Over the last several years, Jackbox Games has crafted a slew of unique party game bundles that allow you to showcase your sense of humor as well as your creativity. These games are distinct in their connectivity with mobile devices, which allow players to conveniently use their phones or laptops as a controller, in addition to opening things up for streaming. This added ability to seamlessly type and draw on the screen sets the groundwork for a number of cool and inventive ideas for party games.
With this list, we’ll comb the whopping 6 Jackbox Party Packs already released and highlight the 10 most creative efforts from these bundles overall.
10 Civic Doodle (Jackbox 4)
The best way to describe this amusing romp is that it’s something akin to a visual version of “telephone,” with a bit of a social media motif for good measure.
You and your opponent will be tossed a rather simple shape like a square or checkmark. These will then be fleshed out into a full-fledged drawing, which will, in turn, be passed along and added to by others - typically with some even sillier visual flair. Players will then vote on which of the end results make for funnier and/or most interesting designs through emojis. It’s always interesting to see the absurd directions these pictures take after multiple interpretations.
9 Survive The Internet (Jackbox 4)
This game provides a hodgepodge of visual and word-oriented topics with an underlying internet and social media motif. The schtick is that users will cobble together chuckle-worthy memes and comments in response to fake headlines/posts. The name of the game is to churn out a creative or otherwise amusing pairing of a descriptor with an image/blurb. Yet, you’ll also be tasked with mixing and matching these pairings in order to make your fellow players look foolish.
Meme-lovers, comedians, and creative wordsmiths alike will find much to enjoy about this one.
8 Mad Verse City (Jackbox 5)
Freestyle rapping can be quite the creative outlet, both on a musical and poetic level. Mad Verse City provides players with a neat template to bust out some imaginative - and often silly - rap verses. These are then amusingly recited by your robot rapping avatars, who do a surprisingly good job.
If rapping isn’t your game or you can’t quite think that quickly on your feet, never fear! You’ll be fed portions of lines which will be your template for busting out some sick lines. The results are often goofy and nonsensical, but it usually makes for a good time rife with laughter.
7 Fakin’ It (Jackbox 3)
With Fakin’ It, Jackbox Games cleverly infuses the art of lying with picking up social or contextual clues. The result is a rather unique local multiplayer experience that offers a fun icebreaker at parties. Basically, you and your group will be prompted to answer a number of prompts by holding up a certain amount of fingers, raising your hand, and making a particular facial expression. The kicker is that - in a concept akin to a simplified version of Clue - one player must blend in as the “faker,” as they’ve been tossed a different question.
Most of the players will then have to play detective, while the faker must put on their best poker face and try to keep their answers believable without knowing the context. It all feels like a fun and bizarre little social experiment, and it’s a fun one to engage in.
6 Quiplash (Jackbox 2)
This chuckle-worthy party game is rife with creativity. At the very least - it acts as a springboard that allows you and your friends to launch your wild imaginations into the digital ether.
Throughout the game, led by the colorful host named Schmitty, you’ll be fed a handful of usually silly prompts. The goal is at once simple and endlessly fun - to churn out the funniest and/or most creative answers imaginable. You’ll want to go full-throttle into weirdness as the goal is to land votes for your answers. You’ll be surprised what sort of off-the-wall answers you and your fellow amateur comedians come up with.
5 Bomb Corp. (Jackbox 2)
This one stands out as it diverts from the typical wordplay, drawing game, or trivia showdown and instead ventures into clever puzzle territory. This colorful retro-style romp will have you and a friend on the edge of your seats as you’ll be scrambling to diffuse a variety of multi-wired bombs.
What’s the catch? Well, you and your partner(s) will need to spend much of the time collaborating, as you’ll be fed varying guidelines, tips, and/or rules as to which wires need cutting. You’ll only be tipped off to segments of the entire picture, so you’ll need to do plenty of cross-referencing and verifying. Naturally, these will escalate in complexity and your time allotted will dwindle for each round.
4 Split The Room (Jackbox 5)
This largely feels like the game version of you and your friends asking each other absurd “what if?” questions in order to get laughs from their answers. You’ll definitely be forced to think in a rather abstract way with Split the Room. Not only will you be forced to choose sides in typically crude or awkward situational prompts, but you’ll also be posing your own. You’ll do this by filling in blanks in Mad-Lib fashion.
The inventive twist here lies in your ability to generate the trickest scenarios that have your opponents pondering which option to pick. Basically, you’ll want to take after the title and “split the room” for votes.
3 You Don’t Know Jack: Full Stream (Jackbox 5)
At its core, the You Don’t Know Jack games, which Jackbox is most known for, is a typical multiple-choice trivia romp. Though it takes this basic formula and adds quite the zany, imaginative spin with its style and concepts. Questions usually take the form of clever metaphors, wordplay, or other obscure manifestations that force you to think a bit more abstractly.
The game also mixes in unique stints of “gibberish” phrases whose sounds must be likened to an actual phrase, and “Dis or Dat” rounds where you’ll match similar-sounding terms to categories. This is truly a trivia game made for - and made by - creative minds.
2 Tee K.O (Jackbox 3)
In what can be likened to “Civic Doodle on steroids,” Tee K.O runs full-throttle with the concept of handing off player-made phrases and drawings. You’ll be asked to crank out rapid-fire words or phrases, and craft a few hastily-made drawings using your mouse or touch screen.
As per usual, the name of the game is to get your companions to laugh and vote on your creation once they’re cobbled together some pretty goofy t-shirt designs (which can actually be bought!) This experience forces you to be artistic and imaginative in a number of ways, as you’ll be typing, drawing, and matchmaking.
1 Trivia Murder Party 2 (Jackbox 6)
This delightful horror-themed trivia game actually manages to outdo YDKJ in terms of creativity. Trivia Murder Party 2 - even more than its predecessor - throws a plethora of colorful questions and scenarios at you and up to 7 other players.
The coup de grâce lies in its “Killing Room” portions, where players who answer incorrectly wind up each round. In a fight for survival, these players must engage in a range of activities - from speed math to Pinko, or even a round of Quiplash. This is capped off by a final trivia scramble to the exit of the spooky haunted hotel, where the last living player will get a head start. And we’ve really only scratched the surface on this onslaught of unique, unpredictable elements.
NEXT: The 15 Best couch Co-Op & Multiplayer Games On Nintendo Switch
