Six's Six Prof. Cody Lewis Quidditch Correspondent
6 Pickup Games Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis (Guest Quidditch Correspondent)
March 2017
Thanks to Slytherin’s very own Quidditch enthusiast Will Lestrange, pickups have been revived. Since October, Quidditch fans have met in #quidditch on IRC two to three times a month for casual Quidditch-related fun and games. Haven’t made it to a pickup yet? Well, here are six of the games you might find yourself playing at a Quidditch pickup!
Quaffle The second best half of HOL Quidditch is, of course, the classic Quidditch pickup game. Quaffle requires less preparation than Snitch and many more people can play at once. Players are divided into two teams and engage in friendly Quaffleplay, typically to 50 points.
CAB This variation of Quaffle selects two random players on each team to go head-to-head. Find out how you fare in 1v1 situations against different types of people. You must be ready and prepared to answer questions at all times.
Monarch Based on the children’s game King of the Hill, all players compete to become the monarch. Once one person becomes the monarch, all other players attempt to knock the monarch off and take his or her place. In Monarch, you can only earn trivia points if you are holding the title of monarch. Since you must answer two questions in a row to score, Monarch is great training for Chasing.
H-O-R-S-E Taken from the Muggle sport of basketball, players must answer trivia questions on their own. If they do not know the answer, they will receive a letter. Any player that receives all the letters is eliminated from the game until there is one winner. Gaps in trivia knowledge are highlighted by H-O-R-S-E.
Creaothceann In Creaothceann, all players answer a trivia question. The first two to answer correctly then go against each other and compete to earn a boulder. How many boulders? Up to 100, of course! Our version of Creaothceann was the brainchild of Ryan Granger. I left Ryan’s idea in a PM to Cody Lewis and all three of us were testing out Creaothceann the very next day.
Quodpot The American version of Quidditch requires a little bit of luck. Everyone answers questions to earn points for their team… unless the Quod explodes and knocks them out of the game!
All these games, along with others that weren’t mentioned, can be varied further by changing question sets. I’ve heard that cascade qset is quite fun. Pickups are always more exciting with more people. Stop by to test your skills and meet people of all houses. See you on the pitch!
6 Players To Watch This Year
October 2016
Hello, Quidditch fans! This year’s Quidditch schedule is up and the 2016-17 season is almost upon us. It’s always a blast showing up to the Quidditch pitch and cheering on your house team and your favorite players. So without further ado, here are six players you should definitely keep an eye on this year!
Arielle Lemoyne Arielle cemented herself as a top tier Seeker by securing the Snitch against our very own Scarlet Leslie-Lewis at the end of the 2015-16 season (Sorry, Scarlet, it had to be mentioned). She followed that performance up by taking a trip to the semi-finals of the SQL Seeking tournament. 2016-17 is poised for some competitive Seeking matchups and Arielle might just be the Seeker to beat.
Jenny Lupin You can always count on Jenny to work her magic to ensure that the Gryffindor Quidditch team shows up to play on game day. GQT’s captain is always willing to fill whatever role her team needs. Someday, I hope she returns to being HOL’s premier Seeker, but for now, it looks like she’s found her groove defending her team’s goal posts.
Matilde Rayne Matilde is one of the players I always look forward to competing against. When I finally got the chance to compete alongside her this past summer, it was clear that she was the real deal. If she gets into her zone, nobody’s getting past her and a lot of RQT’s success this year will hinge on whether or not she plays to her full potential. No pressure though, Mattie.
Maxim Trevelyan After a solid rookie campaign, Maxim “Angelina Jolie” Trevelyan is already one of the most entertaining players to watch in all of Quidditch. Has he put in the work to build on last year’s success? Or will he succumb to the sophomore slump that has plagued many before him? Only time will tell.
“Cody,” you must be asking yourself at this point, “You picked six players to watch this year and none of them are from Slytherin. What gives?” Don’t worry, SQT faithful. I’ve saved the best for last!
Rosalie Mason There were a handful of “non-pros” that turned some heads during this year’s Summer Quidditch League, but Rosalie tops the list in my opinion. After being deemed ineligible to play for the last half of the 2015-16 season, Rosalie has put a lot of effort into improving her skills. I fully expect her to be a game changer this year.
Will Lestrange Will Lestrange is the top dog going into this year. When he’s playing at his best, he’s just about unstoppable. At any given time, he’s the fastest player on the pitch, but he still has a lot to learn. And that’s the scary part: he hasn’t even hit his peak yet. Anyone who shows up to SQT’s matches is in for a treat. Spoiler: he’s going to score a lot of goals.
I wish I could have included honorable mentions because there are so many talented players in HOL, but I wanted to stay true to the theme of Six’s Six. Truthfully, you never know who’s going to show up and who’s going to choke. Hopefully, this list won’t jinx (or curse) anyone.