‘Defenders of Hogwarts’ Kickstarter Ends at £1.28M as MinaLima Eyes October Launch
The votes are in, and Hogwarts has some very well-funded defenders. MinaLima’s first board game, Harry Potter: Defenders of Hogwarts, closed its Kickstarter campaign on July 23 with a final tally of £1,287,000 (about US$1.7 million) pledged by 10,704 backers — more than 25 times its original £50,000 (about US$67,000) goal.
That result makes it one of the biggest Harry Potter tabletop crowdfunding campaigns to date, and a loud data point on the demand for wizarding-world board games heading into the franchise’s busiest stretch in years, with the HBO series premiering Christmas Day.
If you missed our earlier coverage: Defenders of Hogwarts is an asymmetric game for 2–5 players from MinaLima — the design studio behind the films’ Marauder’s Map and Hogwarts acceptance letters — created with industrial designer David Waterman and officially licensed by Warner Bros. Discovery. One player leads the Dark Forces while the rest defend the castle as Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw ahead of Voldemort’s arrival. You can catch up with our full breakdown of the game and its pledge tiers.
Missed the campaign?
You’re not entirely out of luck: late pledges remain open through the project’s page, though the Kickstarter-exclusive backer pin was tied to the campaign itself. From there, the game heads to a limited retail release in October 2026 at Harry Potter Shops and House of MinaLima locations, ahead of a broader multilingual launch planned for spring 2027.
Did you back it before the deadline, or are you holding out for the retail release? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to follow along for more Harry Potter news.
Source: Kickstarter
