Beat the Letter Back to the game Beat the Letter Back to the game The song letter game goes by a lot of names — songs by letter, the alphabet song game, the alphabet song challenge, name a song A to Z — and it is the same game every time: a letter, a clock, and a song whose title starts with it. It needs nothing but people who know some songs, which is why it gets played in cars, at parties and in group chats.
Play it in your browser. Beat the Letter is a free game built on it: everyone is dealt letters and races to name a song for each, and the game checks every answer. Two to five players, nothing to download, no account needed.
Play a round — it’s freeA run might go: “As It Was” for A, “Basket Case” for B, “Chasing Cars” for C, “Dreams” for D, “Electric Avenue” for E — and then, twelve letters later, somebody gets Q.
Instead of one alphabet for the table, each player is dealt their own hand of letters, face down. Your clock starts when you turn them over. Type a title, and the game checks the song is real — it never suggests one, so you can only name songs you know. The first player to fill their hand sets the time everyone else has to beat, and at the end the round’s answers become a YouTube playlist. The rules page has the details, and the daily game deals everyone the same five letters to play alone.
Most letters have more well-known songs than anyone can name. A few have a handful: our lists hold 12 for X, 12 for Z and 17 for Q. Every letter has a page of well-known songs — for settling arguments after a round, or warming up before one.
Would you rather name as many songs as you can for one letter? That is Song Scattergories.
Rather not keep time by hand? Beat the Letter deals the letters, checks every song and runs the clock.
Play a roundA music game with no equipment: go through the alphabet, and for each letter, name a song whose title starts with it before the time runs out. It is also called songs by letter, the alphabet song game, the alphabet song challenge and name a song A to Z.
Yes. Beat the Letter is a free browser game built on it: everyone is dealt their own letters, names a song for each against the clock, and the game checks every song is real. Two to five players, nothing to download, and nobody has to play at the same time.
Song Scattergories gives everyone the same single letter and asks for as many songs as they can write. The song letter game asks for one song for every letter, so the hard part is the letters you would rather skip.
X, Z and Q — each has only a handful of songs most people would know. Many groups skip them or let a player pass once per game.
Agree before you start. The common house rule, and the one Beat the Letter uses, is that a leading “The” is optional: a song that starts with “The” counts for T or for the letter of the next word.