Create Your Own The Fest Gainesville Hitster Pack with Hitify
The Fest runs 23 to 25 October 2026 in Gainesville, Florida. Build your own Hitster pack of punk and emo classics with Hitify.
The Fest 2026: three days of punk in Gainesville
From Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October 2026, The Fest takes over Gainesville, Florida. More than 300 bands play in around 18 venues, from tiny bars to proper stages, and the bill covers punk, hardcore, emo, indie and ska. Bouncing Souls play two sets, Lagwagon, Sparta, Torche, Samiam, Texas Is the Reason and A Wilhelm Scream are on the list, and PUP is back as well.
It is a festival where the crowd knows every word. Fans fly in from all over the world, hop from bar to bar and sing along to songs that are 20 or 30 years old. That makes The Fest a great source for a music quiz.
What is Hitster?
Hitster is the party game where every card hides a song behind a QR code. You scan it, listen, and place the card on your timeline by release year. Get the order right and the card is yours. The first player with ten cards wins.
Why The Fest makes a great Hitster pack
Punk has a long memory. The Fest mixes 80s hardcore roots, the 90s pop-punk and emo boom, and bands that only got big in the last ten years. Was Boxcar from 1994 or 1995? Did Against Me! release Thrash Unreal before or after the turn of the millennium? Nobody at the table agrees, which is exactly what makes the game fun.
10 songs for your The Fest Hitster pack
The festival has no official playlist, so these are our picks: punk and emo landmarks plus acts from the 2026 bill. The years are the original release of each recording:
Do not stop at ten. Hitify shows the real release year of each track, so reissues, split singles and anniversary editions do not trick you.
How to build the pack with Hitify
With Hitify you turn a list like this into a real Hitster pack in minutes. Paste a Spotify playlist or search songs one by one, and Hitify checks the original release year of each track. That matters for punk, where records are reissued on vinyl again and again.
When your list is ready, download the cards as a printable PDF with QR codes, or order a printed deck delivered to your door. Scan the codes with your phone and play.
More festival music? See our festival music party games. And before game night, read our tips for guessing release years.
Start your The Fest pack today
Whether you are in Gainesville this weekend or hosting a punk night at home: go to hitify.app, add your favourite songs and build your own Hitster pack.
