J.K. Rowling named the magical broomstick sport in the Harry Potter books Quidditch. Teams of seven players compete while flying on broomsticks, using four balls: one Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch.
The game was introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, where Harry joins the Gryffindor team as a Seeker. The Seeker’s main task is to catch the Golden Snitch, which ends the match and awards 150 points, although the team with the higher score wins.
Rowling has said that the word Quidditch was invented for the books. The fictional sport is played at Hogwarts and in wider wizarding competitions, including the Quidditch World Cup described in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Real-world versions of the sport later developed outside the books, originally using the name Muggle Quidditch. In 2022, the International Quidditch Association announced the name Quadball for the real-world sport, but the fictional game in Rowling’s novels remains Quidditch.