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Jackbox Games is bringing The Jackbox Party Pack 9 to the long-running series of multiplayer party games. Based on the original You Don't Know Jack PC trivia game from 1995, The Jackbox series has been around since 2014 providing players with a unique set of games that can be played from any internet-capable device. Only one persona needs to own a Party Pack and using the Jackbox website, players will log into the game through a special room code created specifically for that game.
What makes The Jackbox Party Packs so enjoyable is the amount of variety each one comes with. Many of the more popular games get sequels in future packs, games like Fibbage, Trivia Murder Party, and Quiplash. There was even a player vs player card-battle game in Jackbox 7 that got a physical release. No matter which packs a group decides to purchase, there will always be two or three fantastic games in it.
The Jackbox Party Pack 9 has a strong variety of gaming options to choose from with the fourth iteration of the popular game Fibbage, a trivia game that has teams stacking items in specific ways, and a standout Reality TV-like game that has players hurting feelings by voting each other out of the house. Not every game in this particular pack is an absolute winner, but the highs certainly outway the lows.
Fibbage 4: Trivia With a Twist (2-8 players)
From the early days of the original Jackbox Party Pack, Fibbage is a game that has stood the test of time and still holds up well today. Fibbage has players trying to figure out very difficult and obscure trivia questions, the twist is that every player gets to come up with an incorrect answer to add to the multi-choice list. Contestants will earn points for getting the answers right and having others guess their incorrect answers.
There is a clear reason why Jackbox has created so many sequels, the game just works. The excitement of scoring extra points due to a made-up lie never gets old and this version updates the game with more prompts to choose from. Fibbage 4 is a highlight of the Jackbox Party Pack 9 and continues the lineage of the series quite well.
Junktopia: Product Creation & Voting (3-8 players)
A mean old wizard has turned the players into frogs, and the only way out is to choose, name, and sell weird old products for a profit. The player with the most cash at the end of three rounds is the winner. Jackbox 9's Junktopia is an 'okay' game, the premise is clever enough, and it is fun trying to talk the other players into choosing the creepy old doll with a spooky backstory.
Where Junktopia will ultimately fail though is replayability. There are plenty of items to choose from, but the core game itself is simply repetitive. Another downfall is the necessity of having clever friends. Unlike Fibbage, where all players do is come up with a lie, this game requires full-on backstories for things. Players who aren't very improv-friendly might not enjoy their time with this one.
Quixort: Timeline Trivia (1-10 players)
Quixort has an enjoyable way of changing up the normal trivia gameplay style. Players will be given two opposites, like hot and cold, and they will be tasked with dropping blocks with nouns on them in a Tetris-like slowfall. These items all fit somewhere in the timeline but the difficulty of the game lies in not knowing what these blocks contain until it's time to place them. For example, if the two extremes are Past and Future, and the block contains 'The Great Depression' it would clearly go more toward the Past. But how far should it go? If the player places it too close to the Past side and something like 'Dinosaurs' shows up, they may not have enough room to fit it.
Quixort is a great game, and despite the player count, the game really only has two teams (or one if played solo). Players on a team will take turns placing the blocks but the whole team can yell out where it should go and conversation is highly encouraged. It's a fun twist on trivia and will have players laughing and shouting at each other in no time.
Nonsensory: Drawing, Writing, & Guessing (3-8 players)
Nonsensory is probably the weakest entry in this entire Jackbox Party Pack. The game uses a 0-100 scale and asks players to create an example of something at a specific part of the scale. The prompt might be "Birds with Funny Names", the scale goes from 'Not Funny' at 0 to 'Very Funny' at 100. Each player is then given a different number within that scale and must cater their answer to that number. If the number is 40, then the bird name would need to be not very funny to a degree that someone would put it just below the middle. After players have answered their prompts, the others try to guess where that answer would fall on the scale, and points are awarded.
It's a decent concept, but overall this Jackbox game just falls flat. The rules weren't explained as well as they could have been which caused confusion for the first few rounds. Once everything was understood though, it just wasn't very fun. No one was really able to guess correctly and coming up with a middle-of-the-road answer for a prompt proved to be more difficult than it should be.
Roomerang: Reality TV Realness (4-9 players)
Roomerang is a rip-off of reality shows like Survivor or Big Brother, players answer random questions about their avatars, and then everyone votes on their favorite answers. The top pick gets a special prize and the bottoms get added to the chopping block for the other players to vote out.
This game is an absolute blast; the character art is cute, the backstories are fun to embellish on, and the constant changes to the voting kept the game fresh. At one point in the game, the randomized special prize for the most chosen answer was to be the sole vote in the next elimination. The tension in the room shot up as all the other players stared at the winner with "don't pick me" eyes.
Despite the voting, player eliminations are not a real thing, no one will have to sit out the whole game due to being voted out first. Each time a player is voted out, they return with a new name, backstory, and hat. At the end of the game, a point system based on answers, voting, and 'likes' is tallied up and a winner is crowned. Roomerang is the perfect example of a fun party game and makes the entire cost of The Jackbox Party Pack 9 worth it. This could easily be a beefed-up standalone release, like Quiplash, or the original Fibbage.
Overall The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is an excellent addition to the series. There is definitely more good than bad in this edition and fans will be pleased. The only real missing piece is a strong drawing game; there is a round of drawing in Nonsensory, but it's not the focus and definitely doesn't hold a candle to past games like Tee K.O. or Jackbox 8's Drawful: Animate.
The Jackbox Party Pack 9 will be released on October 20, 2022 for Mac, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided with a PC digital code for the purposes of this review.