Four games you can play with one deck of music cards
The complaint that led to this was simple enough: people liked their deck, played it a few times, and then it sat on a shelf. Not because the songs were wrong, but because there was only one thing to do with them.
So a deck now plays four games instead of one, using the same cards.
Timeline
The original. A song plays, you guess roughly when it came out, and you place the card on a line in front of you. Get it in the right position and you keep it.
It is the one that lives or dies on the release year being correct, which is why we verify every year rather than trusting what the streaming service reports. A remaster listed as 2011 when the song is from 1975 makes the game unplayable in a way that is not obvious until somebody argues about it.
Best for: a table that likes arguing about music.
Music Bingo
Everybody gets a card of song titles drawn from your deck. You play snippets, people mark off what they recognise, first full card wins.
The part that is genuinely better than doing it by hand is verification. When somebody shouts bingo, you scan their card and the app tells you immediately whether they have actually won, instead of cross-referencing a list at a loud table. There is a host screen that plays the songs and tracks what has gone.
Best for: larger groups, and anyone who wants a game that does not need turn-taking. More on the music bingo page, and if you would rather build the cards yourself, that is written up here.
Music Quiz
A Kahoot-style trivia round built from the tracks in your deck. Questions are generated from your songs, people answer on their phones, there is scoring and there are streaks.
Best for: a pub quiz music round, or a group that wants points on a screen rather than cards on a table. See the music quiz page.
Music Match
Match cards from your hand on artist, genre or decade and race to empty your hand. Faster than the timeline game and much friendlier to people who do not follow music closely, because knowing roughly what something is beats knowing exact years. The Music Match page covers it.
Which to play when
A rough guide from running these:
- Four to six people who know music: timeline.
- Eight or more, mixed ages: bingo.
- A group that wants a competition: quiz.
- Mixed knowledge, or younger players: Music Match.
And when a deck starts feeling familiar, switching game does more to revive it than adding songs does. The cards are the same; what changes is what you are being asked.
What you need
The same deck and the free app. Playback rules are identical across all four games, which means the streaming service you pick matters the same way: Spotify and Apple Music hide the full track, Tidal and Deezer hide a preview, YouTube Music does not hide anything.
Do not have a deck yet? Start from a playlist.
Questions people ask about this
What games can I play with QRSong cards?
Four: a timeline guessing game, music bingo, a Kahoot-style music quiz, and Music Match. All four use the same deck and the same free app.
Do I need different cards for each game?
No, and that is the point. One deck plays all four, so switching game is what revives a deck that is getting familiar rather than buying more cards.
Which game is best for a big group?
Bingo. It does not need turn-taking, so a dozen people stay involved, and the app verifies a winning card by scanning it instead of you checking it by hand.
Does the music quiz write its own questions?
Yes, generated from the tracks in your deck, with scoring and streaks. Players answer on their phones.
Do the games work on every streaming service?
They work on all five, with the same caveat throughout: Spotify and Apple Music hide the full track, Tidal and Deezer hide a thirty second preview, and YouTube Music has no hidden playback at all.
