why was quidditch such a dumb game. theres absolutely no point in doing anything except tryna get the snitch
jk rowling sucked at game design. it wasnt even just normal suckage that was some other level sucking
Noooooo.
Catching the snitch doesn't win you the game. Catching the snitch gives you something like 250 points and immediately ends the game, so it often means victory for the side that catches, at least for that match. But it doesn't guarantee victory, and, at least in bigger scenarios (like professional Quidditch, which they get into a bit in the fourth book) I believe the points from your matches rollover and you need to make a certain amount in order to qualify for future brackets. So if you've played a couple of matches but haven't managed to make enough points to reach the Quidditch equivalent of the "play-offs" or whatever, then sending your super awesome Seeker to catch the snitch right away isn't actually a smart idea. It's actually best, strategically, to let the game go for a while, let the Chasers score a fair amount while keeping the
other team's Seeker from getting the snitch, and then catching it once you've racked up enough points for it to matter. In certain cases, catching the snitch too early can actually screw you.
At least I'm pretty sure that's the case. They never went into this kind of detail in the movies, and it's been a while since I've read the books, but I'm pretty sure they get into this at some point. I'm guessing it probably comes up a bit in the fourth book when everybody goes to the Quidditch World Cup, and I think something regarding the ****tiness of having to catch the snitch too early comes up for Harry at some point after he gets made captain of the Gryffindor team in book five or six.
/epicPotternerd