Hitster editions: every version and expansion, mapped

Hitster started as one box and turned into a shelf full of them. There's the flagship Original, themed decks for rock or summer anthems, small expansions you shuffle into a game you already own, localized versions built around a country's own charts, and a couple of spin-offs that swap the timeline for a different game altogether. This page sorts them into plain groups and lines up the main ones side by side, so you can see at a glance what each edition is and how it fits with the rest. For the rules themselves, the tokens, and the harder modes, see the guide on how to play Hitster.

The Hitster family at a glance

Every Hitster box, whatever its theme, runs on the same idea: hear a song, place it on a shared timeline by the year it came out, and build a run of correctly ordered tracks. The differences come down to which songs are in the box, whether it's a full game or an add-on, and, in a few cases, whether it changes how you play at all. It helps to think of the lineup in four groups.

• The Original. The flagship deck of the biggest hits across the decades, and the natural starting point. Many countries also get a localized Original tuned to the local charts.
• Themed standalone decks. Complete games in their own right, built around one flavor of music, such as Guilty Pleasures or Rock. You can play them on their own with no other box.
• Expansions. Smaller add-on packs with no tokens of their own, meant to be shuffled into a game you already have. Christmas and Movies & TV Soundtracks are typical examples.
• Different-mechanic editions. Boxes that keep the music but change the game. Hitster Bingo swaps the timeline for a bingo card, and Hitster Flying Mic turns each song into a race for a flying microphone.

One thing worth knowing up front: whether a given theme ships as a standalone game or as an expansion can vary from country to country, and the exact lineup on sale depends on where you live. The groups below reflect how each edition is most commonly sold.

The main Hitster editions compared

Here's how the headline editions line up by theme, whether they're a full game or an add-on, and which game they play:

Classification and availability shift by region, so treat the type column as the usual case rather than a fixed rule. Check the official Hitster website for what's on sale where you live.

The Original and its localized versions

Hitster Original is the flagship, a broad spread of more than three hundred of the biggest hits from the last hundred years. It's the box most people mean when they just say Hitster, and it's the one to reach for first. On top of the standard Original, many countries get a localized deck weighted toward their own charts, such as Hitster 100% NL for the Dutch market or region-specific sets built with local radio stations. These play exactly the same way; the difference is that a bigger share of the songs will be ones a local crowd grew up with.

Themed standalone decks

These are complete games built around one kind of music, so you can play them on their own without owning the Original. Hitster Guilty Pleasures leans into the cheesy, over-the-top hits people secretly love, and Hitster Summer Party gathers the summer and beach anthems of the past decades. Hitster Rock covers rock in the broadest sense, and depending on the market it shows up either as a full standalone box or as a smaller add-on. Hitster Battle of the Generations is the big one, a larger deck split into eras so a younger team and an older team can each answer from music they know. Because every box is standalone, any of these makes a fine first purchase if its theme suits your group.

Expansions to shuffle in

Expansions are smaller packs with no tokens of their own, designed to be mixed into a game you already own for more variety. The regulars here are Hitster Christmas for festive playlists, Hitster Movies & TV Soundtracks for film and show music, and Hitster Urban & Hip-Hop for the hip-hop side of things. Some markets also get seasonal packs such as a holiday mix. Since they lean on a base box for the tokens and setup, they're a top-up rather than a starting point, best bought once you already have an Original or another standalone deck on the shelf.

The different-mechanic editions

A couple of boxes keep the Hitster music but change the game underneath it. Hitster Bingo drops the timeline entirely: songs play, you mark the matches on a bingo card, and the first to complete a line calls it, which makes for a quick, casual change of pace. Hitster Flying Mic keeps the timeline but adds a scramble, sending a microphone into the air that players race to grab before taking a musical challenge to win the card. Both are their own kind of game, so pick them for the format as much as the playlist. Beyond the boxes, there is also Hitster Live Experience, a big-screen version whole crowds play from their phones at festivals and stadiums.

Which edition should you choose?

If you're buying your first Hitster, the Original is the safe pick, since it spans the widest range of decades and genres and gives everyone at the table a fair shot. Choose a themed standalone deck instead when your group has a clear favorite, like rock or the guilty-pleasure hits, or pick your country's localized version if you want more songs the room will recognize. Add an expansion once you already own a base game and want to deepen the deck for a particular occasion, such as Christmas over the holidays. Reach for Bingo or Flying Mic when you want a different kind of game night rather than more of the same songs.

The good news is that you rarely have to pick just one. Most editions share the same app and the same style of cards, and the standalone boxes can be shuffled together into a bigger, more varied deck, with expansions folded in on top. Starting with one box and growing the collection over time works well, and mixing decks keeps the songs fresh once a single set starts to feel familiar.

Prefer to play digitally?

If it's the guess the song and place the year timeline game you're after, but you'd rather skip the boxes, the cards, and the setup altogether, you can play the same style of game right on your phone. Tunigma plays the songs itself, with no cards to scan and no Spotify, Apple Music, or other streaming app or subscription, and it's a free download. It comes with thousands of tracks you can filter by decade, genre, and country, so there's no separate box to buy for each theme. There's a fuller look on the Hitster alternative page, plus a wider rundown of the best Hitster alternatives, and if you want the classic rules first, see how to play Hitster.

Coming soon

Hitster is a trademark of its respective owner. Tunigma is not affiliated with or endorsed by Hitster.