A guess-the-song game for a room full of phones
HitQuiz is a live music quiz for game night: the host plays a snippet of a hit, and everyone races to name the artist and title from their own phone. The snippet grows — one second, then three, seven and fifteen — and the fewer notes you needed, the more you score.
If you’ve played Heardle, the growing clip feels familiar — but this is a live race, not a daily solo puzzle. Audio is a 30-second Apple Music or Deezer preview, so it may not start on the intro. The reveal shows cover art, artist, title, year and a music-video button.
How a round works
- The host picks the music, the game length (10, 15 or 20 tracks) and the answer mode. The host doesn’t compete — the answer shows on the host console only.
- “First track” plays one second. Nobody? “More notes” opens 3, then 7 and 15 seconds, each time from the top. “Replay” repeats the current step.
- Buzzer: hit “I know!” and say artist and title out loud, in buzz order. The host marks ✅ (both), ½ (one of the two) or ❌ (miss). A miss locks you out of that track.
- Quick typing: type artist and title in two fields, checked automatically, three tries per track. The host sees every answer and can accept or reject any field by hand.
- “Reveal” shows the answer and the points. After the last track come the final standings and a podium; ties go to whoever got more fields right.
Scoring
| Snippet | Multiplier | Artist + title | One of the two |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 s | ×3 | 6 pts | 3 pts |
| 3 s | ×2 | 4 pts | 2 pts |
| 7 s | ×1 | 2 pts | 1 pt |
| 15 s | ×1 | 2 pts | 1 pt |
On the buzzer, the multiplier locks at the step you pressed, not when the host ruled. When typing, each field scores at the step you first got it right: the artist at one second for 3, the title at three seconds for 2.
Play online free with friends — no app, no signup
Create a room and you get a link plus a four-character code of letters and digits. Drop it in the group chat: friends open it on a phone or laptop, type a nickname and they’re in — even mid-game.
- Group size. Up to 5 guests play free. For a bigger party the host buys a one-night pass for 20, 50 or 150 seats; guests never pay.
- No bots. Naming songs is a people game — bring at least two friends.
- TV mode. Open playparty.live/tv on the TV and enter the code: it shows the snippet bar, buzzer queue, leaders and reveal. Sound plays there or on the host’s phone.
- Over Zoom or FaceTime. Turn on “Sound on guests’ phones” and the snippet starts on every phone at once, so call lag doesn’t pick the winner.
- Another round. “New game” takes the host back to the lobby to switch packs; guests stay in the room.
Music packs and settings
Packs are shared with HitLoto music bingo: a demo pack from ABBA to The Weeknd, free ready-made packs like “MTV Hits of the ’80s & ’90s”, and premium theme packs with an M or L pass. Build your own pack in HitLoto from a YouTube playlist link or a typed “Artist — Title” list; two are free and show up under “My packs”.
- Theme mix: tick 2 to 6 packs to blend them in equal shares.
- Tracks: 10, 15 or 20. A track with no preview is swapped for a spare; the host can swap any other with “Swap track”.
- Auto “more notes”: a 4-second pause after each snippet, then the next step; after 15 seconds, 9 more and an automatic reveal. It waits while a buzz is being judged.
How to name it first
- Points lock when you buzz, so don’t wait for the chorus — but a miss burns the track, so be sure of at least the artist.
- Only know the band? A half at one second (3 points) beats a full answer at seven.
- Typos, a missing “The”, “feat.” and “Remastered” tails are forgiven, and “Artist — Title” in one field works.
- At one second, listen for the voice, a signature synth or a guitar riff, not the melody.
- Hosts: if three seconds gets silence, open seven.
After the quiz, sing in Karaoke or switch to Quiz Board trivia.