Jumbo Games new party game is a real hit! Hitster is for music fans of all ages (literally!) and will test your knowledge and memory for popular music from the past 100 years. You read that right! The songs in Hitster range from 1908 to 2021! Spotify and Hitster have teamed up for this game, but don’t worry. You don’t need a Spotify account to play.
What’s in the box?
Hitster comes with four decks of cards and 36 tokens. Each card has a QR code on one side and the year the song came out on the other side. What’s not in the box is a set of instructions. You have to use the QR code to get to the Hitster website (https://hitstergame.com/en-us/how-to-play-free/). There are two options: Free Spotify access for the game (or with your free Spotify account) or with a Premium Spotify account. I don’t have Spotify, so I’m sharing the free Spotify version. There’s no disadvantage to the game if you use the free Spotify account, although the song snippets on the free Spotify version are limited to 20 seconds. Hitster can be played either as individuals or teams.
TOP TIP: When playing with younger players, play in teams to give them the best chance of success.
How to play Hitster
There are a lot of options for playing Hitster. You can play as individuals or in teams and there are four levels of game play. Most of the gameplay is the same as the Original. Setup is really easy. Each player or team gets one card, which is placed year-side up in front of them, and two tokens. The rest of the card deck gets placed QR-code up in the center of the table.
First, you need to pick a DJ for the first round. The DJ plays the music snippets and changes with each turn, so everyone still gets to play. The DJ scans the QR code of the top card in the deck. The app will play the song snippet for everyone to hear. The player to the left of the DJ then has to determine whether the song was released before or after the year on their card and place the card in play in the correct position next to their card. Chronology is counted from left to right, so if the song was released before the year on the card, it gets placed to the left of the card on the table. If the song was released after the year on the card, it gets placed to the right of the card. If the player isn’t sure about the song, they can play a token and discard both the token and the card. The DJ will then scan the QR code on the next card.
Once the player has placed the new card in their timeline, but before it’s turned over, the other players can chime in if they think the player got it wrong. They call Hitster and then place one of their tokens in the position on the current player’s timeline where they think new card belongs. If more than one player calls Hitster, the first player to say it goes first. If the next player thinks they’re both wrong, they can place their token where they think the card belongs.
Whether or not any tokens are used, the next step is to reveal the year on the back of the active card. Whichever player got it correctly, takes the card and places it in their timeline. If the correct year is the same as one of the cards to either the left or right of the card in play, it’s deemed a correct response (unless you’re playing Expert level – see below). As play goes on and the timeline grows, new cards get placed in their proper time slot. The tokens are removed to the token stash.
On any turn, a player can trade in three tokens for the top card on the deck and place it in their timeline without having to guess it. You can still ask the DJ play it, though, if you want.
TOP TIP: When you first start playing, start at the original level. This will give the players a feel for the game and helps you all determine which level is best for future gameplay.
On their turn, players can also earn a token by guessing the name of the song and the artist, even if they guess the timeline placement incorrectly. Players can hold a maximum of 5 tokens at a time.
How to Win Hitster
The first person to build their timeline to 10 cards wins. It’s as easy as that. Well, not so easy with 100 years of songs to play with, but getting to the finish line is pretty simple. The two more advanced levels of game play are Pro and Expert. In both of those, the goal is the same as the original game play (get ten cards in their timeline), but in Pro, you start with 5 tokens and you have to guess the song title and artist to earn the card, and in Expert, you start with three tokens and you have to guess the song title, artist, and correct year of release. There is also a Cooperative level of game play, where the players are all on one team trying to build their timeline to ten cards.
TOP TIP: If, like me, you have a real music buff in the family, you can adjust the game play so that they are playing Pro or Expert level while everyone else plays Original.
Hitster is a blast! It’s a great family game or party game. Because of the range of songs included, this is game that can be enjoyed by multiple generations, especially in teams, but generation vs generation could be a lot of fun, too. More mature players will enjoy all the nostalgic flashbacks and everyone can be confused and amused by the older songs in the mix. I predict lots of laughter. And maybe some new Spotify subscriptions, because Hitster has a Spotify playlist that you can download.
Use the affiliate link to buy this great game here: Fotorama Hitster Jumbo Edition: The Ultimate Music Quiz Party Card Game for Adults and Families!
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this looks like a game that would be a blast to play. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds fun. May give it a try.