There’s definitely some magic in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Free) , the eagerly anticipated RPG from Jam City and Portkey Games that allows you to do what every Harry Potter fan (yes, every one) has always wanted to do: Become a Hogwarts student themselves. Not a classmate of Harry, Hermione, Ron and the gang, mind you, because the game is set well before they came on the scene, but it’s an experience that many people will still want to try out, since it plops you right into the School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and lets you develop your own friendships and rivalries while learning spells and interacting with some very familiar characters.

Hogwarts Mystery even allows you to attend the school for the same price it once permitted Tom Riddle to attend (though that decision didn’t exactly pan out all that well), which is free.There’s just one problem, and it’s one not even the Elder Wand can solve for you: Energy, because you’re going to run out of it. Maybe even an a really inopportune time, like when you’re in the middle of possibly being choked to death by magical vines.

If you enjoy the game, you’re going to have an impulse to buy Gems, the game’s premium currency, which can then, in turn, be used to purchase more Energy. That’s certainly one way to go about it, but we’d prefer to tell you about a cheaper way. A freer way, if you will. But first, let’s talk about why Energy is so important in the first place.

Why Do I Need to Worry About Energy in Hogwarts Mystery?

We’re happy to report that there are plenty of things you can do in and around Hogwarts that don’t take any Energy at all. The game has plenty of dialogue, which you’ll want to pay attention to since the choices you make when prompted can affect your character’s relationships with other students and faculty members, and none of these bits use Energy. Nor does casting spells, once you learn some, though those parts of the game are often interwoven with others where Energy is a must.

Those parts occur both when you’re attending classes and when you are having other types of encounters around the school. If you tap on the scroll icon on the left side of the main screen, you’ll see what part of your story’s current chapter you’re on, as well as which lessons you need to complete before advancing to the next chapter. Anything marked with a star is going to require you to spend Energy.

That’s an issue because some of the lessons and encounters are quite long, and you’ll need to earn a certain number of stars with in a limited amount of time — anywhere from an hour to multiple hours — to complete them successfully. Most often, you’ll succeed automatically simply by tapping on different people or items, indicated by a bright, glowing outline, a specific number of times. Each tap costs you one point of Energy, and while your Energy refills gradually over time, eventually you will run out.

However, there are things you can do to stave off running dry, and that’s where we come in.

How to Get More Energy for Free

Within a lesson or encounter, your quest to earn stars is broken down into a number of smaller tasks. If you tap on a glowing person or object, you’ll also see how much Energy you’ll need to complete it and earn points toward the next star. Each individual tap earns your character XP, but finishing off one entire task earns you rewards. Sometimes these rewards include several points of Energy, though you won’t know if that’s the case until you finish the task, making advance planning for maximizing Energy somewhat useless.

What you can do is tap on different characters and/or items when you have a choice between them and see which takes the least Energy to complete. That way, you’re at least giving yourself the very best possible chance to gain some Energy points back, even if there’s no guarantee that you will.

Better still, every time you earn a star, you’ll be presented with a choice of three different rewards, which can include coins, Gems, experience toward leveling up a specific attribute (Courage, Empathy or Knowledge), and yes, Energy. It probably goes without saying, but when Energy points are offered, if you’re looking to extend your playtime as much as possible, you should always take them. The exception would be if they would put you over your maximum amount of Energy, since it doesn’t appear that the game allows you to bank more points than you can generate over time on your own, except when you buy more (which we’ll get to in a second).

Bonus tip: Keep in mind that you can leave any lesson or encounter at any time without penalty simply by tapping on the door icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. If you’re out of Energy, it’s possible there’s something else for you to do until some of your points recharge.

The one pleasant piece of information in this section is that when you fully finish off a lesson or encounter within the given time, your Energy gets completely refilled. What happens if you run out before you do? You’ve got two choices: One is to simply log out and wait, while the other is to spend Gems to get an instant refill. That’ll take 35 Gems or more, depending on your maximum Energy at your current level, which is a pretty hefty price.

If only there was a way to get more Gems for free too … Oh wait, there are. Several, in fact.

How to Get More Gems for Free

Other than buying them, you’ve got some options when it comes to earning Gems, though just as in almost any free-to-play game, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery doesn’t let you stockpile them all that quickly. Let’s break them down:

• Activity rewards – As we noted above, every time you complete a star in a lesson or encounter, you’ve wrapped up another Activity and get a choice of three different rewards. Often, but not always, Gems will be one of them.
• Learn more spells – There’s no real way you can learn spells faster as they are part of your lessons and thus fall in a pretty much pre-determined order, but learning a new one often pays off in Gems as well as access to the spell itself.
• Level up your character – Gems come with the rewards for leveling up your witch or wizard, and since almost everything you do earns you XP, you’re more or less constantly working in this.
• Keep developing your friendships – This is probably the most interesting way to get more Gems, and it’s one you don’t have access to immediately. As you meet more fellow students, you’ll have the chance to start friendships with them based on how you treat them. In turn, this will give you opportunities to do things with them they enjoy, like playing Gobstones with Rowan. If you make the correct decisions while spending time with a friend, it will level up that friendship, which in turn unlocks more opportunities to go on adventures with them. Friendships give out Gems at times when you level them up, though not at each new level.

Even with all of these tips and insights, there’s a good chance you are going to hit spots where the Energy system just won’t let you advance unless you wait or pay. In some ways, that might not be the worst thing ever since it keeps you from burning through all of the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery content quickly, but it can definitely be frustrating as well. Hopefully, we’ve given you some ideas on how to at least mitigate that frustration, and who knows? Maybe future updates will make the whole system a little less constraining. That would certainly be magical!