Overview
Just north of Brisbane, muggles and magical folk alike can shop for wands, pick up Harry Potter merchandise, knock back butterscotch brews and try Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, all at Samford's Store of Requirement. For wannabe witches and wizards, that's reason enough to pretend that your car is the Hogwarts Express and make the half-hour journey out of town — but if you need more motivation, the enchanting shop is now hosting Harry Potter-themed tournaments.
It's not quite the Triwizard Tournament, but The Store of Requirement's Wizard's Tournament will put your skills to the test, as well as your Harry Potter trivia knowledge. When you're not answering questions about the huge book and film franchise, you'll solve escape room-style riddles and puzzles. Each two-to-four person team will represent a different house while they're competing (and no, everyone can't be in Gryffindor).
While just what the escape room part of the fun will entail hasn't been revealed, it has been designed by Escape Hunt Brisbane and Directors of the Extraordinary. The latter was behind the huge interactive zombie game, Containment, that took over Brisbane Powerhouse back in 2017, so you can reasonably expect their Potter antics to be immersive.
After kicking off this week, four future events are scheduled — and although the July 25 tournament is already booked out, you can sign up for August 2, 9 and 22. Tickets cost $90 for two people, $145 for three and $190 for four, with an option to pay extra for cheese and fruit, cheese and meat, or hot food platters.
A live scoreboard will track your progress throughout the night, so you'll know just how often you'll need to say "accio points!" to try to up your score.
Unsurprisingly, dressing up is encouraged — so all that's left to do is find some Potter-loving friends to don some robes and house colours with you.
Find The Store of Requirement at 22 Station Street, Samford Village — and head to the shop's website to book a spot at The Wizard's Tournament, which takes place at 6.30pm on August 2, 9 and 22.