How To Play Hitster

ORIGINAL

Or select another difficulty level ⬇️

Listen to over 100 years of music while guessing when these songs were released. You don’t need to know the exact year* – only if it’s before, after or in between the songs that are on your timeline. Your chances of winning increase if you can also name the artists and song titles.

*The year given on each card is the year that the song was released or performed in public by that artist in its original form.

Preparation

  • Decide if you’re playing in teams or individually.
  • Each player/team receives 2 HITSTER tokens and 1 music card which they place face up (date side up) in front of them to start their timeline.
  • Choose a DJ. Players take turns being the DJ, and their role is to scan the card. The DJ can play along when using HITSTER with a Spotify Premium account.

1. Scan

The DJ scans the card using the HITSTER app and follows the on-screen instructions. A song should start playing.

2. Place

Position the music card: The player to the left of the DJ positions the card face down (without peeking) in the correct spot on their timeline by placing it to the left, right or in between the other music cards in front of them, with the oldest song on their left.

3. Flip

Flip the music card: If it is in the correct position, they get to keep the card. Otherwise, discard it unless another player has correctly placed a HITSTER token (see HITSTER tokens below). Cards of the same year can be in either order, even when that song was released earlier in that year. Now the DJ plays a new song and it’s the next player’s turn.

4. Win

Play continues to the left until one of the players has 10 cards correctly positioned in their timeline. That player is the winner of the game and earns the title of HITSTER!

HITSTER TOKENS

Remember the HITSTER tokens? These are added into the mix for an even more exciting game. These tokens can be used in 3 different ways:

1. On your turn

Don’t know the song? Pay 1 HITSTER token and scan the next card to start a new song and discard the token and the card into the box.

2. On an opponent’s turn

Think that the player has placed a card incorrectly on their timeline? Then shout “HITSTER”, before that card is revealed. Place 1 of your tokens on your opponent’s timeline where you think that the card should go. If you are correct, you get to steal that card. Place it in the correct position on your timeline. Discard any used tokens into the box.

Note: The first player to shout HITSTER gets to place their token first. However if the next player to shout HITSTER thinks that answer is also incorrect, he/she can choose another position on their opponent’s timeline to try to steal the card. No two tokens can be placed on the same spot of the opponent’s timeline.

3. Anytime

Trade 3 HITSTER tokens for the top music card from the deck and place it on your timeline, without having to guess its release date.

Earning HITSTER tokens

On your turn, you can earn 1 HITSTER token if you can correctly name the song’s title and the artist’s name. A token can be earned even when misplacing that card on your timeline. No player can hold more than 5 tokens at any given time during the game.

faq about the game

Find the most frequently asked questions below.

The music automatically plays when you scan the QR code on a HITSTER card using a mobile phone with the free HITSTER app installed. On opening the app, follow the on-screen instructions to connect to the Spotify app or choose to play with Spotify Free.

Spotify Premium will give you the best HITSTER experience. Spotify Free version might have some limitations.

HITSTER contains over 300 recognizable hit songs in different genres released between 1908 and 2021. Don’t worry if you are not a music expert. Anyone playing HITSTER is in with a chance of winning.

HITSTER can be played competitively (using three difficulty levels: ORIGINAL, PRO and EXPERT) or with all players on the same side using COOPERATIVE gameplay. We recommend that you start playing HITSTER using the ORIGINAL rules. If you find that too easy, move on to PRO and then EXPERT. Read the game rules for more details.

Yes. Click on the link below or scan the Spotify code with your phone from inside the Spotify app. Do this by tapping the search icon and then tapping on the camera icon at the top of the screen.

Hitster Original:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Mpj1KwRmY2pHzmj7mfbdh?si=d11d019fc0404031

No. You need the HITSTER cards to be able to play.

The cards can be marked with a symbol to identify the corresponding game version, so if they are mixed up when playing, each card can always be returned to its box.

The HITSTER app works with an iPhone 7 or later with iOS 14.8.1 or later installed, or with an Android phone running 7.0 Nougat or later. All phones must have a working rear camera, built-in speaker and internet access.

Yes and no. We officially only support phones, however some devices allow phone apps to be installed on a tablet. You can give this a try, but it might not work as we intended.

Yes and no. A standard Bluetooth or Airplay-enabled speaker should work. Connecting to a Google Chromecast or AppleTV is not supported as this has audio playback issues. Feel free to test your setup to see if it works for you.

HITSTER uses an online database to connect to Spotify. Having this database makes sure that the HITSTER game keeps on working as we intended. Without this connection we can’t manage any changes Spotify might make to their platform.

Be sure to use a secure Wi-Fi connection to avoid additional charges from your provider.

Yes and no. You can play HITSTER without a Spotify account, however this will not give you the best game experience as you are limited to only 20 seconds of music for each of the songs played. Spotify offers a limited free Premium trial when you sign-up for a Spotify account.

See: https://www.spotify.com/uk/premium/

Please contact Spotify Support, as we cannot help you with that.

Visit: https://support.spotify.com/uk/article/contact-us/

faq about the hitster app

Find the most frequently asked questions below.

Using your phone, you can download the HITSTER app from the App Store or Google Play.

A camera is required for scanning the QR code on the back of a HITSTER card. Without it the game will not work.

On most devices it is possible to disable camera access for your device. Delete and re-install the HITSTER app from the App Store or Google Play. The app will ask your permission to access your camera.

There are two reasons why this might be:

  1. You purchased (or were gifted) a HITSTER game intended for another market, or you are travelling abroad with your HITSTER game. In that case, some cards will not work due to how Spotify manages the music rights. When travelling, on your return these cards should work as before.
  2. The company owning the music rights removed the song from Spotify or moved the song to another album or playlist.

In some cases, we might be able to fix the issue. Let us know what card(s) aren’t working

This is a known problem. It can be avoided by not switching off your phone between songs or by not placing the phone with its screen facing down on the table or any other flat surface as this also turns off some phones.

We are working on a fix as we understand this is very inconvenient.