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Muggles on brooms — kids playing Quidditch

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A group of kids wait to compete in a Quidditch match.

A group of kids wait to compete in a Quidditch match.

Tina Fineberg, Associated Press

NEW YORK — The seeker from the Bronx High School of Science had to jump a fence and follow the snitch down Fifth Avenue. He caught the snitch, but it didn't count because his broom wasn't between his legs.

Bronx Science lost 50-30 to Lenox High School in Lenox, Mass., as Central Park played host to an exhibition of Quidditch, the soccer-like game invented by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

In the books, Quidditch is played by wizards and witches on flying broomsticks. The real-life version with Muggles — non-magical folk — started in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont and is now played at over 150 colleges and 100 high schools.

In Muggle Quidditch, chasers try to throw the quaffle — a volleyball — through a hoop.