Toyologist Review: Harry Potter Battling Wand

My children have never read any Harry Potter books and they've never watched any of the films. I've read a bit of one of the books, but that was only skimming through to find out which character died. I went to the cinema, however, to watch 1-6. 7a &b await me at some point.

I also have this...

I'm really not sure why.

It actually quite fortunate my boys don't know Harry from Voldemort since we were sent one each of their wands to try out. 2yo wouldn't have been very happy at all if he knew he'd been given the evil wand, but as it is he lives in blissful ignorance.

If you have a single wand, then when you wave it it makes a wandy zapping noise and you wonder where £16 of your pocket money went to. Why oh why didn't I just get a stick from the garden instead?

If you have two wands (ie someone to fight against) then things get a lot more interesting. There are five lights (or maybe only four) on each wand. Though clever technology (well, infra-red - like your TV remote or those scans I did billions of as an undergrad and always just got Nujol) every time you wave your wand at your opponent it knocks off one of his lights. When all the lights are out your wand no longer functions and you're dead (/defeated).

Definitely five lights. Right?

However, if you're playing in teams and your lights are a bit low, a more healthy friend can transfer one of his lights to your wand.

I can just imagine huge teams of children playing this in playgrounds across the country. I'm actually slightly jealous as it sounds like it'd be loads of fun. Maybe we should have a Potter Party at our house (Bring Your Own Wand).

My only complaint is that it's a bit too easy to sneakily reset your wand once it's dead (you just press the button). I think it'd be better if there was a loud BANG or something to indicate when you were out to prevent sneaky resetting. Oh and for some reason the speaker on Voldermort's wand is on the handle (Harry's is on the pointy magic-doing bit) so right-handed people with large hands cover it when they're holding it.

Lucky I'm a lefty then.

Of course you can also play silly games like this with your wands...

Other Toyology reviews can by found in the Toys R Us Toy Box on Facebook.