In a space filled with more online multiplayer games than any one person can keep up with, it’s a breath of fresh air when a game like The Jackbox Party Pack comes along. Originally released in 2015, the Jackbox Party Pack has made its way to the Nintendo Switch. Just as before, it requires the use of only one controller and that’s because rather than each person using a controller, you can use your smart phones. By allowing players to use their phones, something they couldn’t be more familiar with, the bar of accessibility is as high as it possibly could be. As a result, this party game is the perfect match for any living room with people looking for something to do.
The Jackbox Party Pack comes packed with 5 games of varying fun–You Don’t Know Jack, Fibbage, Lie Swatter, Word Spud and Drawful. Three of these games land as favorites among my friends while two of them might get some love every now and then.
The standout of the five games is Drawful. In this game, players are tasked with representing words or phrases with drawings made on each person’s phone, which is where half the battle takes place. For some, like me, drawing in general is difficult. Having to draw on a phone? You can kiss any resemblance of something goodbye, but that’s the fun part. After making their drawings, players must then come up with answers convincing enough that players might choose it over someone else’s answer. For my family and group of friends, it was never about winning or losing but rather, laughing hysterically at the worst drawings (which are almost always mine).
Coming right behind Drawful is Fibbage, a game about lying. In Fibbage, players must come up with an answer to a trivia question, but an answer convincing enough that other players might pick their answer instead of the correct one. While players can keep it strict and serious, my friends and I tend to run the train right off the tracks, resulting in hilariously stupid lies. Players receive points based on picking the correct answer but if someone’s lie can fool enough people, they too will get points, often more than those who picked the actual answer.
Another house party favorite is You Don’t Know Jack, which is a high-speed game of Trivial Pursuit, without any form of seriousness at all. Unlike my Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, this trivia game stops me from absolutely crushing my opponents and that’s because the game uses such an insane range of questions that it’s nearly impossible for someone to pull ahead too much. On top of that, there’s a unique betting mechanic that allows those who aren’t that great at trivia to keep a horse in the race.
Falling far behind the pack in terms of enjoyment and overall design are Word Spud and Lie Swatter. Word Spud is simply word association. Players create part of a phrase which is then matched up with another player’s half-phrase. It offers a few chuckles but nothing really beyond that. Lie Swatter is basically true or false with factoids that are both surprising and make common sense. You can play with up to 100 players, which would be cool (albeit nearly impossible unless you have a large following online), but playing with 6 or 7 works just as well. Because it is literally just true or false, Lie Swatter loses its luster quickly.
For anyone in need of a refreshing and unique game to play with multiple friends, they need look no further than Jackbox Party Pack, one of the Nintendo Switch’s best party games, at least until Mario Party whatever comes out (please hurry, Nintendo). Packed with five games at $24.99, The Jackbox Party Pack is sure to impress casual players and advanced ones alike, in excitement, with its fun and classic party shenanigans.
A code of Jackbox Party Pack was provided to BagoGames by Jackbox Games, Inc. for the purposes of this review.