ROOKHAVEN

Harry Potter, Hogwarts, strange creatures and even the Weasley twins are part of an adventurous, intriguing and complex match-3 puzzle game “Harry Potter Puzzles and Spells.” If you’re ready for some fantastic stupendous and serious fun, just keep reading!

Once upon a time there was an author named J.K Rowling and she created the magical world of Harry Potter. Well naturally, Zynga Inc., being the clever entrepreneurs that they are, decided that it would be a great thing to create a match-3 game based on the world that was created by J.K. Rowling. And their cleverness paid off because that game has intrigued many match-3 game lovers to this day. I just so happened to stumble across the game one day when I was polishing my wand and was intrigued to find out that there was a game created about the imaginative world of Hogwarts and beyond. I decided immediately to download the app and got started on the greatest adventure in match-3 history.

As an aside, I had read all seven of the Harry Potter books several times already, of course. I don’t think I even have to mention that because I was only stating the obvious like Hermione would. But back to the game. As I began to explore the land, enjoying every minute of my time spent there, one day I was invited to join a team. Well, I thought, I wonder what that would be like to do some more exploring with team members? It was apparent to me that it was a good thing to do, so I joined a team called ROOKHAVEN. And that’s when the true adventures through the magical land of Harry Potter began.

Now, to begin with, I have to say that the whole world that I had entered into was filled with glorious colors and fantastic creatures. Ogres, giants, and even flubberworms, if you can believe that. It was overwhelming to say the least. I didn’t know where to begin, how to get advice, or what to do! So I sat down in the only space I could find by Hagrid’s Hut and commanded my mind to THINK! But you know that when you do that, your mind has a mind of it’s own and just plain does what it wants. So that was a waste of time except that I did get to watch the Womping Willow Tree thump a few folks while I was trying to think. So with that, I decided to let my mind do its own thing and I went off on an adventure to explore what was out there.

What was that? Did you ask me something about the team and to get back on the subject? Sorry about that, as I said, my mind will do its own thing and I do believe it wandered off somewhere this time. I think it just wanted to be center stage for a bit, if you want to know what I really think. So, the team, yes, back to that. ROOKHAVEN has up to 27 members and some of the members like to come and go. But there are some that have stayed for the long haul and work as a team to defeat various kinds of creatures and obstacles. We work together to reach a goal on a daily puzzle and compete against other teams for really big prizes.

This is my team leaderboard a few days ago. Our team captain is Kurjo and it doesn’t look like he’s doing very well this week. Can you spot him there at the bottom of the list? In ninth place? Well, I guess that’s OK for this time since he’s the best team captain that any team could ever hope to have. He holds the team together, always responding to chats, no matter what. If it wasn’t for him, ROOKHAVEN would have fallen apart long ago and disappeared into the oblivion of Azkaban. Now let’s notice the other members of the team also. These valiant members of the four houses of Hogwarts are the backbone of our success. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to defeat ogres when I see VanGo at the top of the list. Ashley has recently come back from a quiet place (maybe the library?) and has proven her worth as a team member by taking first place. But not for long, I don’t think. She will be overtaken by other team members if she’s not diligent and sneaky to boot. And of course there’s Arijana and Tami and Nidhoggr (I wonder how you pronounce that?) and Maylene, Kristina and Aura.

And there are many more members of the team that are not showing up on this leaderboard because the screenshot wasn’t big enough. And I’m not on the top nine this week because I’ve been busy writing this story about the game that is so much fun. My name in the game is Kae because it’s my real middle name. Really, it’s not Kay, it’s Kae. You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to but it’s written on my birth certificate along with my first name Kathy. Really, just Kathy, not Kathleen or Katherine, just plain old Kathy. And there I go getting off track again…so where was I? Oh yes, my ROOKHAVEN name is Kae and since I’m probably the oldest and wisest member of the team, Kurjo has dubbed me the SAGE of ROOKHAVEN. What an honor our valiant and brave captain has bestowed upon me! Oh, I miss playing! Now that I’ve just about got you hooked on this game, I’m going to describe just a couple of cool kinds of adventures that you get to have when you play. So here we go, into the Forbidden Forest.

One day as I was navigating through the Forbidden Forest, I came upon dozens of nests of spiders hiding underground. I had to touch each one of them with my wand THREE times before they were able to escape the ground and scurry off somewhere else. I think this is the most frustrating part of the Forbidden Forest because I only have so much power in my wand and then it needs to be recharged. There’s SO many nests and to hit them THREE times seems very unreasonable to me. So I decided to save my power and move on to the next part of this magical land.

I clicked out of the Forest and moved onto the grounds of Hogwarts where I found Professor Sprout transplanting Mandrakes. These nasty creatures hide in flower pots and like the spiders, they have to be struck three times with a wand to come out of the pot and go somewhere else that I’d rather not be. They are deadly to magic folks and muggles if you hear them scream when they’re full grown. I saw it happen once. Someone didn’t wear proper ear protectors and then they knew no more, just like that.

I’ve just scratched the surface of this wonderful fascinating complex game. Harry Potter Puzzles and Spells is a game that I’ll probably always love to play and especially if I’m allowed to stay on the team after my pathetic lack of performance in the past few weeks. What do you say, Kurjo? Am I still a part of this fantastic fun loving team? I certainly hope so!

J.K. Rowling is best known as the British author of the Harry Potter series, the bestselling book series in history with more than 400 million copies sold and one of the most popular movie series of all time. She also writes novels for adults, including crime novels under the pen name Robert Galbraith. J.K. Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her husband and three children. https://www.thriftbooks.com/

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