Hitster Summer Party: the summer-anthem edition of the music game
Hitster Summer Party is the edition built around summer hits, the beach songs, BBQ playlists, and festival singalongs of the past decades. It plays like the game you know, so here's what makes the theme special, how it compares to other editions, and where to buy it.
Prefer digital?
Tunigma lets you filter by decade, genre, and country to set a summer party mood, free on your phone.
Hitster Summer Party is a themed edition of Hitster, the music timeline game from Jumbo, and it swaps the broad catalog of the flagship box for one warm-weather idea: the songs that soundtrack summer. Everything else works the way it always has. You hear a track, guess when it came out, and slot it onto a shared timeline in the right spot. What changes is the deck, which is packed end to end with summer anthems across the decades. It arrived in 2024 and is out now.
What is Hitster Summer Party?
At its core it's still Hitster: you listen to a song and place it on a timeline by the year it came out, building a run of correctly ordered tracks until someone reaches ten and wins. Summer Party keeps that timeline mechanic untouched and pours a themed song pool into it. The deck trades the usual all-purpose mix for feel-good summer music, the tracks that turn up at pool parties, road trips, and beach bars. It plays as a standalone game straight out of the box, and because it shares the same system as the rest of the range, you can shuffle it into any other Hitster edition for a deeper deck.
The theme: summer anthems across the decades
Where the original box aims for the broadest possible spread, Summer Party commits to a single mood. Every card is chosen to feel like summer, which gives the deck a distinct flavor the moment the first song plays.
The songs stretch across the decades rather than sticking to one era. You get the sun-soaked classics your parents blasted from the car, the poolside pop that defined later summers, and current chart hits that reach right up to recent years, so a single timeline can jump from an old holiday favorite to a track from just a couple of summers ago. That spread is what keeps the guessing interesting: a song can feel timeless and still be far newer, or older, than the table expects.
The vibe pulls from a few recognizable corners of summer music, never just one genre:
- Beach and holiday singalongs: the breezy, feel-good tracks that come out the moment the weather turns.
- Festival and dance floor-fillers: the big, hands-in-the-air anthems built for a crowd and a warm night.
- BBQ and road-trip staples: the easy, familiar songs everyone already knows the words to.
- Sunny pop hits: the seasonal chart-toppers that turn up every year across the decades.
The deck works on feel. Pull any card and it fits the season, which makes the whole game read as one long summer playlist you happen to be racing to sort by year.
How it plays
Summer Party runs on the standard Hitster timeline rules, so the theme never touches the play: a sunny anthem starts, you guess where its year sits, and you slot it into your run. The only difference at the table is the soundtrack, which stays firmly in beach-and-BBQ territory from the first card to the last. For the full walkthrough of tokens, steals, and the tougher modes, see the guide on how to play Hitster.
How it differs from the original and other editions
Every Hitster edition shares the same timeline mechanic, so what separates them is the song pool. Summer Party trades the flagship's spread for a single seasonal mood, and it sits alongside other themed decks like Guilty Pleasures, which chases the cheesy hits people love to belt out. Here's how the three compare:
| Feature | Hitster Summer Party | Hitster Original | Hitster Guilty Pleasures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core idea | Build a timeline by release year | Build a timeline by release year | Build a timeline by release year |
| Song pool | Summer anthems across the decades | The biggest hits of the last hundred years | The cheesy hits people love to hate |
| Mood | Beach, BBQ, and festival | Broad and all-purpose | Over the top and nostalgic |
| Win condition | First to place 10 songs | First to place 10 songs | First to place 10 songs |
| Players | 2 to 10 | 2 to 10 | 2 to 10 |
| Standalone or combine | Both | Both | Both |
| Best for | Summer get-togethers | An all-round first buy | Loud, silly game nights |
Summer Party is happy on its own or dropped into a collection: play it as your only box, or shuffle its cards into an original deck when a group wants a longer run with a seasonal streak running through it. For the wider lineup, there's a rundown of the Hitster editions, and a closer look at Hitster Guilty Pleasures.
Who it's for
Summer Party is built for exactly the moment its name suggests. It suits garden parties, barbecues, poolside afternoons, festival weekends, and holidays, where a deck of familiar sunny songs matches the setting better than a general catalog would. The 16 and up age rating fits an adult or mixed-age gathering, and because the songs span decades, different generations each recognize their own summers. If your group already loves the timeline game and wants a version tuned to the season, this is the one to reach for once the weather turns.
What's in the box
- Songs: 300+ summer hits on music cards.
- Tokens: 37 Hitster tokens for earning cards and stealing.
- App: the free Hitster app scans the cards and plays each song.
- Players: 2 to 10.
- Age: 16 and up.
- Play time: about 30 minutes.
- Publisher: Jumbo.
- Format: standalone, and combinable with other Hitster editions.
Where to buy
Released in 2024, Hitster Summer Party is out now and turns up in most board game shops and general retailers once the season rolls around, English edition included. The catch is that the language and regional versions on shelves vary from one country to the next, so it pays to double-check the edition before you add it to the basket. The official Hitster website is the quickest way to see what ships to your region.
It tends to sell for roughly £18 to £21 in the UK and around €17 to €23 in mainland Europe, often cheaper than the flagship box:
- United Kingdom: Amazon.co.uk (around £20.49) and Zatu Games (around £18.98).
- Mainland Europe: Amazon.de (around €16.98) and bol.com (around €22.09 in the Netherlands).
Prices shift with the retailer and your region, so compare a couple of listings before buying.
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 box, the cards, and the setup, 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. You shape each round yourself, filtering by decade, genre, and country, so a summer playlist is one tap away and so is anything else. There's a fuller look on the Hitster alternative page, plus a wider rundown of the best Hitster alternatives.
Coming soon
Frequently asked questions
What is Hitster Summer Party?
It's a themed edition of Hitster built around summer hits, the beach, BBQ, and festival songs of the past decades. It uses the same timeline rules as the flagship game, just with a seasonal song pool.
How is it different from the original Hitster?
The rules are identical. What changes is the deck: where the original casts a wide net over every kind of hit, Summer Party focuses on summer anthems across the decades, giving the whole game a warm-weather mood.
How many songs and players?
Count on more than 300 summer tracks and 37 tokens in the box. A round seats 2 to 10 players, suits ages 16 and up, and wraps up in about half an hour.
Can I combine it with other Hitster editions?
Yes. It is a complete game on its own, not an expansion that needs a base set, and its summer cards tip straight into any other Hitster box when you want a longer game with a seasonal streak mixed through it.
How do you win?
The same way as any Hitster game: be the first to build a timeline of ten songs placed correctly by release year.
Do you need the app or Spotify to play?
The Hitster app itself costs nothing to download. It handles the playback for every card, but it leans on a linked music streaming service to do it, so hearing full songs generally means having a streaming account of your own.
How much does it cost?
It's usually around £18 to £21 in the UK and roughly €17 to €23 in mainland Europe, often a little cheaper than the flagship box. Pricing depends on the retailer and your region, so compare the listings above.
Is there an English edition?
Yes, an English edition is available, though which regional and language editions you can buy depends on where you live. Check the official Hitster site for your region.
Hitster is a trademark of its respective owner. Tunigma is not affiliated with or endorsed by Hitster.