As we await this November’s release of the North America-set Fantastic Beasts, many are wondering if we’ll be hearing about an American Wizarding Sport like Quidditch. As it turns out, J.K. Rowling has already told us all about American Quidditch — and it’s called Quodpot.

Quodpot was spoken about at length in J.K. Rowling’s 2001 novella Quidditch Through the Ages by fictional wizard Kennilworthy Whisp. This sport is described as a “variant” of Quidditch invented by the wizard Abraham Peasegood in the 18th century, “who had brought a Quaffle with him from the old country and intended to recruit a Quidditch team.”

Kennilworthy writes, “Peasegood’s Quaffle had inadvertently come into contact with the tip of his wand in his trunk, so that when he finally took it out and began to throw it around in a casual manner, it exploded in his face.”

That incident birthed Quodpot, which centers on a Quaffle that could explode at any moment. It’s essentially a game of hot potato. As Kennilworthy describes it:

There are eleven players a side in the game of Quodpot. They throw the Quod, or modified Quaffle, from team member to member, attempting to get it into the “pot” at the end of the pitch before it explodes. Any player in possession of the Quod when it explodes must leave the pitch. Once the Quod is safely in the “pot” (a small cauldron containing a solution which will prevent the Quod exploding), the scorer’s team is awarded a point and a new Quod is brought on the pitch.

No further information about the sport — like if a Golden Snitch is in play — was noted in Quidditch Through the Ages. Based on the description above, the game seems a lot more straight forward than Quidditch.

Kennilworthy/J.K. Rowling notes that Quodpot did carry back over to Europe but it was Quidditch (obviously) that remained the dominant Wizarding Sport.

We imagine Quidditch and/or Quodpot will get a mention or two in Fantastic Beasts starring Eddie Redmayne, and maybe we’ll see a quick glimpse of one of the games in action via a magical newspaper. Kennilworthy does make mention of two American Quidditch teams — the Fitchburg Finches from Massachusetts and the Sweetwater All-Stars from Texas — but we don’t know what year the teams formed.

Harry Potter fans have been eagerly consuming each little nugget (for better or for worse) about the North American Wizarding World as we approach the November release of Fantastic Beasts. Things like the American word for Muggle (No-Maj) and the rumored Ilvermorny house names have caused lots of waves in the fandom.

I wrote this article because a couple people tweeted me recently about something called “Quodpot” in response to a discussion on a recent episode of MuggleCast, our Harry Potter podcast. Little did I know listeners were talking about something straight out of a J.K. Rowling book. Thanks to Patrick for helping me find the info!