Quidditch (real-life sport)

For the fictional sport, see Quidditch.
Quadball
A chaser tries to advance the quaffle but is deterred by an opposing beater.
Highest governing bodyInternational Quadball Association[1]
First played2005 in Middlebury, Vermont
Characteristics
ContactFull[2]
Team members7 on field, 21 total on roster; 1 additional player who is not a member of either team
Both teams can substitute players freely at any time behind their proper keeper zone.
Mixed-sexYes
TypeTeam sport, ball sport
EquipmentQuaffle (volleyball)
Bludgers (dodgeballs)
Snitch (tennis ball)
Brooms
Hoops
VenueQuidditch pitch (also known simply as a "pitch")
Presence
Country or region
OlympicNo[3]
ParalympicNo
Quidditch game

Quidditch,[4] officially known as quadball since 2022, is a team sport that was created in 2005 at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, United States, and was inspired by the fictional game of the same name in the Harry Potter books by the author J. K. Rowling.[5] Two teams of seven players each, astride broomsticks and opposing each other on a rectangular pitch, compete with the primary objective of passing a ball through the defenders' hoops, while preventing their opponents from passing it through their own hoops. The real-world sport is sometimes referred to as "muggle quidditch" to distinguish it from the fictional game of the books, which involves magical elements such as flying broomsticks and enchanted balls—a muggle in the Harry Potter series being a person without magical abilities. The sport is played around the world.

Rules of the sport are governed by the International Quadball Association (IQA), and events are sanctioned by either the IQA or that nation's governing body. A team consists of a minimum of seven (maximum 21) players, of which six are always on the pitch: three chasers, one keeper, and two beaters. The seventh position, known as a seeker, joins each team after a time period known as the "seeker floor" (17 minutes under IQA rules). The pitch is rectangular 60 by 36 yards (55 by 33 m) with three hoops of varying heights at either end (this contrasts with the pitch of the fictional sport, which is oval-shaped).[6] Teams are required to be gender-balanced: each team may have a maximum of four players who identify as the same gender on the field at one time, making quidditch one of the few sports that not only offers a gender-integrated environment, but an open community to those who identify as nonbinary.[7]

To score points, chasers or keepers must get the quaffle—a slightly deflated volleyball—into any of the three opposing hoops, which scores the team 10 points.[8] To impede their opponents, beaters can use bludgers—dodgeballs—to hit opposing players and temporarily remove them from play. Once hit by an opposing bludger, that player must dismount their broom, drop any ball being held, and return to touch their own team's hoops before re-entering the game.[9]

The ultimate goal is to have more points than the other team by the time the snitch—a tennis ball inside a long sock hanging from the shorts of an impartial official dressed in yellow—is caught. After eighteen minutes of play, the snitch runner moves onto the pitch and tries to evade the two seekers. When one of the seekers catches the snitch, that team is awarded 30 points.[10] If this leads to the catching team having more points overall than their opponents, the game ends immediately with the catching team winning. In the event a team catches the snitch but still trails in points (or is tied for points) the game goes into an overtime period, with the target being the score achieved by the non-catching team plus 30 points. The first team to reach the target score wins the game; alternatively, either team may concede at any time during the overtime period. Matches or games often run about 30 to 40 minutes, but tend to vary in length due to the unpredictable nature of the snitch catch.

Rules vary from the IQA standard in domestic competitions, most notably in the US. In games sanctioned by Major League Quadball (MLQ) and US Quadball (USQ), catching the snitch results in 35 points, which help teams reach a set score, 60 (MLQ) or 70 (USQ) points above the leading team before the seeker floor. The first team to reach this set score wins the game. Additionally, the seeker floor is set at 20 minutes rather than 17.

  1. ^ "Official Quadball website". Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Safety in Quidditch: A Pre-Report | International Quidditch Association". Internationalquidditch.org. 2012-11-12. Archived from the original on 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
  3. ^ "List of Olympic sports". www.olympic.org. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  4. ^ Avitable, Adam (April 15, 2013). "The Quidditch World Cup VI: Broom Goes the Dynamite". Avitable. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  5. ^ Goodale, Gloria (2010-11-17), "'Harry Potter' real-world appeal: quidditch leagues and rock cake recipes", Christian Science Monitor
  6. ^ "USQ Rulebook 9" (PDF). IQA. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  7. ^ Dennison, Kevin 'Kevlar' (April 23, 2014). "3 Reasons Why Quidditch Is More Gender Inclusive Than Roller Derby". Derby Frontier. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  8. ^ "4. Scoring" (PDF). IQA. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  9. ^ "5. The Knockout Effect" (PDF). IQA. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  10. ^ "4.5 The Snitch Catch" (PDF). IQA. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2015.