About MusicWiz
The free music game about dates, not titles or artists.
What it is
MusicWiz is a free music game about dates, not titles. You do not have to name the song or the artist: plenty of rounds are won by remembering the part of your life you were listening to it in, or by hearing a 1994 drum machine where another one sounds 2014.
It runs in a browser. No account, nothing to install, no subscription, no cards. It is free, there are no ads, and it is not trying to sell you anything.
The catalogue holds 2,500+ songs from 1960 to 2026 — 1,500+ international and 1,000+ French — built from international and French year-end charts. Every song carries the year the track came out, which is not always the year the album did.
Play a game →How to play
Three ways in
- Play together, round a table. One player opens a game on their phone. Everyone else scans the QR code with theirs to join. Up to 12 players, with a choice of scoring and difficulty.
- Play together, apart. One player opens a game on a phone or a computer and shares the link over WhatsApp, by email or any other way. Up to 12 players, with the same choices.
- Play alone, with the daily challenge. The same songs for everybody that day, with a board and a result you can post.
A round
A thirty-second clip plays. Everyone types the year they think it came out, and the round ends when the time does or when everybody has answered. Then you see the answer, the sleeve, and who got closest.
The three lengths
FAST — 5–10 minutes. Fifteen songs and that is the whole game. Only the exact year scores: 3 if you get there first, 2 for anyone else exact, and 1 for the closest when nobody is.
NORMAL — 10–15 minutes. First to the points target, however many songs that takes. Same scoring.
BRUTAL — 5–15 minutes. Every year you are off costs you a point, so every score only falls, and saying nothing costs more than a wrong answer. Closest to zero wins.
What the host picks
- Which songs — international, French, or a mix of both.
- How hard — easy keeps to the very famous ones, hard opens the whole catalogue.
- Which decades, from the 1960s to the 2020s.
- Where the sound comes from — everyone on their own phone, or the whole room round the host's speaker.
Latest changes
Streaks. The daily challenge counts how many days running you have played, shows the week behind it, and puts the number on that day's board. Counted by your own browser and nowhere else.
The charts are published. The twenty biggest songs of every year since 1961, searchable, with a link to each one.
A way to write back, plus pages saying what is kept about you and whose music this is.
The daily challenge became its own game rather than a solo run — its own board, its own result screen, the same songs for everyone that day.
Results you can post. A finished game hands you a grid of squares to paste into a chat, and the code for the songs it played so you can look them up afterwards.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes, and there is nothing to upgrade to. It costs a domain and some evenings. There are no ads and no paid tier, and there is not going to be one — the music comes from services whose terms are for non-commercial use, which suits everybody here.
Why isn't a particular song or artist in the game?
The catalogue comes from year-end charts, so it only holds records that did well somewhere. If something is missing, use the contact page and ask for it to be added.
What do you keep about me?
Very little, and it is written down in full on the privacy page. The short version: no account, no ads, no third-party analytics, no cookies. Your IP address is never stored.
A song's year looks wrong.
Tell us — there is a report button on the reveal screen, and it takes one tap. With 2,500+ songs there are certainly a few mistakes. Every report is read, and that is how the dates get corrected.
Can I put it on my phone?
Yes. Your browser will offer to add it to your home screen, and after that it opens like any other app. It is the same site — there is nothing to download from a store.
My friends are not in the same room. Does that work?
Yes, and it is how most games are played. Everyone hears the clip on their own device. Playing round one speaker is the other option, and the host picks which when they open the room.
Play it
A round takes about five minutes, and there is nothing to set up.
Open a game →