Another year of gaming and another year for the latest The Jackbox Party Pack, and I’m not complaining about that at all. While last year’s pack wasn’t well-received by everyone, in fact, it might have been the biggest downer of the party pack bunch, the good folks at Jackbox Games are ready to make it up to you with this year’s edition.
And make it up to you they did.
Let’s get this rolling.
What games ya getting?
One of the bigger, not-too-bad problems in the past with all the Jackbox Party Packs is the variety of games that come with each edition. There have been a few that have had a lot of drawing aspects and some that were question/answer heavy. It’s odd to look back and think about this now, but each game in the yearly pack seemed to influence the next structurally. While I can’t complain that a question-heavy JPP is a bad thing, or that drawing on your phone to make some whack-a-doodle oddities isn’t fun, having variety is always a fun way to go. The more variety in a JPP means the more creative choices you have to play a game. Sometimes a bit too much of a good thing can make it a bad thing.
This year’s edition, The Jackbox Party Pack 9, seems to be a cornucopia of games that have their own unique style and personality. Does that guarantee that the pack as a whole works out? Not at all, but thankfully, this pack did work out well in the end, as you truly get different experiences with each one. Let’s break the pack down and see what it is about:
Fibbage 4: You know Fibbage well. If you have played past JPP, then you’ve seen it three times previously. If you haven’t played it, let me show you the structure. An outrageous question is asked, you lie (or answer it correctly), and you try to fool other players into believing your lie. This is a classic that didn’t change much in structure, but it does bring more outrageous flavor to the experience through its questions. There were times when you can lie so well that it is incredibly believable. This is an oldie but a goldie, and it works just as well as its brethren.
Roomerang: Not going to lie to you, I wasn’t looking forward to this one after previewing it. It seemed a bit stale on humor and delivery. Thankfully, I was wrong, and this Brooke Breit-directed game turned out to be fun. In full disclosure, I hate reality television and how it is constructed. I think it ruined television. What I enjoyed about this game is it exposes the ridiculousness of that television disease. Players are asked questions about themselves, the answers they give to questions are voted on, and whoever answers the most poorly equals out to backstabbing from other residents in the house, which can eventually lead to someone being eliminated…briefly. They are brought back into the house almost immediately for the next round. Outside of my disdain for reality television and how it ruined creative television, Breit did one helluva job making this game new, entertaining, and something I hope gets a sequel in future Jackbox games.
Junktopia: This was the first game I had dived into when playing the newest Jackbox game. My family absolutely adored this game. You play as frogs competing to be turned back to humans. A very stereotypical country wizard agrees to turn one of you back if you can buy junk, rename it, give it a catchy tagline, and sell it for more than you bought it. Whoever saves the most money and gains the most money is the winner. The aspect of this that I like is that the objects are stupidly outrageous random crap that can inspire so much creativity in name and tag. It can open so many weird possibilities for humor. I played this the most.
Nonsensory: It was described as being akin to Quiplash, but I’m not entirely sure it was as effective. This game is titled in a vague way to play off the word ‘nonsense’, and it does its best to live up to that impression. The game asks a question, and one player answers it, then it’s asked to other players to see if they can get close to the right answer given originally. It’s an odd game that is amusing, but out of the bunch, I’m not sure I would choose it first to play. I do like the creativity that went behind it and the intentions it carries. I might return to this before the year’s out.
Quixort: If Arkanoid, Super Breakout, and Tetris decided to have a night together, their love child would be Quixort. There are two teams in the game, each competing against the other, and they must put in order falling tiles that are directly associated with a question asked. For example, there is one question that asks a team to put the Friends opening lyrics in order. A team must work together to do this by stacking blocks in order, sometimes on top of each other, to form the right answer. I never knew how much I didn’t truly know that opening theme song by heart. I have watched that series multiple times. I am ashamed. Anyway, while the structure of the game is simple, the questions asked to make for a good ‘teamwork’ building exercise in good communication. That sounded corporate, but it’s the truth. I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would, and I will continue to do so throughout the holiday season.
As stated above, I think this pack brings a good variety of different games to enjoy. I like that they’re so dissimilar and unique from each other. It truly feels like a variety party pack that has something for everyone, even if it means you’re looking for other games because one didn’t work as well. I cannot recommend this pack enough.
Extra Kudos
I know what you’re thinking, “Dude…you gave your review of the game, what more is there?” Well, on the technical side of the tracks, something that is usually not mentioned because it can be so cumbersome and yet strangely forgettable is how the mobile phone browser works now. I thoroughly appreciated that Jackbox improved its phone browser and made it flexible when it comes to player disconnection. There have been so many times in the past when I was enjoying a game with friends/family, getting so into the humor and responses that I didn’t notice that my phone fell asleep. If you’re a fan of the packs, you know what that means, but if not, let me break it down. In the past, when you unlock your phone from sleep during a game that means you were either out of the game or you have missed a round. Having that happen is frustrating and disrupts the game’s fun experience. Sure, that’s a ‘you’ problem with your phone, but we all know how much power those fancy phones tend to suck up and what preserving that phone battery means when playing Jackbox. If you don’t, then just know that it means the world.
In this year’s Jackbox game, whatever mobile device you have instantly reconnects when you disconnect. It’s one of those tiny aspects of the tech that makes this party pack work well and that made me super happy and relieved to see that it was improved. This means that no one loses their place at the table, and no one gets booted when something happens to your mobile device. It’s a nice little improvement to the experience and makes it so much better not to have to think about your phone snoozing on you.
Kudos to the Jackbox group for improving this portion of the game.
On that note, let’s wrap up.
Conclusion
The Jackbox Party Pack 9 from Jackbox Games has the variety, entertainment, and creativity to make this one of the top-five Jackbox Party Packs to this point. While not everything works perfectly and provides an even amount of entertainment, most of what you get is absolutely spot-on and replayable.
