The House player to the left of Dark Arts goes first. A House turn has one main action: Explore, Learn or Replenish. Explore uses a card, Learn acquires a card, and Replenish refreshes your hand. Eligible free actions are additional; the three main actions are alternatives.
Based on the publisher’s rulebook ↗Choose one main action
Eligible free actions are additional. These are alternatives, not three consecutive steps.
| Action | Check first | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Explore | Read the card’s movement and effect. | Resolve its movement and/or effect in either order. Discard the played card at turn end. |
| Learn | At least one of your pawns must be outside Protected Areas. | Discard one card to take either a face-up Acquire Row card or the top of the Acquire Deck; alternatively, discard two for a face-up Advanced Acquire Row card and one Loyalty step. The acquired card goes on top of your draw deck. |
| Replenish | Compare the new hand with the Dark Arts advance. | Discard any number, draw to five, revive your stunned pawns, then advance Dark Arts once. |
A worked Explore example
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE · NOT A REQUIRED OPENING
- Choose a card with a single movement value of four.
- Choose one of your un-stunned pawns. Check a legal route before moving: obstacles require the relevant card effect.
- Move that pawn up to four spaces along legal adjacent spaces. House pawns cannot backtrack during the same turn or pass through castle walls. You do not have to spend all four movement points.
- Resolve the card’s effect before or after movement, as allowed by its text. Finish applicable free actions, then discard the played card.
This is a rules example, not a claim that one opening move is always best. Your hand, locations and board position determine a useful destination.
Official rulebook · printed pp. 10–11 ↗Official rulebook · printed pp. 16–17 ↗Which free actions are allowed?
House players may use a Hogwarts Token acquired on a previous turn before or after their main action: return the token and take an extra Explore action with a matching card from hand. A token collected this turn cannot be used immediately.
They may also claim a Parchment Scroll when their pawn positions satisfy two of their three Location Cards. Read the Scroll procedure →
Card effects override normal rules when they conflict. Effects are optional unless their wording makes them mandatory; reactive effects follow their stated trigger.
Official rulebook · printed pp. 16–17 ↗Three mistakes to avoid
Do not take all three main actions. Extra actions need a rule or card effect that permits them.
Do not put a learned card straight into your hand. It goes face-down on top of your draw deck.
Do not treat a “3 + 3” movement value as a freely divisible six. It moves two pawns up to three spaces each, or one pawn up to six—not one by two and the other by four.
Official rulebook · printed pp. 16–17 ↗