Jackbox Party Pack 6 Review

Playing a Jackbox Party Pack can tear families apart and destroy friendships. Will this sixth entry do the same?

As with all of its predecessors, there are five games to chose from. In case you haven’t had the pleasure of playing any Jackbox games before, the concept is that players use their phone/tablet (via the Jackbox website) to interact with the game. Because controllers aren’t needed, you can easily have games of up to 10 people, with even more as audience members who can vote for their favourite players during the game. Let’s consider each one in turn:

Trivia Murder Party 2 is the second instalment of a successful game from Jackbox Pack 3. Each round consists of a trivia question, and the players who don’t answer correctly then compete in a mini game in the killing room to avoid being murdered. This sounds intense, but you’re playing as cute mini voodoo dolls who simply turn into a cute mini voodoo skeleton when they die. The winner is the player to escape in the end-game, which sees you answering questions with multiple answers.

The mini-games have changed compared to the previous Trivia Murder Party and the ones we played were a lot of fun. However, we had a mixed bag of trivia questions. A lot were very “American” meaning we had no idea what the correct answer was, unless you’re an expert in flavours of Lunchables stocked at your local 7/11. That can make it feel like a guessing game, especially when paired with the luck often needed for the mini games.

The highlight for me is the way no-one is ever out of the running – the leader can’t score as many points as everyone else in the end game and must get a perfect answer to escape, therefore other players can easily catch-up and the lead can change hands several times, making for brilliant drama.

In Role Models, you start each round by voting on a category. These are really varied, from classics such as seasons and geometric shapes, to niche topics such as Brad Pitt’s ex’s. You’ll then be shown a list of items from that category and have to say which item best matches each of your fellow players, For instance for Brads ex’s, my wife is Angelina Jolie, my mother-in-law is Gwenyth Paltrow and I am 100% Jennifer Anniston, don’t judge!

You score points by the majority of players agreeing with your selection. When you’re certain that everyone will be on the same page with one of your choices, you can double down to increase your points won. As would be expected, the person with the most points at the end of the game wins.

I really enjoyed this clever concept, but the end of the game was a bit of a let down. It attempts to give you a summary of your personality type, but they are grossly inaccurate and don’t seem to be a reflection of any of the answers given during the game. It also claims at various points that two people share a common trait which needs to be resolved and a mini game is played where other players vote on who the trait most applies to. This can feel a bit forced, as often you wouldn’t describe either of the players selected by that trait. On the whole though, this new concept will keep you entertained for a few play throughs and gives you the opportunity to bruise a few egos.

In Joke Boat, you have to complete jokes from prompts provided to you or your device. Your joke goes head-to-head with the joke of another player and all remaining players vote for their favourite. The more votes, the more points, and the highest scorer wins.

You have to come up with jokes on the spot, which can produce comedy gold. But you don’t have to be a comedian – we found random sentences and personal anecdotes could be just as funny too; our funniest joke had a punchline written that I somehow in a rush thought Colonel Sanders made fish fingers, que laughter’s all round! This is definitely a game that works best with a bigger group and it was the most we laughed playing.

The concept of Dictionarium is to invent a new word, with its own definition and an example of its use in a sentence. There is a round dedicated to each of these, all of which are very short meaning the game can be over pretty quickly. Players have a set time to write their answers, after which players vote on their favourite.
Unfortunately, this is the weakest game of the pack. Ultimately, it’s a game were a rude word will undoubtedly be picked to win. It won’t keep the party lively and it feels like it actually forces you to be immature. However, the music and voiceover is fantastic, especially the end song (definitely have a listen!). And if you’ve got the right mix of players, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some of the creations popping up on Urban Dictionary!

The aim of Push the Button is to find the alien hiding among the humans on a spaceship. One player is told they are the alien at the start of the game and all other players have to unanimously agree on who it is within the time limit to win the game. To do this, players take part in minigames. The alien is disadvantaged in these games by receiving slightly different instructions to human players. The minigames vary from drawing tasks to scenario based questions. The alien also has two hacks available, which they can use to either see the human prompt themselves or cause another player to see the alien prompt, which can be useful when suspicions are rising.
This game is the king of the pack. It involves tactics, deception, skill and teamwork and is therefore far more unique than the rest. You have to pay attention, and it might take a play through or two to get the hang of it, but you don’t need to be creative or comical to play. It makes you engage with the other players in the room and this is the one game that I can see having longevity.

I never lost connection to Jackbox servers, and no one experienced any gameplay issues. A couple of the games had a family friendly option if you’re playing with younger family members. I didn’t try this out but can see why this would be needed on some titles.

The production quality is brilliant as always and Jackbox have really got the game style down to a tee. The games are simple and easy to play. They explain how to play each game so you can’t get lost that even my mother-in-law can follow what to do.

I was disappointed with the lack of options for only two players. Three of the games required at least three players and one required a minimum of four. I know, it does have “party” in its name so there’s no illusion about what playing scenario it’s targeted for, but for me this just means it won’t get as much play. I would like to see a pack aimed more at an average household, with more 2-4 player games, as these can offer brilliance, like the trivia classic You Don’t Know Jack and the team-work journey of Bomb Corp.

Conclusion

As with all Jackbox games, Party Pack 6 is a great game to play with a bunch of mates. I have loved playing these games in the past, so naturally had high hopes for this pack. But I’m afraid it fell a little bit short. The games weren’t bad bad and I had great fun playing the 5 games on offer, but I just found this pack a little lacking. It feels as though the ideas may be running thin. Audio is always amazing and if you’re a Jackbox fan then add this to your collection. Push a Button is a must play, but lets face it, Fibbage is king and you always will go back to that.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox One. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version.