Quidditch is a sport created by British author J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series of children's novels. It is described as an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches around the world. Matches are played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls and six elevated ring-shaped goals, three on each side of the Quidditch pitch (field). In the Harry Potter universe, Quidditch holds a fervent following similar to the position that association football holds as a globally popular sport.
The sport is featured in every Harry Potter book. Harry plays an important position for his house team at Hogwarts: he is the seeker and becomes the captain in the sixth book. Regional and international competitions are mentioned throughout the series. In Goblet of Fire, Quidditch at Hogwarts is cancelled for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but Harry and the Weasleys attend the Quidditch World Cup. In addition, Harry uses his Quidditch skills to capture a golden egg from a dragon called the Hungarian Horntail (in the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament), to capture a flying key in Philosopher's Stone, and on two key occasions in Deathly Hallows — getting hold of Ravenclaw's Diadem, and during the final fight with Voldemort — the "unerring skill of the Seeker" is useful to him in snatching the Elder Wand out of the air. Harry Potter has owned two broomsticks, the Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt, both of which are destroyed by the series' end.
The sport has been adapted under the name of "Muggle Quidditch" (or simply "Quidditch") to the real world. Since at least 2003, Harry Potter fans have played ball games resembling the Harry Potter sport. In the United States, teams from more than 200 colleges are affiliated with the International Quidditch Association and play tournaments. Quidditch tournaments are a mainstay of Harry Potter Conventions, such as Nimbus 2003, The Witching Hour, and, most recently, Infinitus 2010 and Corbin Fowler's Potterfest, hosted at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania during the autumn of 2011.
Read more about Quidditch: Game Progression, Rules, Fictional History, Quidditch in The Films and Video Games, Quodpot, Non-fictional Quidditch, Critics