Hogwarts Battle

 

Anyone else with kids super obsessed with Harry Potter? These books are some of the only fiction that The Kid chooses to actually reread. She role plays stuff from the books any time she can find another kid to play with. She even learned a bunch of Quidditch terms in French. It's a little ridiculous.

But we do totally agree on this game. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative game; all players are working together to defeat the villains before the villains can capture a set of locations. You play as a HP character, you cast spells and use magical items in order to attack, you get stunned instead of dying, and everyone wins or loses together. The game is progressive in that when you beat Year 1, you move on to Year 2 the next time you play. If you lose, you replay the year until you win. Each year alters the rules a bit and adds complexity, so it starts very simple and ends up as a fairly complex (and long!) game by Year 7.

The expansion pack, Monster Box of Monsters is also excellent. It's an add-on for after you've beaten the entire base game.