How to Play Pictionary Air Harry Potter Edition

Pictionary has been one of my most favorite games since I was a kid. (I have wonderful memories of playing this game and it always makes me think of my Mom as she and I were banned from being on the same team because we were unbeatable.) We also have two huge Harry Potter fans in the house (see our HP Scattergories and HP Taboo games). So when a neighbor asked if we wanted to try out her Pictionary Air Harry Potter edition game, we knew we had to give it a try.

What Is Pictionary Air

Tradition Pictionary uses pencil and paper. We use sketch books so there is more room on a page, plus it makes us laugh when we look back at the last game we played and the drawings. However, in Pictionary Air, your TV turns into the drawing pad. You use an electronic pen or wand in the Harry Potter case that you have to connect to the TV with a Smart Phone.

Setting Up Pictionary Air Harry Potter

First, you need to divide players into two teams. Next, each team gets to decide which house they want to play for: Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Slytherin.

Second, you need to install the Pictionary Air app and choose Harry Potter from the menu.

Next, you have to set up the Smart Phone where it can see the wand and connect with the TV. (We had some troubles with the light from the window affecting the wand so it may take some arranging.)

Next, each team needs to pick a colour on the app.

Last, is to set the card trunk where all players can reach it easily.

The Harry Potter Cards

Each of the cards has a word for each house on it. It also has a super fan word at the bottom  along with a picture for extra help.

Playing Pictionary Air Harry Potter

First, you get to use an impressive Harry Potter Wand to draw with. This takes some getting used to, so some practice is needed.

The first player to draw, takes a card and decides to either draw their house word or the super fan word. When she is ready, she starts the timer and attempts to draw the word. She can grab another card and try for another word as long as she tried to draw what was on the first card.

If her team guesses the word, she gets to grab another card and draw again.

When time’s up, the second team gets a turn to draw.

The instructions say that you can interact with your drawing. Not only does the app project what you draw with the wand, it also uses the camera on the phone to put the drawer on screen too. This is interesting but we found that it was hard to interact with what we were drawing.

While you are drawing, you can erase the screen at any time, however, it does take a second for this to happen and will cost you time.

What You Can’t Do

First, you must draw. You can’t play as if it were just Charades.

You also can’t use sounds, numbers or letters.

The rules also state that the drawer is not supposed to see the TV or what they are drawing. This is to make it challenging and hilarious. We found it just too difficult.

Scoring Pictionary Air Harry Potter

When your team guesses a word correctly, your team earns one point. On the other hand, if your team guesses a super fan word, you score two points. You are supposed to click on the add a point button. We kept forgetting, but we had a chance to add the points at the end of our turn so it worked out okay.

Winning Pictionary Air Harry Potter

Pictionary Air is played in a set number of rounds. The team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

What We Liked

First, the Harry Potter theme is really done well. The wand feels magical, getting to pick your house and the clues on the cards are perfect for Harry Potter lovers.

Next, we like that there is a choice on each card and that you can draw another card if your team just doesn’t get it.

The next thing we liked are the words, although Harry Potter, are mostly words that non fans can draw and guess. Some example words are hut, greenhouse, stone wall and shed. Even some of the super fan words are doable for nonfans like Fire bolt (although my HP fan didn’t get my drawing of it).

Last, the quality of this game is pretty good.

What We Don’t Like

First, the tech side of this game was a challenge. Some of our devices wouldn’t work, but we have plenty (as most families do). Next, setting it up so that everything worked together took a little time, no it took a lot of time so we almost lost interested in playing.

The next tech issue was that the wand was kind of glitchy. It would often keep daring even though we took our finger off the button. This made drawing impossible. We found that we had to draw the blinds and turn off most of the lights in the room. This could be just our set up, but it was a little frustrating. We also, had to draw from the same spot so at the end of each turn, we had to rearrange ourselves.

Next is a small nit-pick. If we get to choose our house and our colour in the app, then the colours we get to choose from should line up with the house colours. It’s just a small thing but I think it would have added to the game.

Last, we found that drawing with the wand, and even “cheating” by looking, was difficult. It didn’t track our movements the way that we through it would and erasing was time consuming.

Is Pictionary Air Harry Potter Worth Adding to Your Family Game Shelf?

I guess this really depends on how you feel about technology. We will admit that we prefer off screen games and that our house does not have the best set up for these kind of games. If you’re up to the challenge of the tech, then this would be a good game.

Other than that, if you’re a huge Harry Potter fan, then it might be worth getting the game. We’ve played it with pencil and paper and had a great time.

If you’re looking for other Harry Potter games check out Mystery at Hogwarts, HP Taboo and HP Scattergories. If you’re wondering what games we do recommend adding to your Family Game Shelf, check out our Recommendations page.

And if you want to try out Pictionary Air Harry Potter for yourself, you can get a copy here. Canadians can shop here for theirs.

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