A week ago, I didn’t know the upcoming release date of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. I knew it was meant to be this year, pushed back from last year, but I hadn’t seen an actual release date. Imagine my surprise when I suddenly saw Adam‘s Instagram post showing he’d signed up! I immediately went to the app store to download…only to have my search come up empty. Boo!! I’d seen a comment from someone saying that they believed it was only out for Android users, so I googled the iPhone release date and found an article about how the app was out a day early. It had a link out to the iPhone app, and I downloaded at once. A couple hours later, the app became searchable in the app store, but I’d long since downloaded and signed up and gone through all the opening procedures. I was super, super excited about this!!

A brief history: Back in 2016, Pokemon Go came out and some friends of ours first told Jason and me about it on release date. Jason and the boys downloaded it, but I had never read, seen, or collected Pokemon, so it didn’t much interest me. Eventually, I was persuaded to join, and I played a little, but I could never fully get into the game. I said that I’d jump at the same game in Harry Potter format, and that’s the game that has FINALLY released.

To say I “jumped” is an understatement. Let me describe my second day on the app (my first day being homebound as Jason recovered from minor surgery – and as a side note: good news! No cancer!): The boys wanted to go to Planet Fitness. As I’d already done an hour of Aquafit, I dropped them off and drove to the library to wait an hour before picking them up. I knew there’d be some good HP-related stuff at the library and park (which is attached to the library), and my plan was to pick up what I could and then grab a book to read. This was at 3pm, with 100+ temps and a 110+ heat index and the worst kind of direct sunlight, so it would be foolish to be outside for long. I was wearing regular clothes and flip flops – also foolish for outside exercise. Foolish for walking on uneven rock trails. But hey, if I went just a little further from the library, there’d be another Inn to grab, and another, and another – there are about 20 Inns, Greenhouses, and Fortresses around the 0.7-mile Library Loop trail – and if I kept to the shade, 0.7 miles isn’t TOO bad, right? So…45 minutes later, when it was time to pick up the boys, I was sunburned and soaked in sweat and had blisters on the undersides of both feet from the inappropriate footwear…and totally happy with no regrets. Ha!

I’ve been out somewhere to play HP every day. I’ve been getting lots of steps in! There’s a Fortress at the park that’s only a few houses away from me, so Jason and I have been going  there to team up on battles and gain points and collectibles. We’ve been placing Portkeys and growing plants in Greenhouses and brewing potions and training for our wizard professions. We’re helping the Ministry of Magic, and finding hints about the magical crisis, and fighting off baddies. Probably spending WAY too much time and energy on this, but I don’t regret a thing. I love this so much and I’m so happy that after three years, this game is finally here. I’ll just keep walking walking walking my way up the Harry Potter levels!

Anyone else on Wizards Unite? Add me! My code is: 1616 3005 0666 – I’m pookasluagh as usual!