Make Your Own Hitster Cards

What you need to make your own Hitster cards

You need less than you think. Grab some index cards or thick paper cut into playing card size (about 6 by 9 cm), a pen, and one phone or speaker with any music app. A song list with correct release years saves the most time, and that is exactly what the list on this page is for.

Optional extras: a few coins or buttons as tokens, a printer if you prefer neat cards, and colored pens to mark decades. You do not need Spotify, an account or the official app.

How to make the cards, step by step

1. Pick your songs. Use the list below, filter by decade, or add your own favorites. Check every year you add yourself, because the whole game depends on it.

2. Write the song title and artist on the front of each card.

3. Write the release year big on the back. If your paper is thin, use fold-over cards instead: fold a strip in half, song on one side, year on the other, so nobody can see through.

4. Optional: add a QR code or short link to the song in your own music app on the front, so the DJ can start it with one tap.

5. Shuffle the deck and deal one face-up starting card (year side up) to each player.

How to play with your own cards

Take turns. The DJ draws a card, plays the song without showing the card, and the active player places it in their timeline: before, after or between the cards they already have. Then flip the card. If the year fits, the player keeps it. If not, it goes to the discard pile.

The first player with 10 correct cards in their timeline wins. A simple token house rule keeps everyone involved: each player starts with 2 tokens, may spend one to skip a song they do not like, or to challenge another player by placing the card in their own timeline first. Name the artist and title correctly to earn a token back.

Playing without Spotify

The official game uses a free app that plays the songs via Spotify. Your homemade deck does not need that. Any music app works, from Apple Music and YouTube Music to Deezer or a playlist you already own. One phone is enough.

The easiest setup is a radio-style DJ: one person reads the card in secret, finds the song and plays the first 20 to 30 seconds. Rotate the DJ role every round so everybody gets to play. The random picker on this page can be your DJ too: tap the button, play the song it shows in your own app, then reveal the year.

Tips for a balanced deck

Mix the decades evenly. A deck full of songs from the last ten years is hard to sort, while songs spread from the 1960s to today give clear gaps between cards. Around 10 to 20 songs per decade works well.

Add local hits your group grew up with, a handful of one-hit wonders and some guilty pleasures. Guilty pleasure songs are great because everyone knows them, but few people remember the exact year. Avoid songs whose year is unclear, such as tracks that were hits years after their first release.

Hitster vs singing games

Hitster is about listening and guessing. If your group would rather sing, try Grab the Mic style games, where a word appears and the fastest player sings a song containing it. Grab The Phone Karaoke is a free party game for 2 to 8 players built on that idea: one phone lies on the table, a word lights up, whoever grabs the phone sings for 15 seconds and the group votes.

It mixes well with a homemade Hitster evening: guess years for a few rounds, then switch to singing. Read more about games like Hitster or get the app for free.