pawns can move one space forward in chess but not one back…if that is going to bother you, you can easily sub a different game for this obstacle. It didn’t bother us so this game was perfect! :)
The set up was simple and you can print my spinner for free. First, lay out sheets of black and white paper to form a chessboard on the floor. You can cut your pieces to make a square, I left mine 8.5″ x 11″. Make your chessboard at least 3 across and decide how long you want it. You can make it 8 pieces of paper deep to match a real chessboard or do whatever you want!
The player can move from one side of the board to another by spinning the paper spinner. They can choose what color they want to be and they must stay on that color.
Create the spinner by printing my free printable spinner and then either use a plastic spinner if you happen to have one or want to buy one, or create it using a brad and paper clip. This video by Early Learning Ideas (starts at the 2 minute mark) is excellent for showing how to make a spinner with a paper clip. The key is to not make it too tight the paper clip won’t spin. Alternatively, you can use a dice and players can move forward one for numbers rolled 3-6, and move backwards one for numbers rolled 1-2. The spinner is weighted to keep the game moving – especially helpful if you have a larger group!
Obstacle Five: Mountain Troll
Obstacle five is the mountain troll created by Quirrell and already defeated by Quirrell! Since this obstacle was already taken care of in the books, I set out a huge pillow and just had our kids sneak by it quietly as though it was a knocked-out mounting troll :)
Obstacle Six: Potion Riddle
Next up is the potion riddle created by Severus Snape! For this obstacle, I printed the actual riddle, set out seven glasses of liquid that matched the potion bottle descriptions and had my kids solve it. Both my kids and my husband didn’t remember the answer to this riddle from the book, so they worked on it together.
To make this part more group-friendly, I created small potion labels they could move around in front of the cups as they figured it out. If I had been hosting a party and playing this game, I probably would have wanted cool potion bottles to set out for this obstacle. You can create your own by saving old bottles like olive oil or wine and then filling them up with colored liquid. You can also keep things easy and low-key and use cups that match the size and color descriptions in the riddle as I did :)
There is a sheet of parchment-looking paper included in the printable so you can print the riddle on matching paper if you’d like. The riddle can be found here, at Pottermore Wiki. I didn’t include the riddle in my printable packet since I didn’t personally write it like I did my obstacle clues.
Obstacle Seven: Mirror of Erised
The last obstacle!! For the Mirror of Erised obstacle you will need a mirror and a sorcerer’s stone. We used a floor-length mirror, one of those inexpensive ones from Target we already had in a closet. I set that up on one side of the room and hid the sorcerer’s stone on the other side of the room, somewhere visible but not obvious. Each of my kids took turns standing in front of the mirror. They had to search the reflection for the stone hidden behind them. I made two sorcerer’s stones by painting rocks a metallic red. I had to make one for each kid and hide the second stone after the first kid took their turn.
Ending the Game
Once they find their stone the game is over! They successfully made it through all seven obstacles! Hand them the Congratulations card and their prize! If this is a kid’s party, the prize could be their favor bag or a special treat. For my kiddos it was some fun Harry Potter candy to watch during the movie that night. These treat boxes are perfect for holding a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour beans! These broom pens or Harry Potter glasses would also be fun!
I had a lot of fun creating this Harry Potter game for my kids and coming up with the fun rhymes on the cards. Any excuse to have some Harry Potter fun, right!? If you give this game a try I hope you have fun too! We had just as much fun watching our kids play as they did going through the obstacles. It’s a great game for kids who have only read book one or watched movie one. It’s hard finding games without spoilers!
If you’d like to check out more of my fun Harry Potter-themed crafts, be sure to visit my Harry Potter Crafts Page! You’ll find more fun free printables and some fun craft projects!
Get the Free Harry Potter Party Game Printables!
Fill out the purple form below with your first name and email address! The free file will be sent straight to your inbox! If you have already filled out the form below, don’t worry – you won’t be added to my list twice! This freebie is for personal use only. I hope you enjoy crafting something special. Please let me know if you have any questions :)
