My oldest daughter has read the seven Harry Potter books and watched the eight (!) Harry Potter films—please, no one tell her about the Lego Harry Potter video games—but through it all, she has remained in the same observational position: outside the action. What would it be like to become Harry or Hermione and battle You Know Who directly, blasting out spells, drafting allies, and relying on magical items? My daughter didn’t know, but she wanted to find out.

So when I introduced her to Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle, the new cooperative deck-building game from USAopoly, she was happier than Hermione in a library. In the game, up to four players can become Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville and battle through all seven years covered by the novels, defeating just about every major and minor villain along the way. It’s not giving much away to reveal that our intrepid heroes will eventually have to take on He Who Must Not Be Named in order to save the world from total calamity.