If you are playing Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery and suddenly find yourself stuck in an endless crash loop after the House Cup or Quidditch match. Players have recently encountered a frustrating error message:
Error: parse error – unexpected ‘-‘ (<parse error>)
This error appears immediately after the game crashes, often following a major event like the House Cup finale or the final scene of a Quidditch match. In this article, we will break down what is happening, why this error occurs, and what you can (and cannot) do to fix it.
What Causes the Parse Error in Hogwarts Mystery?
This error is not caused by your phone, your internet connection, or anything on your end. It is a developer-side coding error. Here is what is happening behind the scenes:
- During the game’s code execution, it encounters an unexpected character — in this case, a stray dash (-).
- This could be from a leftover debugging symbol, a scripting typo, or a failed content update.
- When the game hits this invalid code during the reward collection phase after a match or House Cup, it crashes.
- Once your save data is affected, the game gets stuck in a loop where it tries to replay the corrupted scene every time you reopen the app.
Why Restarting or Reinstalling Will Not Help
Since this is a server-side issue with your save file, none of the usual troubleshooting steps will work, including:
- Closing and reopening the app
- Restarting your device
- Switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data
- Clearing cache (on Android devices)
- Reinstalling the app (even if your progress is linked to Facebook or a WB Games account)
These steps only affect the files stored on your device, but the corrupted data exists on Jam City’s servers, which is why the error persists.
What Can You Do? (Your Options)
This is the only real solution. You need to submit a detailed support ticket explaining:
- Your Player ID (if you have it saved somewhere from previous screenshots or emails)
- Screenshots of the error message
- A clear description of what happened before the crash (for example, winning the House Cup, starting the reward scene, then the game crashing with the parse error message)
- Mention that this is a known parse error affecting other players and that you are requesting either a manual fix or a rollback to a point before the crash
Players who have experienced this issue report that it took anywhere from three to seven days for Jam City to respond and resolve the error. In most cases, support either rolls back your save file to a safe point or manually fixes the corrupted data.
Avoid Repeated Troubleshooting
Once you are sure this is the parse error, there is no need to keep reinstalling, clearing cache, or switching networks. These steps will not resolve the issue and could waste time or risk losing unlinked progress.
Recent Player Experiences
Several players on the Reddit community for Hogwarts Mystery have reported the same error, especially following House Cup events or Quidditch finales. Players confirm that Jam City support was able to resolve the issue — but only after direct contact and manual intervention.
One player stated:
“There is nothing you can do but wait for JC to fix it. This is a programming error. It took them about six days to fix mine.”
Final Thoughts
If you are currently caught in this parse error loop, do not panic — you are not alone, and it is fixable. The sooner you contact Jam City support, the sooner they can investigate and resolve the problem. In the meantime, stay updated on community forums like Reddit to see if other players are encountering the same issue, especially after major updates or seasonal events.
If you are dealing with this issue right now, your best course of action is to open a ticket with Jam City support and wait for their response.
