The Jackbox Party Pack
The Jackbox Party Pack is a series of party video games developed by Jackbox Games for many different platforms on a near-annual release schedule since 2014. Each installation contains five games that are designed to be played in large groups, including in conjunction with streaming services like Twitch which provide a means for audiences to participate.
History
Jellyvision had been well-established for their You Don't Know Jack series of "irreverent trivia" games. While the series had been successful in the late 1990s, Jellyvision had not been able to make the transition easily from computer to home console games, and by 2001, all but six employees of Jellyvision had been let go. The company focused on developing business solution software, specifically offering software to its clients to help assist their customers for complex forms or other types of support.By 2008, Jellyvision, now named The Jellyvision Lab, saw that mobile gaming was taking off, so split off a small subsidiary, Jellyvision Games, to rework You Don't Know Jack, first for consoles in its 2011 version, then for mobile and Facebook users with their now-defunct 2012 iteration. This last version was a critical success, and led to the studio to focus on developing similar games, rebranding the studio by 2013 as Jackbox Games.
Among their one-off titles including Lie Swatter, Clone Booth, and Word Puttz, generally designed as single player titles or played asynchronously with other players. One key game that followed this was their 2014 title Fibbage, which was designed to be a game allowing eight players to play against each other simultaneously aided by the use of one of the players using live streaming of their game or with people in the same room. Other players would participate by using a web browser or mobile device to connect to the streaming player's game through Jackbox's servers and which to provide their answers.
With the success of Fibbage, Jackbox Games decided that they could offer these games in packs, reworking older games to use the streaming capabilities and adding in new titles. This formed the basis of the Jackbox Party Pack, with the first pack released in 2014 including updated versions of You Don't Know Jack, Fibbage, a reworked version of Lie Swatter for its multiplayer approach, and two new games. The company saw this as a new development model that allowed them to provide new packs on an annual basis, play around with different game formats, and provide higher value to consumers over one-off titles.
Subsequent Jackbox Party Packs have included improvements of existing games, support for more players including the addition of audience participation through the same connectivity approach, better support for content management for streams, and the ability to create custom games. A key part of the games for the Party Packs was to streamline the ability for players to get into games, and according to Jackbox Games' CEO Mike Bilder, they spent about a year working on building their servers and software to provide a flexible architecture for the player-side mobile/web interface to expand for any of their games, and to avoid having players download any type of app to get started.
According to Allard Laban, creative chief for both Jellyvision Labs and Jackbox Games, they select games to include in the packs through a combination of allowing the team to submit fleshed-out ideas, and through testing various ideas through pen-and-paper trials; Laban stated that for the 4th pack, they had over fifty play-tested concepts which they narrowed down to four new games, rounding out the package with an improved version of Fibbage. Some games, such as Fakin' It, took multiple years to get the right gameplay and mechanics down to make it an appropriate game for inclusion.
Gameplay
Most games in The Jackbox Party Pack are designed for online play, requiring only one person to own and launch the game. Remaining players can be local and thus see the game via the first player's computer or console, or can be remote, watching the game be played through streaming media services. All players – whether local or remote – use web-enabled devices, including personal computers and mobile or tablet devices, to enter a provided "room code" at Jackbox's dedicated servers to enter the game. Games are generally limited to around 8 active players, but any other players connecting to the room after these players are connected become audience participants, who can impact how scoring is determined and influence the winner.Each game generally has a period where all players are given a type of prompt. This prompt appears on the individual devices and gives players sufficient time to enter their reply or draw as necessary, and can be set to account for forced streaming delays that some streaming services require. The game then collects and processes all the replies, and frequently then gives players a chance to vote for the best answer or drawing; this is often where the audience may also participate by voting as a group. Games proceed for a number of rounds, and a winner, generally with the highest score at the end, is announced.
Games
All games are available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC/Mac/Linux, Apple TV, iPad, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Nvidia Shield TV, and Xfinity X1, with Part Packs 1 and 2 also being available on PlayStation 3.''The Jackbox Party Pack'' (2014)
The Jackbox Party Pack was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 19, 2014, and for Microsoft Windows on November 26, 2014. The Xbox 360 version was available on November 6, 2015, alongside retail editions for these console platforms published by Telltale Games. The Nintendo Switch version was released on August 17, 2017.;You Don't Know Jack 2015
;Drawful
;Word Spud
;Lie Swatter
;Fibbage XL
''The Jackbox Party Pack 2'' (2015)
The Jackbox Party Pack 2 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 13, 2015. The Nintendo Switch version was released on August 17, 2017.;Fibbage 2
;Earwax
;Bidiots
;Quiplash XL
;Bomb Corp.
''The Jackbox Party Pack 3'' (2016)
The Jackbox Party Pack 3 was released during the week of October 18, 2016 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and PlayStation 4, Xbox One, certain Android devices, and Apple TV. It was subsequently released on the Nintendo Switch on April 13, 2017. A version for Xfinity's X1 set-top box was available in January 2018.;Quiplash 2
;Trivia Murder Party
;Guesspionage
;Fakin' It
;Tee K.O.
''The Jackbox Party Pack 4'' (2017)
The Jackbox Party Pack 4 was released during the week of October 17, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, various Android devices, and Apple TV. A version for Xfinity's X1 set-top box was available in January 2018.;Fibbage 3
;Survive the Internet
;Monster Seeking Monster
;Bracketeering
;Civic Doodle
''The Jackbox Party Pack 5'' (2018)
The Jackbox Party Pack 5 was released on October 17, 2018.;You Don't Know Jack: Full Stream
;Split the Room
;Mad Verse City
;Zeeple Dome
;Patently Stupid
''The Jackbox Party Pack 6'' (2019)
The Jackbox Party Pack 6 was announced in March 2019 during PAX East; It was released on October 17, 2019.;Trivia Murder Party 2
;Role Models
;Joke Boat
;Dictionarium
;Push The Button
''The Jackbox Party Pack 7'' (2020)
A seventh Pack is planned by Jackbox Games for release in late 2020. It contains Quiplash 3, The Devils and the Details, Champ’d Up Talking Points, and Blather 'Round;Quiplash 3
;The Devils and the Details
;Champ'd Up
;Talking Points
;Blather 'Round