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Parents' Guide to

Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells

By Paul Semel, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

All-ages puzzle game made for Potter fans and muggles alike.

App iPhone , iPad , Android Free Puzzle Games
Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells: screenshot #1
  • Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells: screenshot #2
  • Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells: screenshot #3

Community Reviews

See all
age 6+

Based on 1 parent review

Polk ok
Polk ok Adult
December 10, 2021
age 6+

Good game

But don’t watch the ads as they often freeze the game
See all 1 parent review

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Unclear whether personal information is sold or rented to third parties.
  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.
  • Data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • User's information is used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Data profiles are created and used for personalised advertisements.
Learn more about our privacy ratings

What’s It About?

Vaguely following the plot of the books and the movies, HARRY POTTER: PUZZLES & SPELLS has a young boy leaving his uncaring and abusive step-parents behind when he heads off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England's premiere school for young magic users. But to get him there, and through his class load, you have to solve a series of increasingly challenging match-3 puzzles, many of which are rather magical. Like other match-3 games, you'll gain power-ups to solve puzzles depending on the number of gems that you match, and can trigger explosions, line clearing moves, and more.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

While this is a fairly typical match-3 puzzle game, it does have a bit of Harry Potter magic, as well as fun nods to the franchise. Like all match-3 puzzle games, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells has you using the touch screen to move pieces on a board so that three or more of them line up or are next to each other. Doing so removes them from the board, and hopefully fulfils the condition of that puzzle before you run out of turns. And as these kinds of games go, this one is fairly typical. As always, matching more than 3 in a row, or in a different shape, earn you the same kind of special pieces they do in other games, while your objectives are also similar, whether it's just clearing the board of certain color pieces or removing pieces next to an item to remove it as well, and so on.

What makes this different is that it has a bit of that Potter magic. For instance, there are times when, by matching items, you unlock spells, ones that can unlock chests full of gold or reveal parts of the board hidden by feathers. There are also some distinctly Potter-esque mechanics, such as chocolate frogs, which you have to remove from the board, except that unlike the removable objects in games, these hop around the board like, well, frogs. Best of all, while Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is tailor made for Hogwarts alumni, the puzzles are still clever and inventive enough that even muggles will appreciate this (well, assuming they're match-3 fans).

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about advertising. While Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is designed for fans of the books and movies, it's also designed to get people to buy the Harry Potter books and movies, so did it make you want to reread the books or rewatch the movies?

  • When you run out of turns or lives in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, you can use in-game currency to keep playing, but you can also buy it with real money, so how do you decide how much money to spend on a free game?

App Details

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