While Chicago-based Jackbox Games has only recently come into the spotlight as far as console gaming goes, they’ve quietly been releasing zany trivia games for the PC for decades now. With software like You Don’t Know Jack, hey’ve carved out their own niche in terms of creative, comedic multiplayer games. With the advancement of mobile technology, they’ve also utilized interconnectivity and streaming between mobile devices and video game software. Your phone could now be an input device for a game shown on screen.
They’ve since released a slew of party game bundles featuring a diverse lineup of games centered around trivia, drawing, and wordplay. These laughers have given Mario Partya run for its money in terms of popularity at parties and family gatherings. With a whopping 6 bundles of the Jackbox Party Pack series now released, there’s no shortage of fun and amusing software to try. But which of these wacky games are the funniest?
Today, we’ll go over the 10 most hilarious games that are sure to be icebreakers and invoke laughter at social gatherings.
10 Earwax (Jackbox 2)
Sometimes a simple, goofy noise can invoke more laughter than any nuanced joke or gag ever could. This simple, but amusing sound-based romp known as Earwax serves as a prime example of that.
Basically, the goal is to compile a couple of your favorite noises you’re given in relation to a certain scenario, which play when prompted. As the picture above reveals, the name of the game is to be some combination of clever, silly, and perhaps a bit lude to generate some humor. This one requires a bit of imagination, both for you and those who must vote for the funniest answer. Yet, this is what makes many of these Jackbox games so entertaining.
9 You Don’t Know Jack (Jackbox 1, 6)
This is really Jackbox Games’ Super Mario in that it’s their staple brand, so you know it’s a good one. Both the original, and the more fleshed-out sequel on Jackbox 6 provides plenty of yuks with their zany take on trivia questions. You’ll be thrown various off-kilter questions which are often a play on words, obscurely worded, or contain a metaphor or creative angle that forces you to read between the lines a bit.
The host, Cookie Masterson, injects plenty of personality and pizzazz with his zingers and commentary, often getting in a little jab at players who pick the wrong answer from the multiple-choice options.
8 Patently Stupid (Jackbox 5)
Much of Jackbox Party Pack’s charm is its emphasis on visual imagery in conjunction with funny words or phrases. This is definitely the case in this one, which cleverly combines crude sketches with writing.
As the game describes, you’ll be turned into a “modern Tom Edison” as you and your fellow inventors will cobble together a pitch, drawing, and a humorous blurb for a new concept or object. You’ll get the ball rolling by filling in the blank for a common consumer problem Mad Lib style, which will then be converted into a typically goofy drawing and laced it with a hilarious tagline. As you’d imagine, this produces some delightfully random, silly results.
7 Joke Boat (Jackbox 6)
Another funny game that cleverly uses the Mab Lib structure to help spark your creativity is Joke Boat. Basically, you and your friends are amateur comics who are apparently so amateurish that you’re stuck performing on a run-down pirate ship, complete with an eyepatch-wearing captain.
You’ll be filling in the blanks of various statements, phrases, and other zingers which will then be passed to other players to add to and vote on. While this naturally leads to a lot of nonsensical jokes, it also invokes many surprisingly hilarious one-liners. This is definitely a fun way to flex your creative muscle and showcase your funnybone.
6 Dictionarium (Jackbox 6)
Crafting your own definitions to wacky sounding words can be strangely appealing, as this easy-going take on Balderdash illustrates.
Like some of our other entries, much of the humor in this one comes from passing around answers, which other players will then use to leapfrog off and add their own comedic flair to. Once the funniest made-up definition is selected, you’ll be asked to use the word in a sentence. The winning entry will be logged into an amusing little makeshift dictionary entry, which you can revisit at a later date to laugh at all over again.
5 Fakin’ It (Jackbox 4)
Taking its place as one of the more creative party games on our list, Fakin’ It cleverly uses the concept of bluffing and sussing out responses from the group of players.
A variety of acting skills and detective work will be needed here, as players will be tasked with revealing answers to certain questions - with a single “faker” trying to blend in. Each player will toss up a number of fingers, raise their hand, or make a particular facial expression to prompts. You might be asked how many times you brush your teeth per day, for instance. The faker will try to put on their Poker face and come up with a convincing answer based on what everyone else is doing.
This definitely makes for some laughs when the faker gets exposed for attempting an obvious lie. Perhaps they held only 3 fingers up when asked how many times they bathed this week, for instance - and cue some friendly ribbing.
4 Fibbage (Jackbox 1, 2, 4)
This classic, which hinges on being a good liar, manages to be both educational and hilarious. Fibbage will encourage you to be sly, clever, and creative, as you’ll have to churn out an answer to a usually obscure or crazy prompt/fact.
The name of the game is to have a convincing answer (not a hilarious one) so that your competitors will vote on it. But still, you can often get away with some pretty funny answers. This is because the game typically makes a point to spit out facts with some particularly nutty tidbits.
You may, for instance, learn about a novelty museum in Massachusetts that only collects food that’s been burnt, or that former first lady Barbara Bush wrote an official apology letter to Mickey Mouse in 1990.
3 Tee K.O. (Jackbox 3)
In this colorful romp, you’re tasked with designing a silly t-shirt, but you’ll have to do so by drawing what’s sure to be a basic, crude image using the touch screen of your phone. This established, your image will be passed along to another player, who will add a funny word, phrase, or quote to liven it up. Once this slew of hilarious shirts is complete, the best of the bunch will be voted on.
The neatest thing about this one is you can actually have these shirts made - assuming you’re daring enough to sport a tee with phallic imagery that reads “where’s the beef?”
2 Mad Verse City (Jackbox 5)
If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at freestyle rapping, Mad Verse is a terrific way to dip your toes into this practice.
While the array of goofy rap lines are usually funny enough in their own right, your rapping robot will actually audibly speak these lines to eachother. This makes for some truly hilarious bot-rap battles. The best part is that you don’t have to be a wordsmith genius to pull off clever and chuckle-worthy lines. Similar to Joke Boat, you’re somewhat given “training wheels” by getting one segment of a sentence, before being asked to fill in the remainder.
1 Quiplash (Jackbox 2, 3)
As someone who’s played more than their share of Jackbox over the years, Quiplash is always the one that generates to most belly laughs. This one does a great job of just laying the foundation with some humorous prompts, and letting you and your friends/family do the rest. The crux of the humor lies in the answers you and the other players bust out, and the colorful host Schmitty adds plenty of zaniness and personality to the fun.
Whether you decide to go full-blown raunchy in your answers or opt for more of a kid-friendly subject matter, there’s no shortage of hilariously dumb and/or clever scenarios to be had.
NEXT: The 10 Best (Cheap) Party Video Games, Ranked
