MUST-301 Lessons

Professor Soleil is already at the front of the classroom when the students enter, a string laced on her fingers. She seems to be in deep concentration as she moves the string between her digits, eventually ending with the string in a somewhat ladder configuration. Grinning in triumph, she realizes the students have entered and quickly puts the string away to start the lesson. 

Welcome back everyone, to our final lesson of MUST 301! I hope that you have all enjoyed yourself so far, and continue to have fun in this last lesson. I dare say that you will, since today’s topic is all about fun and games!

Muggles tend to enjoy playing games as a form of entertainment, just as us magical folk do. Playing games either by yourself or with others is a very natural way to pass the time and find enjoyment, and the lack of magic does not stop Muggles from doing it. In fact, there are some games that both magical and non-magical people enjoy, such as chess. We play this game with the pieces moving by themselves, but Muggles have to move the pieces by hand. Still, the object of the game is the same, and very enjoyable for those that like strategy games.

Today we are going to discuss some of the games that Muggles like and enjoy, starting with board and card games. These are the games that as witches and wizards you may be somewhat familiar with as they often have a magical equivalent. These types of games are either played with a board of some sort (similar to chess), dice, or a set of playing cards -- and sometimes a mixture of all three. 

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200

I’d like to begin with one of the first board games ever invented, a game invented in China nearly 4000 years ago. Its original name was Wei-Qi, but in the 8th century it started to be called Go. It is a game without many rules or complicated instructions, which allows players to instead focus on a winning strategy without much hindrance. In the game, you place your pieces (that are all the same color, and your opponent’s is of a separate color, like in chess) on a grid in order to “capture” territory. The color that has captured the most territory on the board wins. Gameplay in which there are simple rules but a large amount of thought is very common in a genre called abstract strategy board games. It is called this as the theme or reason to be winning is not specified. Other examples that you may know of are chess, Othello, mancala, Xiangqi (Chinese checkers) or checkers (draughts).  

There are many other categories that games will fall into. Another group that games may belong to are of strategy games that do have a theme. This theme may be a simple story that the players are participating in (e.g., Settlers of Catan, Risk), or it may go so far as to have a complicated story that the players will discover along the way (like Clue/Cluedo). 

One of the best-selling board games of all time is a themed game, like the ones mentioned previously, with the name of Monopoly. This game is all about collecting spaces on the board by paying for them with artificial paper currency. To win, the best player will essentially have a monopoly. In real life, a monopoly is when one person or company owns all of a specific product in an industry so that they can charge whatever price they want for it. In the game, players will try to own all of the available spaces. An interesting point to note is that this game was created (and originally titled The Landlord’s Game) by a woman that was strongly against the creation of business monopolies, and so created the game as an educational tool. While games are often created to simply be forms of entertainment, it’s interesting that these games can also be a form of education as well. 

Card games are another form of easy entertainment, and span a great spectrum of strategy level. Some games like poker or rummy are heavy on strategy, while other games like go fish and cheat are simply reliant on the luck of the draw. These games are often played with a standard deck of 52 cards. You may be familiar with a tarot deck from your Divination class; it has 78 cards, but it can also be used to play all sorts of games. 

It’s All Fun and Games

Board and card games are great ways to pass the time by, but they are not the only form of entertainment that Muggles enjoy. These games are good for the mind, but there are plenty of Muggle games that are good for the body as well. If you are already a fan of sports, I’m sure you already have a favorite team or player of the game you enjoy watching. But if not, I have no doubt that you know what sports are. The biggest sports in the world are incredibly prolific in one’s culture, and it is nearly impossible to get by without knowing a thing or two about the most popular sport in your area! 

While we will go over sports more in detail in a later lesson, I think it would be remiss to not go over what is arguably the most popular sport in the Muggle world: football/soccer. This game is as popular with Muggles as Quidditch is in the magical world, with similar competitions that practically everyone you know will be keeping up with! Football is played with just a single ball though, unlike Quidditch, and the aim is to get said ball into your respective net on one side of the field.

A team of eleven players work together to get the ball down the field to reach their goal, against an opposite team that is trying to steal the ball to do the same. It’s a fairly simple concept but extremely enjoyable to watch. If you are a fan of watching Quidditch, you may find you enjoy watching football as well… even though the players do not fly around and there are a lot less injuries, due to the lack of Bludgers!

The last topic I’d like to cover today is a shift in subject but a fun thing to talk about nevertheless! Muggle forms of entertainment are not limited to simply games, but can be found in the form of toys. These are most often played with by children, and are not limited to simply Muggles. Young witches and wizards play with dolls or stuffed animals too; the ‘game’ of playing with those is only limited by one’s imagination. But an interesting toy that I’ve found is completely foreign to magic users is the rubber duck.

The rubber duck is essentially what it sounds like -- it is a duck made of a plastic rubber material. It is small, a perfect size to fit into the hand of a child. While it is a toy that can and is enjoyed everywhere, it is most often found in the bathtub. These duck toys are often used to give children something to play with while they are being bathed, and to soothe any bathtime related fears the child may have. But beyond that, some people (adults included) simply find these quirky toys to be fun to collect, so one may find these toys in many other places besides the tub!

And that is it for today, and for all of our lessons for the year! I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I have enjoyed teaching you throughout the course. I am hoping that I will see you all next year in MUST 401, but if you have elected not to take the course, I hope that we may see each other within the halls of Hogwarts at least. 

To finish up this course though, there are two last assignments for you to complete for me: a final exam and a final essay. Do not be worried though; if you've paid attention during the course and took notes, then I have no doubt that you'll pass with flying colors! As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Thank you again class, and enjoy the rest of your studies at Hogwarts!

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game) 

https://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-00009-482-Monopoly-Board/dp/B00CV5PN2W

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game)  

https://nevadapreps.com/sports/soccer/boys-soccer/niaa-enacts-mercy-rule-for-soccer-beginning-this-season/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck 

https://lajollamom.com/glue-gun-the-rubber-ducky/