Jackbox Party Pack 10 Hands-On Preview: Packing In Five More Party Favors

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As predictable as the sunrise, Jackbox is back and with five new games that people can play with friends and family. Jackbox helps unite gamers and non-gamers alike, as the party-style gameplay is there to be enjoyed by even the most game-phobic friends and relatives. We’re always looking for a gentle way to ease people into gaming as a hobby, and Jackbox has always bridged that gap with its quirky humor and easy-to-grasp games. But if you already have one or multiple Jackbox games, you’re probably wondering if this one offers anything new.

At first glance it might not seem so. The first game is a returning favorite Tee K.O. where you are told to draw an image, and then a slogan and they are haphazardly smashed together with hilarious results. Players then vote for their favorite designs and you will get points based on how funny people find you. In the original, you could then get your designs printed on a T-shirt, and they’ve leveled this up by letting you order all sorts of unhinged apparel. We only got a glimpse of this one in the preview, but there are some notable improvements to the original game.

Next up was Timejinx, a game we did get time to play a round of with the developers. This one is more knowledge-based, where you are given an event and you have to guess what year it occurred. You gain a point for every year you are out, with the lowest score at the end being declared the winner. Luckily, there are different variations on the theme, and if you’re behind there are both ways to claw your points back with multiple choice, and guided questions that give you hints towards the right answer. You are also given a vague range, so there’s a limit to how disastrously wrong you are.

The game the team was most excited about was Fixytext which is completely different from anything the team has tried before. Basically, you are all thrown into a document together and you have to make edits to a text at the same time, while keeping it all coherent. The catch is that you are not allowed to delete anything, including typos, leading to fast-paced, nonsensical, and chaotic gameplay. If you’ve ever shared a Google Doc with friends, then you get the idea, just with higher levels of power struggle.

Dodo Re Mi is the other game we got to try, and is a first for the series. Not only is it cooperative compared to the majority of Jackbox games which are competitive, but it’s a full rhythm game. Using mash-ups and remixes of well-known songs in the public domain, each member can choose an instrument to match their rhythm game skills. All your scores are added together against a common enemy so you have to work together to take down the boss, and you can enjoy all your goofy musical additions at the same time.

The final game in the pack is Hypnotorious, which is a social deduction game, where most of the gameplay takes place in the conversations you have with others. You are grouped up, but there is one person flying solo, and it’s up to you to ask the right questions to figure out who it is. Like all Jackbox games there is plenty of guidance to stir up the conversation, making it work well as an icebreaker, or a friendship destroyer.

In all this pack is what you’ve come to expect from Jackbox, and there are no duds here. Everyone is bound to have their favorite game, though the standout of the pack could be Fixytext. Coming in and playing with three complete strangers, and laughing all the same shows that Jackbox’s power is still very much here 10 game sets later. As long as Jackbox keeps coming up with unique and kooky party game ideas, we don’t see them slowing down in popularity anytime soon.