Should probably give these more than one go before rating this, but man, does this seem like one of the weakest bundles yet.
Quixort feels like the mandatory bad game these packs always have, but the biggest problem here is that all the games worth playing are slightly worse iterations of games they've already done. Junktopia is a worse Talking Points. Roomerang is literally just Quiplash with the points hidden and some other round-win caveats thrown in. Fibbage is Fibbage. Nonsensory is probably the most original one here but it still manages to feel incredibly derivative of other Jackbox stuff since it falls into the "answer random prompt & people vote on it" category of games.
Not, like, offensively bad, but there's just no real reason to get this one. If you've already played most of the Jackbox games, this isn't offering anything new. If you're newer to the series, you can literally just get 3 or 7. Hope they bring the weird oddball games back for the next installment (see: weapons drawn, the devil's in the details, push the button, etc), I don't even like all of those that much but at least the mediocre packs are more interesting that way
Quixort feels like the mandatory bad game these packs always have, but the biggest problem here is that all the games worth playing are slightly worse iterations of games they've already done. Junktopia is a worse Talking Points. Roomerang is literally just Quiplash with the points hidden and some other round-win caveats thrown in. Fibbage is Fibbage. Nonsensory is probably the most original one here but it still manages to feel incredibly derivative of other Jackbox stuff since it falls into the "answer random prompt & people vote on it" category of games.
Not, like, offensively bad, but there's just no real reason to get this one. If you've already played most of the Jackbox games, this isn't offering anything new. If you're newer to the series, you can literally just get 3 or 7. Hope they bring the weird oddball games back for the next installment (see: weapons drawn, the devil's in the details, push the button, etc), I don't even like all of those that much but at least the mediocre packs are more interesting that way
Having played several rounds of each game with a variety of party sizes, I feel confident enough about my view on each of these at this point of writing:
Fibbage 4:
Serving as the returning veteran of the Pack (Fibbage 3 was all the way back in Party Pack 4!) the 4th Fibbage also feels like a response to several of the video themed clones of the party pack series that have emerged. I also dig the last round format having two different answers, but providing players a chance to fool others with the same lie. At long last I have no reason to keep Party Pack 4 installed.
Roomerang:
For fans of game shows like Big Brother and F Boy Island, Roomerang encourages players to play into a character archetype and try to get people to like responses to situations, while figuring out the weakest link to vote off the island. I think this game plays especially well with bigger groups, but it is def the longest game to play per session. This is perhaps the most visually appealing game of the pack, and maybe the entire series.
Junktopia:
Sort of a spiritual successor to Patently Stupid and Bidiots, Junktopia asks players to pitch junk at various prices and hope your presentation (which can either be done automatically or verbally) are interested in it. This was usually the crowd pleaser in the sessions I hosted.
Nonsensory:
Reminded me somewhat of Guesspinoage back in Party Pack 3. Players are given prompts (2 rounds are drawing prompts) that ask players to come up with an answer that is between a changing range of topics and numbers. This is one that could potentially be aggravating if the people playing don't know each other to some degree.
Quixort:
This is the love it or hate it game, and I honestly like this. Reminds me of bar trivia when teams are asked to rank a series of topics by least to most or oldest to newest, etc. You move a robot dropping a block in this ordering, and it's very responsive. It's worth trying out with different groups at least once, but I probably won't have this as an option in future Jackbox nights.
Overall, I think this pack is a solid edition to series, especially as someone who likes to switch between packs for groups that span between 4-12+ folks. The QR code login system still needs some work, but I think it's a promising glimpse into the future.
Fibbage 4:
Serving as the returning veteran of the Pack (Fibbage 3 was all the way back in Party Pack 4!) the 4th Fibbage also feels like a response to several of the video themed clones of the party pack series that have emerged. I also dig the last round format having two different answers, but providing players a chance to fool others with the same lie. At long last I have no reason to keep Party Pack 4 installed.
Roomerang:
For fans of game shows like Big Brother and F Boy Island, Roomerang encourages players to play into a character archetype and try to get people to like responses to situations, while figuring out the weakest link to vote off the island. I think this game plays especially well with bigger groups, but it is def the longest game to play per session. This is perhaps the most visually appealing game of the pack, and maybe the entire series.
Junktopia:
Sort of a spiritual successor to Patently Stupid and Bidiots, Junktopia asks players to pitch junk at various prices and hope your presentation (which can either be done automatically or verbally) are interested in it. This was usually the crowd pleaser in the sessions I hosted.
Nonsensory:
Reminded me somewhat of Guesspinoage back in Party Pack 3. Players are given prompts (2 rounds are drawing prompts) that ask players to come up with an answer that is between a changing range of topics and numbers. This is one that could potentially be aggravating if the people playing don't know each other to some degree.
Quixort:
This is the love it or hate it game, and I honestly like this. Reminds me of bar trivia when teams are asked to rank a series of topics by least to most or oldest to newest, etc. You move a robot dropping a block in this ordering, and it's very responsive. It's worth trying out with different groups at least once, but I probably won't have this as an option in future Jackbox nights.
Overall, I think this pack is a solid edition to series, especially as someone who likes to switch between packs for groups that span between 4-12+ folks. The QR code login system still needs some work, but I think it's a promising glimpse into the future.
Having played with multiple different groups of friends, I can say that this is the most consistently enjoyable Jackbox pack so far. Things don't quite reach the heights of Jackbox 7's Quiplash 3 or Champ'd Up, but every game in here appeals well to many different kinds of players, which is essential for a game with such a core social aspect.
The highlight of this pack was definitely Quixort, definitely the best trivia game they've ever made, and works really well even through my lackluster streaming bandwidth. Fibbage 4 is a solid icebreaker, Roomerang and Nonsensory take a slightly more specific crowd to really shine, and Junktopia can be absolutely hilarious with the right content but it takes a bit too long to play through and it did lead to a bit of player exhaustion.
The highlight of this pack was definitely Quixort, definitely the best trivia game they've ever made, and works really well even through my lackluster streaming bandwidth. Fibbage 4 is a solid icebreaker, Roomerang and Nonsensory take a slightly more specific crowd to really shine, and Junktopia can be absolutely hilarious with the right content but it takes a bit too long to play through and it did lead to a bit of player exhaustion.
This is actually a more "first impressions" type of review than anything else. Jackbox games, as party games, are meant to be replayed and I have only played each of them once. So my thoughts could definitely change in the future but for now heres the games and my thoughts on them
Fibbage 4 - In Fibbage 4 you gotta try and trick people in to picking your answer for a prompt while also not falling into anyone else's question. 1 truth, all lies. I love fibbage, so this was a guaranteed solid pick. Lying is fun especially about stupid things so bringing that into form with a party game turns out really well as well as making for some really fun trivia, if you couldn't guess by this being the 4th iteration of the game. I think this has to be my favorite Fibbage presentation-wise, it's all very clean and has more variety than other fibbages. One minute you'll be going from France to a TV watching a movie on VHS. The final round is also my favorite in fibbage, the whole 2 questions, 1 lie gimmick is fun, although a bit confusing on the first go round. Very solid time, definitely deserves to be a staple of jackbox. 9/10
Roomerang - From the perspective of a TV sitcom, you get a role to play as, decide how to react in situations, and try not to get eliminated. Right off the bat this has the potential to be one of the funniest jackbox games ever, with the right people. If you like to role-play even a little bit, this is the game for you. The roles can be chosen for you but I think what elevates it is that you can make your own roles, which is a really good addition, totally adds variety to your responses. Taking them more as what-if questions for the role your character has was also a good move to, makes it stand out mode from the other question and response games of Jackbox like Quiplash. The TV sitcom presentation is also way better than other attempts like Devil and the Details. I do think being eliminated off the show is a tad too punishing, one elimation can throw off the entire game for you, especially when how many people can be eliminated and whos the one chosing elimination varies throughout the game so it kinda boils down to luck at a certain point. Still, this one's insanely fun and I look foward to playing it again and again. 9/10
Junktopia - You've been turned into frog, and in order to back to being human you gotta pay a wizard, but to do this you go to your local thrift shop, buy an item, and sell it. It's simple and funny which sometimes is all you need. I love how they capture the feeling of striking gold at the thrift store. hey! not all of them will be winners but you might see a cool cow with sunglasses and the body count of ten trillion. The final round sucks hard tho. It's just you naming your collection of items, and since it can be a game deciding point it just seems lame considering all your doing is just slapping a name on two items. 8/10
Nonsensory - On a scale of 1 to 10, how does this make you feel? that's the question this game asks, whether it be drawings, answers, and more. It's a fun premise, being giving a scale and having to make something that fits on the scale is cool on paper. However, it can be clunky in practice because it's really hard to decide what the difference between a 3 or 4 for a prompt could be. More than any other game in the pack this game will give you the most chances to screw you over. Some prompts such as "Draw the scale of an office chair to a toilet, 80% office chair" is feasible, but "Draw the scale of a waitress to a princess, 80% waiter" is really tough and can screw both the author and the players if done improperly. When it works, it's pretty fun, but when it doesn't it REALLY doesn't. It's also not helped by the fact this games tutorial is nonexistent, they really do throw you right into it, and for such an already tough to parse game it wasn't for the better. 6/10
Quixort- In 2 seperate teams, you gotta rank things in a list, that's all there is to this one. What the game makes up for with a lack of complexity is the team dynamic. They've been doing more team games in jackbox and they prove to be really fun experiences for the most part. This one is no exception, the ranking aspect gives way for so much debate and interaction with your team unlike any other jackbox game yet. My only major problem is the lack of variety. You get to chose between 1 list or 1 mystery list, so if you get 1 choice you wouldn't do well on you have to risk it with what could possibly even worse. I feel like 1 more revealed prompt for a total of 3 could have balanced things out more but it's a minor blemish on a simple but really fun time. 8/10
Conclusion - This is definitely one of the funniest jackbox packs yet. Junktopia, Fibbage 4, and Roomerang all have the potential to be laughing riots with the right groups of people, while Quixort balances out with a more interactive play session with your buddies. Nonsensory dampens things out a bit for the pack, but it still doesn't deny the great quality this pack has.
Fibbage 4 - In Fibbage 4 you gotta try and trick people in to picking your answer for a prompt while also not falling into anyone else's question. 1 truth, all lies. I love fibbage, so this was a guaranteed solid pick. Lying is fun especially about stupid things so bringing that into form with a party game turns out really well as well as making for some really fun trivia, if you couldn't guess by this being the 4th iteration of the game. I think this has to be my favorite Fibbage presentation-wise, it's all very clean and has more variety than other fibbages. One minute you'll be going from France to a TV watching a movie on VHS. The final round is also my favorite in fibbage, the whole 2 questions, 1 lie gimmick is fun, although a bit confusing on the first go round. Very solid time, definitely deserves to be a staple of jackbox. 9/10
Roomerang - From the perspective of a TV sitcom, you get a role to play as, decide how to react in situations, and try not to get eliminated. Right off the bat this has the potential to be one of the funniest jackbox games ever, with the right people. If you like to role-play even a little bit, this is the game for you. The roles can be chosen for you but I think what elevates it is that you can make your own roles, which is a really good addition, totally adds variety to your responses. Taking them more as what-if questions for the role your character has was also a good move to, makes it stand out mode from the other question and response games of Jackbox like Quiplash. The TV sitcom presentation is also way better than other attempts like Devil and the Details. I do think being eliminated off the show is a tad too punishing, one elimation can throw off the entire game for you, especially when how many people can be eliminated and whos the one chosing elimination varies throughout the game so it kinda boils down to luck at a certain point. Still, this one's insanely fun and I look foward to playing it again and again. 9/10
Junktopia - You've been turned into frog, and in order to back to being human you gotta pay a wizard, but to do this you go to your local thrift shop, buy an item, and sell it. It's simple and funny which sometimes is all you need. I love how they capture the feeling of striking gold at the thrift store. hey! not all of them will be winners but you might see a cool cow with sunglasses and the body count of ten trillion. The final round sucks hard tho. It's just you naming your collection of items, and since it can be a game deciding point it just seems lame considering all your doing is just slapping a name on two items. 8/10
Nonsensory - On a scale of 1 to 10, how does this make you feel? that's the question this game asks, whether it be drawings, answers, and more. It's a fun premise, being giving a scale and having to make something that fits on the scale is cool on paper. However, it can be clunky in practice because it's really hard to decide what the difference between a 3 or 4 for a prompt could be. More than any other game in the pack this game will give you the most chances to screw you over. Some prompts such as "Draw the scale of an office chair to a toilet, 80% office chair" is feasible, but "Draw the scale of a waitress to a princess, 80% waiter" is really tough and can screw both the author and the players if done improperly. When it works, it's pretty fun, but when it doesn't it REALLY doesn't. It's also not helped by the fact this games tutorial is nonexistent, they really do throw you right into it, and for such an already tough to parse game it wasn't for the better. 6/10
Quixort- In 2 seperate teams, you gotta rank things in a list, that's all there is to this one. What the game makes up for with a lack of complexity is the team dynamic. They've been doing more team games in jackbox and they prove to be really fun experiences for the most part. This one is no exception, the ranking aspect gives way for so much debate and interaction with your team unlike any other jackbox game yet. My only major problem is the lack of variety. You get to chose between 1 list or 1 mystery list, so if you get 1 choice you wouldn't do well on you have to risk it with what could possibly even worse. I feel like 1 more revealed prompt for a total of 3 could have balanced things out more but it's a minor blemish on a simple but really fun time. 8/10
Conclusion - This is definitely one of the funniest jackbox packs yet. Junktopia, Fibbage 4, and Roomerang all have the potential to be laughing riots with the right groups of people, while Quixort balances out with a more interactive play session with your buddies. Nonsensory dampens things out a bit for the pack, but it still doesn't deny the great quality this pack has.
Roomerang is genius.
Every Jackbox pack got the;
- New version of one of the mainstays which is better in most ways but has one very stupid decision
- Dogshit
- Game which is one joke
- Anxiety inducer
- Actually great newcomer they will drop immediately
I like plenty of these things at this point but it is truly getting old how after 9 times Jacky is still lacking a combined launcher and the packs still fail to put it all together is getting more and more annoying. To get one good pack of these games you need at least 3 installed - and being the one to suggest switching them in the middle of your game night is definitely cause for people to spam the 🤓 in the voice text.
Please Jacky just get a dang launcher or make a pack that has both quiplash, fibbage, good trivia and champd up/ tee ko it shouldn't be this hard.
- New version of one of the mainstays which is better in most ways but has one very stupid decision
- Dogshit
- Game which is one joke
- Anxiety inducer
- Actually great newcomer they will drop immediately
I like plenty of these things at this point but it is truly getting old how after 9 times Jacky is still lacking a combined launcher and the packs still fail to put it all together is getting more and more annoying. To get one good pack of these games you need at least 3 installed - and being the one to suggest switching them in the middle of your game night is definitely cause for people to spam the 🤓 in the voice text.
Please Jacky just get a dang launcher or make a pack that has both quiplash, fibbage, good trivia and champd up/ tee ko it shouldn't be this hard.
Fibbage 4 is fine, its fibbage
Roomerang has a killer artstyle and is fun if you actually roleplay a little.
Junktopia is awesome, creative shit is being made here (8/10)
Nonsensory is fun nonsense (teehee), round three when you have to mix two things is smart
Quixort is a fun way to make the mandatory trivia game interesting. I liked the stupid Mario Party game from 8 too, but this is probably better
Roomerang has a killer artstyle and is fun if you actually roleplay a little.
Junktopia is awesome, creative shit is being made here (8/10)
Nonsensory is fun nonsense (teehee), round three when you have to mix two things is smart
Quixort is a fun way to make the mandatory trivia game interesting. I liked the stupid Mario Party game from 8 too, but this is probably better
The rare pack where every game feels exciting and fun to play. Quixort and Nonsensory are both A+ additions to the library.
Brain too thinky. Try again next year.
not one of the better Jackbox games, even with the filters some references are too american
Another one I haven't gotten to play enough of (I don't even own it). There are definitely some good ones on here, though.
Roomerang is fun until you become the scapegoat and everyone votes for you and ME DEFINETLY NOT BITTER ABOUT IT
Roomerang and Quixort literally carry the entire pack. Too bad the other 3 games are the definition of "mid" 😔
One of the weaker Jackboxes.
fibbage 4 (2/5) - huge downgrade from the last fibbage. no need for this, they just downgraded fibbage. the EAY mode is stripped of its life, and the gameplay is basically the same as the past fibbage otherwise
junktopia (4/5) - i really like this jackbox game, it's so fun. it's like patently stupid but better imo. i don't get why so many people dislike it
roomerang (3.5/5) - it's a good one, but sometimes too long. i like best when it's played anon and with people playing specific roles
nonsensory (4/5) - one of my fav jackbox games, i really love the concept, nanners is the best
quixort (3.5/5) - it's one of the best jackbox trivia games, but also suffers from lack of questions and is horrible if there's bad communication or if you're playing online and someone goes afk
junktopia (4/5) - i really like this jackbox game, it's so fun. it's like patently stupid but better imo. i don't get why so many people dislike it
roomerang (3.5/5) - it's a good one, but sometimes too long. i like best when it's played anon and with people playing specific roles
nonsensory (4/5) - one of my fav jackbox games, i really love the concept, nanners is the best
quixort (3.5/5) - it's one of the best jackbox trivia games, but also suffers from lack of questions and is horrible if there's bad communication or if you're playing online and someone goes afk
Full video review: https://youtu.be/V0l5u8kWzS4
Last year’s Party Pack 8 was a bit of a disappointment so I went into this one hoping it would redeem the series a bit.
Fibbage 4
Fibbage is back and it’s just okay I guess? Fibbage was never really a favorite in my group and this is literally just more of that, with more categories, a revamped final round, and this funky new VHS feature that incorporates old movie clips into the game. The movie clip thing is cool, but really, your fun in this one will come from how good a liar you and your friends are.
There are some funny moments, but this ended up being one of the weaker games in the pack due to just how little it felt changed compared to past iterations.
Roomerang
Roomerang plays a lot like a reality TV show where you’re assigned a character and a quirk that needs to be acted out on that character. Then you get to answer prompts and vote in order to thin out the crowd - with each round concluding with a vote to eliminate one player.
The catch being that even if you are eliminated, you just return as a new character with one letter in your name changed - which we thought was hilarious and made for some really cool roleplaying moments. One’s success in this mode depends a lot on the quirk you are given - some are SUPER easy to make jokes with whereas others are much more difficult. That and it was a bit disappointing that all of the rounds are simple question prompts and no other activities to spice things up - it would have been cool to see them do another format or something like they did with Fibbage 4 and the video clips.
Roomerang games also last the longest out of any in this pack and feel like they can drag on, ranking it towards the bottom of this pack along with Fibbage.
Junktopia
Junkopia is yet another addition with a brilliant concept. It revolves around receiving a random image of some random item, coming up with a name and backstory for said item, and then having it appraised by the other players based on what you came up with. The items themselves range from artifacts to literal sausage horses and it plays a lot like Talking Points from Party Pack 7 where most of the fun comes from the creative freedom to present as you like with just enough direction given from the game so that you’re not completely lost.
It strikes a good balance there and a lot of laughs were had from this one due to the sheer absurdity of some of the presentations. Junktopia ended up being the favorite of many in my group.
Nonsensory
Nonsensory is the drawing game of the pack - the catch being that the drawing stuff is only a portion of it and the rest of the game revolves around guessing the likeliness of various prompts written by the players. After a certain point, the prompts become drawings, which is a nice change of pace, but it is a bit disappointing to see the usual drawing game slot in the pack taken up by something that doesn’t emphasize that element.
That said, the game itself is good. The prompts are funny, there’s plenty of variety, and the laughs were plenty. This is another case of a Jackbox game providing a really good base and just letting the players roll with it without being locked into something super specific and hard to work with. As the drawing game of the pack it’s a disappointment, but as a game on its own, it’s actually pretty good.
Quixort
Quixort - my favorite game of the pack and perhaps the best trivia game that I’ve played in any of these Party Packs. You’re split into teams and tasked with sorting tiles based on a given prompt. The categories are all over the place and, as a trivia nut, it was a lot of fun to discuss amongst the team where each tile would go. There’s a bit of strategy too, as you need to leave room on the conveyor in the event one tile needs to go further left or right than one already placed and the game even throws curveballs by giving you fake tiles too.
It’s a bit different from the usual Jackbox game given the team approach and the fact that the teams do not play simultaneously, but it adds a nice competitive edge that the other games in the pack are lacking in, rounding out the collection nicely while still providing the laughs - just in a different way (like suddenly forgetting the simplest of math concepts when solving equations due to the pressure).
Overall
The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is an improvement over the previous pack, including some solid highlights - Quixort and Junktopia - and other fun additions too. It may not be among the best from the series (it may be a while before we match the high that was Party Pack 7), but it is definitely one my friends and I will be returning to, even if just for a few of the games.
Last year’s Party Pack 8 was a bit of a disappointment so I went into this one hoping it would redeem the series a bit.
Fibbage 4
Fibbage is back and it’s just okay I guess? Fibbage was never really a favorite in my group and this is literally just more of that, with more categories, a revamped final round, and this funky new VHS feature that incorporates old movie clips into the game. The movie clip thing is cool, but really, your fun in this one will come from how good a liar you and your friends are.
There are some funny moments, but this ended up being one of the weaker games in the pack due to just how little it felt changed compared to past iterations.
Roomerang
Roomerang plays a lot like a reality TV show where you’re assigned a character and a quirk that needs to be acted out on that character. Then you get to answer prompts and vote in order to thin out the crowd - with each round concluding with a vote to eliminate one player.
The catch being that even if you are eliminated, you just return as a new character with one letter in your name changed - which we thought was hilarious and made for some really cool roleplaying moments. One’s success in this mode depends a lot on the quirk you are given - some are SUPER easy to make jokes with whereas others are much more difficult. That and it was a bit disappointing that all of the rounds are simple question prompts and no other activities to spice things up - it would have been cool to see them do another format or something like they did with Fibbage 4 and the video clips.
Roomerang games also last the longest out of any in this pack and feel like they can drag on, ranking it towards the bottom of this pack along with Fibbage.
Junktopia
Junkopia is yet another addition with a brilliant concept. It revolves around receiving a random image of some random item, coming up with a name and backstory for said item, and then having it appraised by the other players based on what you came up with. The items themselves range from artifacts to literal sausage horses and it plays a lot like Talking Points from Party Pack 7 where most of the fun comes from the creative freedom to present as you like with just enough direction given from the game so that you’re not completely lost.
It strikes a good balance there and a lot of laughs were had from this one due to the sheer absurdity of some of the presentations. Junktopia ended up being the favorite of many in my group.
Nonsensory
Nonsensory is the drawing game of the pack - the catch being that the drawing stuff is only a portion of it and the rest of the game revolves around guessing the likeliness of various prompts written by the players. After a certain point, the prompts become drawings, which is a nice change of pace, but it is a bit disappointing to see the usual drawing game slot in the pack taken up by something that doesn’t emphasize that element.
That said, the game itself is good. The prompts are funny, there’s plenty of variety, and the laughs were plenty. This is another case of a Jackbox game providing a really good base and just letting the players roll with it without being locked into something super specific and hard to work with. As the drawing game of the pack it’s a disappointment, but as a game on its own, it’s actually pretty good.
Quixort
Quixort - my favorite game of the pack and perhaps the best trivia game that I’ve played in any of these Party Packs. You’re split into teams and tasked with sorting tiles based on a given prompt. The categories are all over the place and, as a trivia nut, it was a lot of fun to discuss amongst the team where each tile would go. There’s a bit of strategy too, as you need to leave room on the conveyor in the event one tile needs to go further left or right than one already placed and the game even throws curveballs by giving you fake tiles too.
It’s a bit different from the usual Jackbox game given the team approach and the fact that the teams do not play simultaneously, but it adds a nice competitive edge that the other games in the pack are lacking in, rounding out the collection nicely while still providing the laughs - just in a different way (like suddenly forgetting the simplest of math concepts when solving equations due to the pressure).
Overall
The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is an improvement over the previous pack, including some solid highlights - Quixort and Junktopia - and other fun additions too. It may not be among the best from the series (it may be a while before we match the high that was Party Pack 7), but it is definitely one my friends and I will be returning to, even if just for a few of the games.
Went through all five last Friday night so here are first impressions
Fibbage 4:
Overall a pretty good Fibbage Upgrade. Fibbage About You no longer has the "1 truth 1 lie" section that I kinda miss but most of my group didnt like that part in 4 anyway so good game.
Roomerang:
This one's pretty fun, it was a bit confusing and I felt that voting people out was a bit arbitrary. I find this one fun if you loosely follow the rules and just fuck around with your friends
Junktopia:
This one's okay, it's a weird fusion of Bidiots & Patently Stupid which is a strange combo. My group didn't really vibe with it but it has some potential
Nonsensory:
I fucking hate the writing portion of this one, "make a piece of advice that is 6/10 confusing" that's pretty 10/10 confusing tbh.
I wish it was just the drawing part honestly.
Quixort:
This was definitely our favorite. Teams getting heated and started shouting over the placements of things, which made it a lot funnier. I feel like this is probably weaker with less people/imbalanced team sizes, but I personally loved this one.
Overall I'd say it's a decent pack, I think a few games had too many rounds, and a few games are kinda a miss. I feel like packs should start to have 2 sequel games & 3 new ones, since having 2-3 games where the rules are confusing is kind of an L.
Still recommend it cuz there's fun shit here
Fibbage 4:
Overall a pretty good Fibbage Upgrade. Fibbage About You no longer has the "1 truth 1 lie" section that I kinda miss but most of my group didnt like that part in 4 anyway so good game.
Roomerang:
This one's pretty fun, it was a bit confusing and I felt that voting people out was a bit arbitrary. I find this one fun if you loosely follow the rules and just fuck around with your friends
Junktopia:
This one's okay, it's a weird fusion of Bidiots & Patently Stupid which is a strange combo. My group didn't really vibe with it but it has some potential
Nonsensory:
I fucking hate the writing portion of this one, "make a piece of advice that is 6/10 confusing" that's pretty 10/10 confusing tbh.
I wish it was just the drawing part honestly.
Quixort:
This was definitely our favorite. Teams getting heated and started shouting over the placements of things, which made it a lot funnier. I feel like this is probably weaker with less people/imbalanced team sizes, but I personally loved this one.
Overall I'd say it's a decent pack, I think a few games had too many rounds, and a few games are kinda a miss. I feel like packs should start to have 2 sequel games & 3 new ones, since having 2-3 games where the rules are confusing is kind of an L.
Still recommend it cuz there's fun shit here
I played a round of every game in this collection a few days ago with some friends and had a really good time the whole way through. My biggest complaint would probably be that a lot of the games, especially Nonsensory, move way too slowly.
Junktopia is the best game in the pack, without question. And I'm not just saying that because it was the only game I won
Junktopia is the best game in the pack, without question. And I'm not just saying that because it was the only game I won
time for a lil review of each game
fibbage 4 - this one isnt bad but did we really need a fourth one
nonsensory - momky
quixort - this one's pretty good i guess
roomerang - the best one
junktopia - close second
there isnt a single miss with this pack
fibbage 4 - this one isnt bad but did we really need a fourth one
nonsensory - momky
quixort - this one's pretty good i guess
roomerang - the best one
junktopia - close second
there isnt a single miss with this pack
Jackbox has always been a complicated series. The quality of any given "pack" is pretty much completely random; the early entry of 3 was my favourite for the longest time but there are enough good games peppered throughout the series (Survive the Internet, Dictionarium, Talking Points, etc...) that I pretty much always have my finger on the pulse of the series, waiting for more fun little nuggets. This was probably the first Jackbox I didn't see come out when it came out, but I'm so glad I came around to it because this is the most consistent Jackbox game since 3 and probably has the trajectory to become my favourite in the series.
I played a session with friends, and we pretty much just worked our way down the list in the main menu, I'll give my thoughts on the games in the order I played them, except for Quixort - I played it last, but it's the only bad one and I wouldn't want to end a review of such a great game on a sour note; the best Jackbox games give a lot of wiggle room for their players to be creative and this one doesn't, it has pretty much no unique player input, nor does it have the high stakes that make something like Trivia Murder Party exciting, not to mention how much it relies on the dumb luck of someone on your team knowing your subject and just being able to direct the team.
That aside, the first one we played was Junktopia. This one was a lot of fun, I usually don't care that much about the themes of Jackbox games but this one was a lot of fun, it frames the gameplay well and the spell names in the glass ball are funny. It's kind of like Talking Points but with more individual direction, you buy one of a few random items from this junk store, come up with a name and two facts about it, then present the item to the other players who rate its quality. This one is a lot of fun, the timers are quick enough so you get to write a little synopsis of your item very quickly without any presentation feeling too rehearsed.
The next one is Fibbage 4. In this particular session I played the stock Fibbage 4, but I played a game of Fibbage Enough About You in another server a bit before I played any other game in the pack. This one is a lot of fun too; in practice this one should be pretty bad - winning the game and being funny are constantly at odds with each other - but against all odds this adds to the quality of the game, choosing whether you want to make your response silly or misleading in the stock gamemode is honestly a lot of fun and we got a lot of hilarious responses out of it. Enough About You leans a bit more towards the silliness, and the outright trivia intermission is a bit uncalled for, but this one is a lot of fun too.
Next up is Nonsensory. I was really surprised with this one, I was honestly expecting this one to be the second worst (beat out by Quixort, obviously), the presentation made it look pretty obtuse. Fortunately, however, I was wrong. It took me a bit to understand this one, but in essence someone has to fill in a prompt (e.g. advice a knight would give to his apprentice) with a given level of confidence for the person giving the advice, then the other players have to guess the confidence. It sounds really convoluted but it ended up being a lot of fun, especially in the later rounds as drawings are introduced which take the percentage deals to a whole new height.
And finally, Roomerang. Oh, Roomerang. Quiplash was my favourite Jackbox game for the longest time, but this honestly has it beat for the sheer extent which it lets its players mold it in their hands. The art direction is great, it's always high stakes, and the player traits and the prompts are so open that you and your friends can take them in any direction you want, and it is a complete delight.
Really glad to have played this one, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the general conceit of Jackbox - or, hell, even as an introduction to the series it covers most grounds with the exception of not really having any games that feature a lot of drawing.
I played a session with friends, and we pretty much just worked our way down the list in the main menu, I'll give my thoughts on the games in the order I played them, except for Quixort - I played it last, but it's the only bad one and I wouldn't want to end a review of such a great game on a sour note; the best Jackbox games give a lot of wiggle room for their players to be creative and this one doesn't, it has pretty much no unique player input, nor does it have the high stakes that make something like Trivia Murder Party exciting, not to mention how much it relies on the dumb luck of someone on your team knowing your subject and just being able to direct the team.
That aside, the first one we played was Junktopia. This one was a lot of fun, I usually don't care that much about the themes of Jackbox games but this one was a lot of fun, it frames the gameplay well and the spell names in the glass ball are funny. It's kind of like Talking Points but with more individual direction, you buy one of a few random items from this junk store, come up with a name and two facts about it, then present the item to the other players who rate its quality. This one is a lot of fun, the timers are quick enough so you get to write a little synopsis of your item very quickly without any presentation feeling too rehearsed.
The next one is Fibbage 4. In this particular session I played the stock Fibbage 4, but I played a game of Fibbage Enough About You in another server a bit before I played any other game in the pack. This one is a lot of fun too; in practice this one should be pretty bad - winning the game and being funny are constantly at odds with each other - but against all odds this adds to the quality of the game, choosing whether you want to make your response silly or misleading in the stock gamemode is honestly a lot of fun and we got a lot of hilarious responses out of it. Enough About You leans a bit more towards the silliness, and the outright trivia intermission is a bit uncalled for, but this one is a lot of fun too.
Next up is Nonsensory. I was really surprised with this one, I was honestly expecting this one to be the second worst (beat out by Quixort, obviously), the presentation made it look pretty obtuse. Fortunately, however, I was wrong. It took me a bit to understand this one, but in essence someone has to fill in a prompt (e.g. advice a knight would give to his apprentice) with a given level of confidence for the person giving the advice, then the other players have to guess the confidence. It sounds really convoluted but it ended up being a lot of fun, especially in the later rounds as drawings are introduced which take the percentage deals to a whole new height.
And finally, Roomerang. Oh, Roomerang. Quiplash was my favourite Jackbox game for the longest time, but this honestly has it beat for the sheer extent which it lets its players mold it in their hands. The art direction is great, it's always high stakes, and the player traits and the prompts are so open that you and your friends can take them in any direction you want, and it is a complete delight.
Really glad to have played this one, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the general conceit of Jackbox - or, hell, even as an introduction to the series it covers most grounds with the exception of not really having any games that feature a lot of drawing.
[4th of mainstay]
[okay, worse than fibbage or trivia murder party]
[awful]
[meh]
[excellent]
A little disappointed with this one overall, but it's Jackbox. 100% with Cold_Comfort on wanting them to make a combined launcher of some sort.
[okay, worse than fibbage or trivia murder party]
[awful]
[meh]
[excellent]
A little disappointed with this one overall, but it's Jackbox. 100% with Cold_Comfort on wanting them to make a combined launcher of some sort.
The key to a good Jackbox game, at least when it comes to the more joke-oriented ones, is one that allows everyone the opportunity to be funny. I play this game with a group of people who are sometimes down with going all in on a joke in these games, but often feel exhausted at the thought of having to come up with something funny on the spot. Not everyone is an annoying nerd who listens to too much comedy bang bang (i.e. me), so when a game provides the right prompts and help for players to construct jokes with, that's when these games are their most effective. I'm thinking stuff like Mad Verse City, Tee KO, Job Job, or Talking Points. These are games that, even if improv comedy is the last thing you want to do, you can often just have something hilarious basically handed to you by the game, and now you're on an even playing field with people who are more down to clown. After all, a good party game should have as many people at the party involved or invested as possible.
Whenever a game just goes "Okay now here's the part where you say something funny", the results are way more inconsistent and therefore less fun, and I couldn't help but feel that when it came to Junktopia and Roomerang in this pack, even if their presentation is really good. I still enjoyed them, but at this point with so many Jackbox games it's hard to advocate for them when there are games everyone is immediately on board with. Quixort is good for any annoying trivia nerd (i.e. me), and Nonsensory is just generally confusing. Lastly, I agree with the sentiment other reviews have when it comes to getting these games under one launcher, at 9 entries with 5 games each, most of which are only in one pack, people really need a more orderly way to manage them.
Whenever a game just goes "Okay now here's the part where you say something funny", the results are way more inconsistent and therefore less fun, and I couldn't help but feel that when it came to Junktopia and Roomerang in this pack, even if their presentation is really good. I still enjoyed them, but at this point with so many Jackbox games it's hard to advocate for them when there are games everyone is immediately on board with. Quixort is good for any annoying trivia nerd (i.e. me), and Nonsensory is just generally confusing. Lastly, I agree with the sentiment other reviews have when it comes to getting these games under one launcher, at 9 entries with 5 games each, most of which are only in one pack, people really need a more orderly way to manage them.
Like with every Jackbox, most of the enjoyment of the game comes from the people you play with. That written, the games included in the Jackbox Party Packs need the prompts and mechanisms that allow for people to get together and have fun. Jackbox 9 overall does a decent job of this, but with some issues.
Fibbage 4 is a sequel to a previous game series and doesn't divert away from the formula. They've included a new style of prompt (a video) and edited out a final prompt in the mini-mini-game Enough About You - which my friends actually prefer. It's a well done quiz game with plenty of fun and exciting contributions from both the game and players.
Quixort is the new trivia game that is sorting answers. It's a strange choice, as the trivia games included in previous party packs (You Don't Know Jack, Trivia Murder Party and The Wheel) were exceptionally well done. The player needs to sort answers on their phone using a Tetris-like block placed on a line, which is confusing to some people I've played with, leading to some difficulty that wasn't fun. As well, the final round makes the player replay their final prompt, which is an interesting decision, but ultimately leaves anyone I've played with frustrated and disappointed. The game also has the unfortunate problem of making a second player or group of players wait for another team to finish playing the game for a long time - unlike most of the other trivias.
Junktopia is also one of the least favourite among my friends and family. It was a forgettable experience, as everyone had to ask whether we've already played it or not. Part of the issue is that the player's contributions are simply two prompts regarding an item they're describing. Other Jackbox games use this feature (Survive the Internet) but give some variation to the purpose of writing prompts. This game, again, makes the unfortunate choice of repeating the final prompt - bringing all of your previous items together to just name them. This makes the game repetitive with a longer period of time without engaging in unique or creative input from players.
Nonsensory is a surprisingly fun and enjoyable game. It reminded us of Guesspionage (JBPP3), as players attempt to find the hidden value (between 1-10 mostly) of a prompt. Players each make their own content which others guess at. This leads to much more excitement and engagement from everyone involved.
Finally, Roomerang is an interesting and well-designed game. It requires the players to role-play a character, which my group doesn't actually do - and instead treating the game like a Quiplash, where we vote the funniest prompts. Despite human error, this game does have one striking fault, which is that players produce so much content in the game that is not very well visible, or immediately erased from the screen after showing them. Our group typically adds more time to answering prompts, but there wasn't an option to extend viewing the responses, which is what we would have needed.
Despite all of that, the Jackbox Games continue to be some of the most fun party games that are accessible to all sorts of groups, as long as they have smartphones. I still highly recommend this, if not just for half of the games included for their exceptional design. Players will still need to bring others into their games to find out what is fun and how they can all enjoy the games together.
Fibbage 4 is a sequel to a previous game series and doesn't divert away from the formula. They've included a new style of prompt (a video) and edited out a final prompt in the mini-mini-game Enough About You - which my friends actually prefer. It's a well done quiz game with plenty of fun and exciting contributions from both the game and players.
Quixort is the new trivia game that is sorting answers. It's a strange choice, as the trivia games included in previous party packs (You Don't Know Jack, Trivia Murder Party and The Wheel) were exceptionally well done. The player needs to sort answers on their phone using a Tetris-like block placed on a line, which is confusing to some people I've played with, leading to some difficulty that wasn't fun. As well, the final round makes the player replay their final prompt, which is an interesting decision, but ultimately leaves anyone I've played with frustrated and disappointed. The game also has the unfortunate problem of making a second player or group of players wait for another team to finish playing the game for a long time - unlike most of the other trivias.
Junktopia is also one of the least favourite among my friends and family. It was a forgettable experience, as everyone had to ask whether we've already played it or not. Part of the issue is that the player's contributions are simply two prompts regarding an item they're describing. Other Jackbox games use this feature (Survive the Internet) but give some variation to the purpose of writing prompts. This game, again, makes the unfortunate choice of repeating the final prompt - bringing all of your previous items together to just name them. This makes the game repetitive with a longer period of time without engaging in unique or creative input from players.
Nonsensory is a surprisingly fun and enjoyable game. It reminded us of Guesspionage (JBPP3), as players attempt to find the hidden value (between 1-10 mostly) of a prompt. Players each make their own content which others guess at. This leads to much more excitement and engagement from everyone involved.
Finally, Roomerang is an interesting and well-designed game. It requires the players to role-play a character, which my group doesn't actually do - and instead treating the game like a Quiplash, where we vote the funniest prompts. Despite human error, this game does have one striking fault, which is that players produce so much content in the game that is not very well visible, or immediately erased from the screen after showing them. Our group typically adds more time to answering prompts, but there wasn't an option to extend viewing the responses, which is what we would have needed.
Despite all of that, the Jackbox Games continue to be some of the most fun party games that are accessible to all sorts of groups, as long as they have smartphones. I still highly recommend this, if not just for half of the games included for their exceptional design. Players will still need to bring others into their games to find out what is fun and how they can all enjoy the games together.
nothing i would really want to come back to. it's better than last year at least but they really did not have to do fibbage: enough about you like that
why does my family love fibbage so much
¡Muy divertido y lo mejor: TRADUCIDO! Mejora muchÃsimo para cualquiera jugar a esto en su idioma y han sacado a relucir los juegos en su esplendor.
Aún me falta jugar al de trivial sin el modo un jugador pero lo que he jugado irÃa:
1. Roomerang - De los mejores juegos de Jackbox
2. Junktopia - Todos los juegos de hablar son los mejores
3. Fibbage 4 - Es Fibbage! En español
4.- Nonsensory - Te quiero, profesora Bananas.
Aún me falta jugar al de trivial sin el modo un jugador pero lo que he jugado irÃa:
1. Roomerang - De los mejores juegos de Jackbox
2. Junktopia - Todos los juegos de hablar son los mejores
3. Fibbage 4 - Es Fibbage! En español
4.- Nonsensory - Te quiero, profesora Bananas.
Roomerage is one of THE best Jackbox games! :D
I play quixort forever because i have no friends
Nothing here really stands out to me as amazing. But nothing is as horrible as some other entries are. Junktopia is the only one here I don't care for.
roomerang caries