The Jackbox Party Pack 6 – PC Review

If you’re not familiar with the Jackbox collection of games, I would highly recommend them.  One person hosts a game, and everyone else joins in on their browser. Each game takes between 5-10 minutes or so, then let the shenanigans begin!

Jackbox is very community-oriented.  You can have a game where just random people join in, or you can host a private game with yourself and some friends.

I’ve played Jackbox Party Packs 1 through 5 when hosted by others before.  There are many different games, and all are great to play, especially with a group of friends.  In Jackbox Party Pack 6 one of my favorites, Trivia Murder Party, has returned for a second round of obscure knowledge, insane penalties, and hilarious quips from your demonically voiced host.  There are some new games offered as well. Role Models has you testing your knowledge about and opinions of your friends, and theirs of you, in order to come up with a psychological analysis of your personality.  Great fun, even if you don’t like them! Then there is Jokeboat, where players get to experience what it’s like to be a comedian on an ocean liner. Players are given the first part of a joke. They then take turns going head-to-head to see who can finish with the funniest punchline.  At the end of the round the other players vote on who wins the round.

Dictionarium lets everyone have fun with made-up words, creating synonyms, writing definitions, and again having your friends vote on the favorites.  Rounding out the menu we have Push the Button, kind of a “whodunnit” in space, where one person is an alien, and everybody must answer questions and figure out who the alien is before time runs out.  Remember: In space, no one can hear you laugh!

Before the internet, if folks wanted to play a game together it was board games.  Monopoly, Sorry, Clue, and many others encouraged friendly competition, getting together as a family and spending time with each other.  Gaming has changed over the years with the advent and subsequent improvements in online communication speed. This has opened the floodgates for true community games, everything from multiplayer games like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV to battle royale-types like Fortnite and Call of Duty.  Jackbox is unique in that it allows 2-8 players and many thousand audience members to join in the fun. The games are fun to play, but the real allure is the community aspect. Joining in a Jackbox game brings the original feelings of excitement and interaction (not to mention the smack talking!) with friends that folks used to get when playing games while sitting around a table.

At the end of the day Jackbox’s Party Pack 6 is a worthy addition to the franchise.  The developers have come up with interesting and fun original games, the music is great, the voice acting is outstanding, and there are really no negatives.  If you’re looking for something for you and your friends to just goof around with and have a fantastic time, I cannot recommend Jackbox enough. My friends and I play almost every Saturday night, and it’s always a great time.

Final Score: 4.5/5