I like Jackbox games a lot, they’re very wonderful party games. And I’ve played a LOT of them. A lot. So I decided to review as many as I can, with quick reviews for each game and then by-pack recommendations based on that.
Erm, maybe check this before you read
This page as a whole will feature language and possible content that is at a higher age-rating than most of my site. This is Jackbox after all, stupid shit thrives :3c
WIP
This is a work-in-progress as I compile images and thoughts for all of them. There are a lot of them. Come back for updates randomly!
Jackbox Party Pack 3
This pack is the quintessential Jackbox experience. Even if there are sequels to many of these games, these are still fantastic versions of those games. Plus this is the only pack that has them all together. If you’re limited to a single pack, Party Pack 3’s value is very high.
Tee K.O.
- Game Type: Art
Incredibly fun artist game, with a very low barrier to entry as far as actual artist skill. You really don’t have to draw amazingly, and that can add to shirts depending on what you put together. The sharing of creativity among the group is really fun, since you often make your shirts out of other players’ art and slogans. You can’t just stick to your style, and have to experiment to make the best shirts. Being able to BUY the shirts is also a really silly and welcome bonus.
Trivia Murder Party
- Game Type: Trivia
A very comprehensive trivia game show, that weaves questions and minigames very handily. The questions tend to be very niche, but it encourages the importance of the minigames as your saving grace so it just makes both sides of the game more important. This also ensures that the game is winnable by more than just trivia buffs, including the final race at the end that allows for sudden comebacks. The theming is also really fun, a very silly murder party!
Quiplash
- Game Type: Text Prompt
Classic prompt game that does a great job encouraging a lot of creativity from players. Prompts have a good balance where they ask just enough of you without feeling limiting. (aka: You can decide whether or not to make the dick jokes or not, and make quality jokes either way).
Fakin’ It
- Game Type: Social Deduction, All About You
The variety of different types of questions keep things really interesting since you’re forced to get creative explaining your strange answers. It is entirely possible that people know you too well and you immediately get caught in your lies, but generally you can be creative and make it through. This one does have the caveat, though, of only fully working in person; multiple question types don’t make accommodations for Discord calls and the like.
Guesspionage
- Game Type: Trivia
I don’t think this is the most widely interesting game, but it’s a good time in short bursts! The game is forgiving enough with the answers you get, providing ranges for being correct and never really forcing you to be exactly on the money. It’s a neat general idea as well, since it does force you to think about people in general. It does become more interesting if you have an audience, and then have to guess based on THEM instead.
Jackbox Party Pack 6
This pack is… not great. With 1 unique and high-quality game, 2 great games that are replicated elsewhere, and 2 duds, this pack doesn’t have a lot of staying power among the greater scope of games and party packs. Unless you’re NorthernLion and you can somehow keep playing Joke Boat forever.
Role Models
- Game Type: All About You
Easily the standout of this pack, it’s a very silly game and a great talking point for you and your friends. I LOVE hearing everyone’s thought processes for squeezing people into certain categories, seeing who’s spot on and who you have to kinda reason into places. The game is also broken up with silly prompts to show you’re more of a trait than another player, which are really fun. It brings a good balance of game and irl discussion that can be hard to make, and I appreciate the blend.
Push The Button
- Game Type: Social Deduction
This is a fine Social Deduction game, combining a lot of other prompt types with an imposter role that forces you to be ready to improv. There’s a LOT to this one, as there are elements like imposter powers that can mix up a lot of the experience and confuse everyone. Plus, having an actual timer across the entire game, including during prompts, give the chance for devious. stalling or rushing tactics. I do think this makes it one of the more complicated games, and if you’re looking for a more casual hidden-role game there are other ones in other packs. But it’s still a really fun time.
Trivia Murder Party 2
- Game Type: Trivia
This is basically the same as the first pack, with more minigame types and additional gimmicks like held items that can make or break your run. The overall gameplay is basically the same as the first TMP, and it makes it harder to directly recommend getting this pack for this game when the first one is in a stronger pack. But if you DO have this party pack, it’s a silly and clever trivia game just like its predecessor.
Joke Boat
- Game Type: Text Prompt
I have only ever seen Joke Boat be really amazing, or really terrible. And I think you have to really turn your brain off (or be really drunk) to have a chance of making it amazing. You have to provide keywords that are stored into joke starters, and then finish the jokes, which sounds like it could be fun! But they don’t provide nearly enough joke starters, so it becomes incredibly hard to actually make anything worthwhile most of the time. Occasionally you strike gold, but not enough that it’s worth playing through this a lot.
Dictionarium
- Game Type: Text Prompt I guess
A lot of Jackbox games thrive on the idea that you can, with reason, add nonsense and gibberish to support your humor. You never HAVE to, and you shouldn’t ALWAYS do that, so when you do it sticks out better. This game is entirely based on gibberish and nonsense to such a degree that you can’t figure out what you’re supposed to be doing, and it’s never really funny or clever. It’s not fun.
Jackbox Party Pack 7
Ok so imagine you followed my advice (why would you do that) and you bought the 3rd pack first, and now you want another one. This is the next one to go for. Every game in this one is very high quality, and a lot of them have a lot going on that keeps them exciting for longer. Also a worthy addition to anyone who’s getting into Jackbox for the first time.
Talking Points
- Game Type: Presentation
Talking Points is crazy, in the best possible ways. Everyone gives a presentation, but the presentation only barely makes sense and you’re at the whims of another player to give you the material for it. It’s an incredible setup, and so much fun to both improv and listen to others improv. I do think the scoring is a little all over the place, but this game knows that it’s not about the points and it’s about the insane presentations and I love that commitment so much. It’s an incredibly funny time with friends.
Blather Round
- Game Type: Jackbox’s website says Trivia but that only feels kind of correct.
Blather Round is very unique as far as a lot of the Jackbox games go, and I really love coming to this one as an opener for game nights. The prompts that you’re given to try and express your topic are strange enough that it’s rarely easy to portray your topic, but I also don’t think that’s a bad thing. It just shows the creativity of the players in a different way, and a lot of the times if an answer isn’t guessed, you can at least see what the player was going for. Being able to utilize the guesses of the other players is also really nice, and can help you save yourself if you’re truly stuck with the options the game is giving you. It’s a very fun time, and I have a soft spot for this one!
Devil and the Details
- Game Type: Hidden-Role(??)/Co-Op Puzzle Admittedly I don’t have a lot of experience with this game compared to the others, but I do think there’s a lot of fun to be had from what I did play. It’s a fun idea where everyone’s trying to work on their various little tasks, in order to meet a group goal. Everyone having their own roles on the team is also really silly, and different tasks requiring cooperation makes it really fun when people are trying to yell across the discord call or room to get everything done together. BUT, there is a winner, and the option to slack off to get ahead of everyone else is really silly. It’s a little muddied in how scoring and winning works, but I do think the moment-to-moment gameplay shines greater and makes this a very silly time.
Quiplash 3
- Game Type: Text Prompt
More Quiplash, more Quiplash, yippeeeeeeeeeee!! Generally this game is the same as it’s predecessor, so it’s just as fun and silly as before. I do think the new final round, where you have to make a list of three things for a single question, isn’t the best idea? It’s not THAT much harder to work with but I’d rather have just seen the previous Quiplash’s final challenge, where everyone writes for the same prompt. This doesn’t ruin a great overall experience though, and it’s plenty fun as usual!
Champ’d Up
- Game Type: Art
I really love the “Choose your fighter” aspect of this game, where you have a more concrete goal to draw for but are still very free to do whatever. It’s clever that only one person in a matchup knows the actual prompt as well. It makes the resulting fights goofier and more exciting. The ability to continue using old drawings, including across multiple games, is a lot of fun and really adds to the exciting matchups when you can switch them in and out as desired. You can also buy cards for a card game with your fighters, that’s so silly! I haven’t yet, waiting for the golden round for that, but I LOVE that idea.
Jackbox Naughty Pack
So I don’t actually own this one, but I’ve played it with friends (thank you Rain, luv you 💜) and I can at least broadly speak to it.
Basically, this pack is not worth getting, as it goes against a lot of the comedy of Jackbox. One of the best parts of Jackbox, as a whole, is how the jokes are entirely up to you. YOU get to make the punchlines and funny drawings and stuff, and that includes the freedom of the content. It’s funny when you mention your penor, or swear, or whatever, because the prompts rarely direct you that way (or at least they are a lot more subtle about it). So when that does come up there’s a little comedy/shock to it that’s amazing. Plus, it allows for a broader audience: even if you do make those jokes sometimes, you just don’t always wanna talk about cum.
This pack completely ruins that with very stock standard “lmao peepee haha” kind of humor, that makes follow ups hold no weight when they’re clearly expected. There’s just no punch to anything, with how “cheeky” they try to be about it. And none of the games do a good job supporting this either, as they’re just clones of old Jackbox games but with swear words in the questions. There’s no spirit to this one and it’s just incredibly forced and not worth it at all.
There is ONE silver lining to at least consider, though it’s more for a future pack than anything. Fakin’ It All Night is mostly the same as before, just with the dick jokes that hold the entire pack back. However, it’s entirely playable online in voice chats, with the old question types reformatted to be playable using on-screen queues. That’s amazing for such a good base game, and I really hope we can get a normal Fakin’ It sequel that takes good advantage of this. (Remember that this doesn’t make the Pack worth buying, it’s just a neat addition for the future.)
Jackbox Party Starter
This one’s kinda random but I did wanna mention it really quick, as an option that seems neat (I also do not have this one). With Quiplash 3, Tee K.O., and Trivia Murder Party 2, it features an ideally broad range of game types and trims the experience to the essentials of Jackbox. If you want a little taste, this seems like a great place to start! Though if you do want more, Party Pack 3 is still right there with all of these (just earlier versions of Quiplash and TMP), AND 2 other really solid titles.
Independent Games
These games aren’t featured in any pack and are sold separately. It’s a little weirder deciding how to specifically recommend (or not recommend) these games, though the prices match the amount of content so it’s fiiiiiiiiiine!
Drawful 2
- Game Type: Art
This is a CLASSIC game for me, the first Jackbox game that I ever owned, and I still really enjoy it. The concept of this one can hold for a very long time, and your level of artistry doesn’t account for a lot since other players can easily misdirect into picking their answer. This is maybe a weird opinion, but I also think this game is the most fun to throw on for comedy, if you can think of stupid answers that just make everyone laugh.
The Jackbox Survey Scramble
This one is kind of a hybrid between a solo release and a Party Pack; there are a lot of smaller games, that all revolve around their polling system. I LOVE the underlying ideas behind this one, as this package constantly polls users on various silly topics that then feed back into all of the games in this package. As you submit answers for games, and randomly while you’re waiting to start games, these answers are then sent back into their servers and will impact EVERYONE’S future play of this package. It’s a really creative system! Plus, the games are all really fun, using all of this polled data in a variety of game types. You can even choose certain games OR tour through all of them, making this a very flexible package. My personal favorite is the bingo-style one, where each square represents a range of ranks for a question, and you have to try and get a bingo by selecting responses within those ranges. I highly recommend this one!