Cards, Spells & Tokens

Understand Draw, Discard, Acquire and Location Decks, card types and the game’s key tokens.

Read the card before building a plan

Cards combine movement with effects. A large movement number is only part of the decision: an ability that opens your route can matter more than additional distance. The publisher's card guide identifies movement values, card type, effect icons and narrative text separately. Use the component and deck index to distinguish starter, Acquire, Location, Library Book and Event decks before reading individual cards.

Newly acquired cards go face-down on top of the draw deck, rather than straight into your hand. House players can Learn from the ordinary Acquire Row or face-down deck by discarding one hand card, or from the Advanced Acquire Row by discarding two and advancing Loyalty one space. Learn requires at least one of your pawns outside Protected Areas. The Advanced Acquire Bonus Space instead costs one hand card; it is a different mechanism.

Keep the card areas distinct

For teaching you can leave played cards visible beside the board while resolving them, then discard at turn end. This temporary area is not an official Storage Pile. The complete first-round lesson tracks the hand, Draw Deck, Discard Pile and temporary area after each action. Card drawing: printed page 12; House costs and turn end: printed pages 16–17.

Check when the effect applies

Instant, conditional and whole-turn effects have different timing. An ordinary Explore card lets you choose movement before or after its available effect, but a condition still has to be met. Effects are optional unless the card requires them; an applicable effect that contradicts the normal rules takes precedence. The timing questions separate these checks from compulsory Event instructions. Follow draw before movement to see why a current Explore card cannot enter an early reshuffle, or conditional extra movement to check a trigger before using its reward.

A Reactive Effect is different: when its condition is met outside your turn, reveal it from hand, resolve only the effect immediately and discard it afterward. It gives no movement. The reaction example follows that order without inventing a card name or trigger. Official rules: printed page 16; Dark Arts colour restrictions: printed page 21.

Hogwarts Tokens

The glossary distinction separates Hogwarts Tokens from House Markers. A Hogwarts Token matches a card category and supports a later extra Explore; a House Marker is taken through a bump. The Marker and Progress Token distinction also separates the single Dark Arts path indicator from the three collected victory tokens. The Chinese names shown in this wiki are editorial translations, not an official Chinese edition.

The seven token categories are:

• Magical Creatures & Beings
• Transfiguration & Spell Casting
• Hogwarts Items & Artefacts
• Defence Against the Dark Arts
• Charms
• Potions
• Herbology

A house player holds at most one Hogwarts Token. A token acquired on an earlier turn can be returned to its space to enable an additional Explore action with a matching card type. It is not a permanent stat upgrade. Follow the worked token case to check the turn-of-acquisition restriction and the card that must actually leave your hand.

Avoid importing RPG assumptions

The verified material does not provide experience levels, spell DPS rankings or a skill-tree calculator. “Potions” and “Herbology” are card/token categories in this ruleset. Alohomora, Trevor and Explore the card are actual starter examples, with different movement/effects; an Explore action is not the same as the card named Explore. The card library lists the verified individual faces, without pretending the whole Harry Potter spell list is in this box. Use the component index for physical deck quantities.

Editorial deck-planning checklist

Before acquiring a card, ask whether it helps your next destination, whether its effect is available now and when you will draw it. Before spending a token, check that your hand contains a matching type. A useful card is one that helps carry out a current plan. Keep the tabletop reference open for costs and the timing questions for resolution order. Consult clarifications when the source wording leaves a question unresolved.

Compare ordinary and Advanced Learn with exact hand/deck/discard counts, then check Token before or after Learn. The latter preserves Alohomora for the matching Charms Token; discarding that card as a Learn cost removes the listed hand's later Charms option. These are controlled teaching situations, not claims about unknown Acquire card effects.

Sources

• Publisher rulebook — printed pages 11–17, 21 and 24
• MinaLima official tutorial — Learn at 06:54, free actions at 08:14