GAME REVIEW: HITSTER and HITSTER: AUSSIE EDITION

GAME REVIEW: HITSTER and HITSTER: AUSSIE EDITION
By Shane Pinnegar
90%

Hitster is a self-proclaimed “music party game” where players listen to 30 seconds (or the full song) of a tune and decide where it fits on there timeline by year.

The first step is downloading the Hitster app and connecting to Spotify – not my favourite thing ever, I have too many ethical issues with Spotify plus love my physical record and CD collection too much to sign up, but my daughter is an avid listener, so facilitated our session and insisted “no-one else has a problem with it, Dad”, so I’ll take that on board.

And just as well, because what followed was an addictive session where we played seven times without a break, enjoying loads of great songs (and some not to each of our tastes) and many laughs as we tried to work out if American Pie was released before or after Sweet Caroline (1972, after Neil Diamond’s classic by two years), if Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun was before or after Zombie by The Cranberries (trick question – both came out in 1994), or if Harry Styles released Watermelon Sugar before Lewis Capaldi released Someone You Loved (one year later, in 2019).

If it sounds pretty simple – the best ideas sometimes are. Included in the game are 308 music cards covering “over 100 years of amazing hits”, each with a QR code which take you to the song on Spotify. On the reverse are the artist, song title and release year. Simple.

To make the game a bit more interesting, tokens are also included which allow players to challenge the person whose turn it is, if anyone suspects they’ve incorrectly guessed the song’s place in their timeline.

It makes for a fast paced and fun game, which can be illuminating even for a rock obsessive like myself – and having the broader musical experience isn’t a guarantee of a win. There’s as much luck at play as knowledge, meaning everyone has a fair chance of victory.

We enjoyed both the basic edition and the Aussie edition – which includes Australian hits alongside global chartbusters – and at the end of our three hours of play had only one question: how soon before we need to buy an expansion pack to keep playing after we’ve exhausted the included cards?

 

 

Category: Other Reviews