Gathering and Games (2021/2022)

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Announcing Gathering and Games! This is the perfect opportunity to kick back, relax and have fun with other HOLers.

G and G sessions are an informal weekend get-together on IRC where we’ll play games and chat. The idea is for everyone to enjoy some time with other HOLers and get to know people they might not ordinarily have a chance to speak to. Professors, Students, Postgraduates, ghosts, Giant Squids: everyone is welcome! It doesn’t matter if you have experience with IRC or will be trying it out for the first time, come join us.

For more information on how to access IRC, please visit the HOL Chatrooms section of the Handbook.

Events will take place in the dedicated channel: #gamesroom. We’ll be doing our best to announce the dates here as early as possible. You can find explanations for our range of games via this link - we’ll keep adding to it and hope to keep the programme varied and exciting.

The next event will be on Sunday 12th June, 6 PM until 8 PM HOL-time.

Please note that everyone will be expected to conform to all HOL rules and in particular the IRC guidelines at all times. The channel will be moderated for the duration of the event, after that we ask that you move back to #hol to continue chatting.

Hope to see you on the 12th!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember that our first gathering of the school year is tomorrow (26 September) between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time in #gamesroom! Hope to see you there.

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Our next session will be on 31st October between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time. I hope you can make some time in your busy Halloween schedules to come share a few tricks and treats with us!

September's event saw the debut of The Resistance, a social deduction game where the Order of the Phoenix have to try to discover the Death Eaters hiding amongst them. The Order (Inez Herondale, Astor Arensin and Prof. Tarma Amelia Black) managed to pull off a successful mission but unfortunately Mia Fountain and Prof. Sindor Aloyarc were just too dastardly for them and sabotaged the other 3 without being caught. Special mention to the villainous ice-cream flavour discussion, featuring sneaky strawberry, lie-mon meringue and treason chip.

We followed that up with a game of Reverse 20 Questions, with Aure West leading their first game as an organiser (go, Aure!). Prof. Will Lestrange was able to guess bezoar in 10 questions but it took me a little longer to unmask Sanguini the vampire.

Hope to see you on Halloween!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember that we'll be in the games room this Sunday between 6 and 8 PM HOL-time. I feel like the clocks are playing a trick on us as they go back an hour in the UK early on Sunday morning so this might not be at the time you're expecting! If in doubt, check the calendar page a few hours before to check the new HOL time or you can use a time-zone converter tool like this one.

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Our next gathering is on Sunday 21st November between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time! We really hope to see lots of you in the #gamesroom.

We had a blast last time with a chaotic game of Apples to Apples (or as we call it, ‘Gurdyroots to Gurdyroots’). Some of the gloriously random/surprisingly apt combinations we came up with were: Majestic Severus Snape, Frivolous Dark Lord, A bezoar the size of a house (imagine the size of the goat!), Sweet Mad-Eye Moody and The worse case of Rita Skeeter I’ve ever seen. I placed first with 7 rounds won, with Prof. Will Lestrange on 6, Prof. Tarma Amelia Black on 5, Prof. Sindor Aloyarc on 4 and an impressive showing from Aure West who showed up half way through and still managed to score 2.

We really hope you can join us for the next session on the 21st!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember we'll be in the #gamesroom between 6 and 8 PM HOL-time tomorrow!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Our next session will be on Sunday 19th December, between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time! We hope you’ll join us by the fire for some fun games and excellent conversation.

Our last session was all about guesswork. We kicked things off with a visit to the werewolf infested village for a spot of social deduction. Prof. Will Lestrange acted as mayor while Prof. Tarma Amelia Black (as the seer) did her best to guide the villagers towards the correct answer of bludger and I (as the wolf) tried equally hard to bamboozle them. We were getting very close to the wire but Kendra Givens guessed the right answer just in time.

After that, we moved onto Just One. It was an awesome game for imaginative clues with none of them getting cancelled out. Highlights included Prof. Sindor Aloyarc guessing fire from ember, aries, extinguisher and fighter and Tarma guessing Zoo from enclosures, captivity, herpetarium and lemurs

See you on the 19th!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember we're in #gamesroom tomorrow (19th December) between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

The first G and G of 2022 will be on Sunday the 23rd of January between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time. Looking forward to seeing you all in the #gamesroom!

December’s session involved lots of fast-paced guess work. We kicked things off with Who Am I. Prof. Grubbly-Plank (me), Tenibrus the thestral (Prof. Tarma Amelia Black), Prof. Dumbledore (Prof. Will Lestrange) and Romilda Vane (Aure West) all strutted their stuff and were unmasked after some rather tricky questions.

Next up, it was time for a quickfire game of Articulate (and when Will and Tarma are playing, the sparks fly from their keyboards). Clues ranged from missing limbs to disputed trademarks and saw Will emerge victorious on 14, with Tarma and Aure earning 6 and 5 respectively.

Hope to see you on the 23rd!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember we'll be in #gamesroom between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time tomorrow!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

We'll be gathering again on Sunday the 27th of February, 6 PM to 8 PM HOL-time! Really hope to see as many of you as possible in the #gamesroom.

We premiered a brand new game last time: News at 11. It saw Prof. Will Lestrange, Prof. Tarma Black, Prof. Sindor Aloyarc, Inez Herondale and Aure West take over the news-desk at the Wizarding Wireless Network. Players had to use their creativity, quick thinking and some very random cue cards to create a day of breaking news. Throughout the rounds, stories developed and changed. We saw the birth of competitive skydiving, a revolutionary (if poisonous) new hair care line, a mischievous parrot called Sourdough and a very heroic swim. It was absolute chaos but also absolutely brilliant.

Hope to see you for more fun on the 27th!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember we're in #gamesroom tomorrow between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Our next session will be on Sunday the 3rd of April between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time! Hope to see you there.

We had great attendance at our last session and kicked things off with a snowball fight out in the grounds. Frozen projectiles were whizzing every which way, with some going so wildly off course that the local bird population got very nervous indeed. After 5 very chaotic rounds, Mia Fountain and Jodie Smith emerged victorious, each with 4 of their 5 lives intact. Kendra Givens finished on 3 and Prof. Sindor Aloyarc and Prof. Tarma Black ended up with 1 apiece.

We finished up with a few rounds of ‘Where Am I’. People were very puzzled by Tarma’s location but Mia was eventually able to pin it down to Hagrid’s Hut. Mia then took a well earned break in Madam Puddifoot’s where she was eventually tracked down by Prof. Will Lestrange (though only once most of the businesses in Hogsmeade had come under scrutiny).

Hope you’ll join us for more fun on the 3rd!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember we'll be in #gamesroom from 6 PM to 8 PM HOL-time tomorrow! We'd love to see you there.

Daylight savings began in the UK last weekend, so if you want to double check that your time difference calculations are right, the current HOL-time is always shown on the calendar page.

[Prof. Sky Alton]

We'll be in #gamesroom on Sunday the 22nd of May, 6 PM to 8 PM HOL time. Come and kick back, relax and have some fun with your fellow HOLers.

In April's session we started with a round of ‘Just One’ and in my opinion managed to beat the game as not a single one of our inventive clues got cancelled out. Some particularly notable guesses came from Kendra Givens who got chocolate from chips, dementor, delicious and melted and Aure West who got moon from phase, night time, harvest and waxing

We moved onto Once Upon a Time, a devious storytelling game that we hadn’t braved in quite a while. Together, we weaved a tale of an optimistic young man on the search for true happiness in a great metropolis. Unfortunately, I was forced to dash his hopes in order to win the game as the ‘Happily Ever After Card’ I’d been dealt was anything but, so I’m afraid to say ‘His wound healed but his heart remained broken forever.’. Naww!

We hope to see you in #gamesroom for more fun on the 22nd!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

We’ll be gathering in #gamesroom on Sunday 12th June, between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time. Take a break from that last minute studying and come join us!

Last time, we first voyage to Egypt for a game of Curse-Breakers. We encountered bandits, fwoopers, some ominous patches of purple mist and many creative curses, discovering some rare treasures on the way (I think I looked amazing in King Tut’s crown but that’s just me). In the end, I emerged with 50 pieces of treasure, Mia Fountain with 29, Prof. Tarma Amelia Black with 12 and Prof. Sindor Aloyarc with 5. It’s worth noting though that had Mia retreated from the tomb one turn earlier, she’d have beaten us all! Kudos also goes to Prof. Will Lestrange for painting such a vivid portrait of the tombs with their wildly zig-zagging corridors.

We rounded things off with a few rounds of 20 Questions. The group was fairly quick to guess that I was thinking of Parvati Patil but it took much longer to realise that Sindor was thinking of a Quaffle (we even had to ask for a hint).

Hope to see you on the 12th!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Remember we're in #gamesroom between 6 PM and 8 PM HOL-time tomorrow! Take a minute out from that last minute homework dash and come join us for some fun.