Hear the Magic: MuggleNet’s Experience with Audible Recall

One of the most-loved pastimes at A Celebration of Harry Potter is competing with fellow fans in an Audible Recall challenge. Back once again, this Harry Potter audiobook challenge is a brain exercise for even the most dedicated Harry Potter fans. But what fun is there without a little bit of difficulty?

When we first arrived at the Expo, MuggleNet faced off against the Audible staff… and lost horribly. Rest assured, the Harry Potter fans and employees of Audible really know their stuff. The Audible team even told one of its staff members he wasn’t allowed to play because he would school us all.

Using an algorithm that factors in both time and correct answers, Audible Recall places a lot of emphasis on speed. Having only answered three out of six correctly each time we played (Pitiful, we know. We’re working on it), we found that it was speed that made the difference in our scores. In proper Potter style, the third time around was the charm for a MuggleNet W.

This year, Audible said they had two different versions of Harry Potter Audible Recall. The tried-and-true general version of the Audible Recall game plays clips from the Potter books – students finishing the Hogwarts School song out of tune, dialogues of characters with multi-book appearances, scenes you think are from Book 3 but are really from Book 5 – and requires players to guess which book they’re from as quickly as possible. As soon as a player touches the audiobook cover art of their guess, they know instantly whether they earned an Outstanding or a Troll.

MuggleNet plays hard against the Audible staff to see who knows their Potter audiobook the best. Audible did.

The second version of Harry Potter Audible Recall concentrates on all those Quidditch scenes Jo Rowling loved writing so much. Think you can differentiate between Oliver Wood complaining about Quidditch practice in Book 3 and Book 1? Good luck. Best not to mention that Quidditch Seeker love triangle (Potter–Diggory–Chang) that started in Book 3 and culminated in Book 5, after one-third of the triangle died in Book 4.

The race to the finish makes the game quick and exciting. It also increased the competition to keep fans coming back again and again. Each time a fan participated in a round, they were given puzzle pieces depicting the covers of the Harry Potter audiobooks. The complete puzzle also advertised the upcoming release of the Quidditch Through the Ages audiobook narrated by The Walking Dead actor Andrew Lincoln.

MuggleNet staff member Catherine H. holding onto the lead as she waits to see if Universal’s Ashlynn will snatch it from her in the final seconds.

Audible also offered chances for fans to play from home if they were unable to attend the Celebration by tweeting out sample audio clips of the Harry Potter books and later revealing answers. Trickier than anticipated, Audible Recall adds a whole new level to Harry Potter trivia!

We’ll be back next year – more prepared for the challenge! Until then, we’ll be studying up on the Harry Potter audiobooks and preordering Quidditch Through the Ages.