Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells Beginner’s Guide: Tips, Cheats & Strategies to Beat All Challenges

Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is Zynga’s latest hit title for both Android and iOS platforms and is yet another testament of the company’s strong fanbase and proven charm that works on players across ages. Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells currently stands as the #1 game on the Apple App Store under the family category and the game has likewise taken top spots in the top lists of new games in several countries. The game likewise enjoys a near-perfect average user review rating on both mobile platforms.

While the franchise itself can be attributable to the success of Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, the game offers plenty of features and aspects that incorporate the Harry Potter Franchise perfectly into a match-3 puzzle game. There are numerous spells from the series that form part of your abilities to help you solve each puzzle and unique puzzle elements never before seen in any match-3 puzzle game make good use of the lore and magical items from the franchise.

In essence, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells does not simply bank on the explosive popularity of the franchise on its own, but rather how characters and elements of the franchise have been integrated into the game and its features.

If you have played and enjoyed a lot of match-3 puzzle games before, then you will come to discover that Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells makes a perfect blend of thrill and challenge. While a plethora of game elements make the game seem more complex than others within the genre, the difficulty spike is very manageable thanks to the bits of guidance along the way. The tutorial session is very helpful for players who are new to the genre as well as more experienced people. It will take a while before you reach a point where the game becomes challenging enough, but never too much to drive you to the brink of frustration.

Overall, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is fairly easy to pick up and play by just about anyone provided that they pay attention to the tutorials. If you find yourself stuck on a particular level or simply in search of more efficient ways to beat all challenges, then read our Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells beginner’s guide below! We have compiled a detailed guide with loads of useful tips, cheats and strategies to jumpstart your magical adventure!

1. There Is No Need To Rush

One common misconception that comes with most puzzle games, match-3 puzzle games included, is that there are always time limits involved when it comes to solving puzzles. Conventionally, having a limited period of time within which you have to make your move. While these mechanics do not exist in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, what you need to be a bit conscious about instead, is the limited number of moves you have to solve the puzzle.

Sometimes, even the absence of time limits still stimulate a sense of rush in players. This could be due to the excitement to see the next level, unlock a new spell or upgrade an existing one, or playing through new mechanics that subsequent stages will introduce. In any case, rushing to complete a stage may not lead you to fail at completing the puzzle early on. As latter levels become more and more challenging, though, it is best to have a mindset that every turn you initiate and every move you make should matter.

There are plenty of scenarios in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells where you can choose from a wide range of possible moves. There will be instances when your choice will not matter much so you will just instinctively choose the move you see first. While this may not have a noticeable impact in the introductory puzzles, it is safe to say that considering all possible moves in a given scenario, one will yield the best results. Make it a habit to always check for alternative actions even if you have already spotted a possible move.

You have limitless playtime and opportunities to make progress in the game and will only lose a life whenever you fail to complete a level. To ensure that you can continue to progress through the puzzles as much as you can, take extra care with each action you make even when there are still plenty of moves left. You will come to find that taking your time in-between actions or turns will yield results that are more favorable.

2. Always Look For More Than 3 Matches

While Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells belongs to the match-3 puzzle genre where simply aligning 3 gems of the same color clears them, going beyond that unlocks special tiles that will help you clear puzzles a lot faster. While some instances make it so that there will only be a total of 3 tiles to match, you should not readily settle for one until you are certain that no better combinations are present. While there are factors that may make a 3-tile match more beneficial than a bigger one, the added perk of unlocking a power tile can be very advantageous.

Beyond having no other choices, one reason to consider going for a 3-tile match is when it leads you closer to completing your goal, most especially if you are still far from attaining it and when you are low on moves left in the level. Sometimes a move’s value is not only limited to the immediate effect as clearing a set of tiles will cause a reaction on the whole level and the subsequent reshuffle of tiles can be more rewarding for you.

Between a 4-tile combination at the top of the puzzle and a 3-tile one at the lower end of the puzzle, it will often be better to go with the latter. Clearing tiles at the bottom side of the puzzle will cause more movement in the shuffling of tiles and can result in a combo or even a series of combos.

Outside of the above-mentioned instances, you should consistently look for tile matches that go beyond the 3-tile minimum. Making it a habit early on makes it a very easy task to spot various possible 3-tile moves later on in the game.

3. Never Lose Sight Of The Goals

Every stage in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells comes with its own unique set of goals for you to accomplish. As you make progress and unlock new mechanics, the goals themselves transform to include not just grabbing certain types of gems but other magical objects within the puzzle as well. The introduction of new mechanics and their relative incorporation into each puzzle can definitely elicit excitement. While that is a natural and positive reaction, what you need to avoid is to be thrilled to the point of losing focus on the goals at hand.

It is best to make it a habit of taking note of goals before starting the puzzle. Within the stage itself, you will see your goals as well as your progress in each one above the screen. Despite these indicators, chain combos, opportunities to clear a 5-tile combo, and the presence of numerous power-ups on the board can serve as strong distractions to veer you away from clearing these goals.

There will certainly be instances when moves need to be triggered despite them not having any direct effect on the completion of your goals. Perhaps those are the only moves available or you need to trigger them to earn a power-up to help you later. As the number of moves you have left dwindles down to a single digit, you should consider having a bit of forecast in terms of planning several steps ahead before making a move. This may involve generating power-ups or simple 3-tile swaps to finish the puzzle.

4. Familiarize Yourself With Each Spell And Magical Creature

As you make progress through the puzzles and the stories in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, you will unlock new spells to add to your collection as well as cards that unlock magical creatures to help you in your journey. In select levels, there will be a notification that a new spell will be unlocked following the completion of the level. Completed puzzles earn you stars as well that you earn through puzzles that unlock cards on the magical creatures’ albums.

It is one thing to unlock these new abilities and another to fully utilize them. Once a new spell of magical creature becomes available to you, be sure to check on what each one can do. Your profile, which can be accessed through the bottom right corner of the screen, is home to more than just customizing your avatar and viewing your friends. This is where you can view the spells you have already unlocked and once they are available, you can read through what each one can do.

You can equip and change the magical creature to take with you in your adventures on the profile screen and you can also see what each win streak will unlock which bonuses. As you earn more stars and unlock new cards, it is possible to obtain some duplicate cards. Do not worry as every 50 duplicate cards you obtain will eventually earn you a unique card.

Having a solid idea of how each spell works will help you decide which one to use first in puzzles where you are made to choose between spells once you filled up the magic meter. If you are still unaware at this point, you will need to match the colorless spheres in the puzzles to earn mana and activate spells.

Once you earn enough mana to cast a spell and were made to choose between activating Wingardium Leviosa, which is needed to lift feathers off of the puzzle and Colovaria, which changes the color of a gem within the puzzle; you should always go with the former as what you would want is to free up as many tiles as possible. Likewise, having more open tiles mean that the effect of Colovaria will be much greater.

There are many such other scenarios that challenge your decision making skills in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, especially when sequencing spells are involved. Mix it in with various effects of power-up tiles and your magical creature’s activated abilities and the chain of effects grow even further. In general, you should always choose the effects that remove impediments from the puzzle. More space for gems to squeeze into means more move choices and higher potential for bigger tile activations and combos.

As far as magical creatures go, completely filling up the energy they need to be summoned into play does not necessarily mean that you need to use them immediately. If you can accomplish a level without needing to use the magical creature’s abilities, then it is best to save it for the next stage. Likewise, if using the skill will not help you complete the level, you should also refrain from using it as well.

5. Accomplish Event Objectives For Extra Rewards

The player’s journey through familiar events in the series certainly has a lot of challenging puzzles to offer and rewards to earn from each level cleared. Beyond progressing through the chapters, however, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells offers more challenges through daily events that provide you opportunities to earn extra rewards.

Some event objectives take you through a trio of unique puzzles to accomplish and a chest to earn you spell upgrades or new cards. Some event quests can also earn you extra gold that you can use as an alternative to replaying a level that you failed to complete instead of paying a life. Gold can also be used to purchase cards. Be sure to take note of events that have a limited time to accomplish.

6. Join A Club As Soon As You Can

While solving puzzles and progressing through the chapters in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells is a single player adventure, the social feature embodied by the club system in the game serves as an advenure to make new friends and work towards a common goal. The only requisite for you to be able to join a club in the game, is to reach stage 32, which is easy enough and accomplishable within the first day of your adventure.

Once you have cleared puzzle 31, you have the option to apply to as amany as 10 different clubs simultaneously. Once you are a club member, every succeeding puzzle you engage in reflects on your activity contributions to the club. The most active clubs within a week earn chests that contain XP so be sure to choose a club with a lot of active members and stay as active as possible yourself.

Beyond the potential XP boost, you can also chat with your fellow club members if you need some assistance with a certain puzzle. One huge perk you can continuously earn from a club is the extra lives that you can receive if you ask from your fellow club members. If you are just starting out, it may be a rare sight for you to lose all 5 lives as you challenge each puzzle but as you make progress through the latter levels, it will be very easy to deplete your remaining lives. Be sure to return th favor and send extra lives to fellow club members who need help. All it takes is a click of a button.

7. Do Not Rely On Hints A Lot

As you make progress through each puzzle in the game, it can become more and more challenging to decide on your next move. On the initial levels, chances are that you will immediately spot a viable swipe to match a couple of 3-tile moves and if you exercise some patience, you can even spot 4 or 5-tile moves that trigger special tiles. If you stay idle within any level in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, however, hints will be provided to you.

One more thing we can appreciate from the game is that the tiles automatically shuffle if no moves are left instead of leaving you to fail the level automatically. As we mentioned earlier, it is best to always take as much time as you need to finish each puzzle and the reason for that is not at all the free hints that pop up.

You may notice some of the gems as they wiggle whenever they hint of a move that can be performed using them and while these hints are very helpful in a lot of situations, these hints do not necessarily reflect the best possible moves to make in every scenario. As a beginner, you might instead fall victim to these hints and draw yourself closer towards failing to complete the puzzle. Especially in critical times when you are low on moves left, it is best to consider alternative moves that work towards achieving the goals on the level.

8. Work From Bottom To Top

In every puzzle challenge you face as you progress through Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, there are many possible reasons to consider one move better than others. For starters, moves aimed towards completing the goals of the level are always a top priority. In some occasions, going for a 4 or 5-tile move becomes more important as you need to unlock power-ups that will consequently help you work towards achieving goals faster.

Some goals even come as impediments that hinder progression and eliminating the most troublesome becomes a bigger priority. When mana sources are involved, activating the needed spells become an important stepping stone as well working towards your goals.

Not all moves you make in a level directly impact your progression towards achieving the goals, though, and you will often have to make moves to set up succeeding ones. There will even be situations when you have to make a seemingly irrelevant move just because it is the only available one to make. In these scenarios where there are choices available but none are directly related to aforementioned objectives, you should always choose the move at the bottom part of the puzzle rather than the ones at the upper part.

Prioritizing moves at the bottom of the puzzle is a common strategy for many match-3 puzzle games. Although Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells’ abundance of unique mechanics and features make it more challenging to do so, opting to match tiles at the bottom part of the puzzle still has its benefits. As tiles drop down from the top once matched tiles vanish, matching tiles at the bottom will cause more movement and leave more chances for tile matches beyond what you can readily predict. With one of the game’s core aspect of goals and impediments affected by matched tiles near them, movement at the bottom of the puzzle that can trigger a chain reaction can save you a lot of moves.

For one, though, eliminating gems at the bottom area of the puzzle does not guarantee combos. If there are more viable moves on the upper part of the puzzle like a 5-tile action or so, then it is still the better choice. You can consider going for the lower tile move more if you can see enough what the chain reaction will be but without any better moves, it is still the better option.

There are certainly a lot more unique mechanics and features in latter puzzles we have yet to encounter but for now, this is where we will end our Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells beginner’s guide. We hope you learned a great deal from this compilation of tips and strategies. If you have played and enjoyed the game, and have stumbled upon something we have not mentioned in our guide, do not hesitate to let us know about it in the comment area!