The Jackbox Party Pack 6 has just docked. Toot-toot! Thanks, Joke Boat, one of the games in the new pack. And it has some brand new games that made me want to eviscerate my friends. Good, there's a games with murder in the title in this pack.
My friendly hate was with my initial play at the office Halloween party. When I tried with other friends quite recently, we really got into the groove, so what I'm saying is, "It depends on who you play with on how much you'll enjoy it.
We had fun, we laughed and then Eric won Trivia Murder Party 2 at the office Halloween party?!! That should have been me! What the hey-hey? Makes me want to play again, right now. That's what Jackbox 6 does, it makes you want to keep playing. And we did. So, I'm gonna take you through the games in this newest numbered sequel.
*For those who haven't played any of these in the last 6 years. It's pretty neat. You use your smart phone or tablet as the controller. And then compete in games with your friends, business associates or in my case the people I will no longer talk to and are dead to me.
There's different games in every pack, Jackbox Party Pack 6 consisted of 4 new ones and a sequel.
Trivia Murder Party 2
Let's starts with the sequel. Perfect for upcoming Halloween or any group that gets together to watch horror movies, it's Trivia Murder Party 2. The game has a simple premise: you and your friends have been kidnapped by a serial killer and only one of you can escape alive by answering trivia.
Now, the look of the new game has you in a hotel with a carpet resembling one from a famous horror movie, also set in a hotel. At least, it starts off like that on the first floor, minus two twins saying you'll be staying here forever and ever. The creepy look is only made better with your host and killer, the Trivia Murder Killer. He seems to have low self-esteem and jokes ready to go with what he's asking. Without him, it's like just being held hostage by a mime.
You and your cohorts will answer trivia questions until one of you dies visualized by a stuffed voodoo like figure being exploded or destroyed in some manner. It's just another great visual to entice you to try and not die or happily grin upon your enemies demise. Die stuffed version of Sky, just die! If you answer a question wrong you play deadly mini-games. And that means more than one person may be joining you. Some new ones have been added for this sequel of the game. All, pretty annoying, but playful. They give you a thin chance to live and many times have the other players battling against you.
Oh, and you're still playing if you're dead, you're just a ghost, but you can still come back to life in the final round by simply being in the lead. So, you have a chance to win even in untimely death.
Let's not forget Presents. In this sequel, a mini game can give you a present. So far, I've seen a wig, taken from another classic Hitchcock film and a knife. Sometimes, the presents give you a bonus or take away from how you play. These added goodies change the story if the person with the gift wins. Suddenly, just like movies now, you get a bonus scene after the credits. Another question will be asked of you. So, even if you win, present on your person, you might wake up in the hospital and have to answer something else or your dead too. Because in this game, there can only be one winner! Oh, and they need to be alive!
In the final round of the game, it's once again trying to reach the way out. It's a race to get outside the door. All players in the game are trying to reach the door out, sort of like a race with horses at the fair. Except, instead of filling up a balloon by shooting water into a clown's mouth to propel a horse forward (that's a weird concept, isn't it), you're guessing yea or nay to what's on screen. So your given the answer and selecting if their true or not. Ghosts get one extra answer.
Then the sequel hits you with another horror movies reference, a la Cabin in the Woods with a freaky electronic sci-fi gate before getting out. You have to get all answers right if you wanna leave.
Great sequel for a fun game from about three years back. And the spooky setting will just make it to enticing for horror fans.
*For those who hate US history or just aren't from around here, there's an new option for this game. US-centric questions can be turned off, so, questions related to America can be turned off. So, commies and players in Canada can rejoice, slightly, there still not in America.
Role Models
The game is played by choosing categories and then placing your friends as a person from said franchise movie, cartoon or whatever. Like, whose Garfield, John Arbuckle, Odie and Nermal. And their can be disagreements of what people are in the group which causes a vote, so your role is more defined. I know, I hate Mondays.
The point system in this one is science pellets, because if you're playing you're essentially a guinea pig. A solid visual, making the game it's own weird looking science lesson.
Once again, this is a colorful and fun new game, but you have to know a little something, something about the people playing or it makes little to no sense. So Trivia Murder for people you don't know and for new frenemies this game.
Oh, and this is maybe the only Jackbox Party Pack game that let's you take a picture of yourself to use as your avatar. If camera shy, you can just draw a face, but hey, now your cat can play as you.
Lots of fun to put someone in their place and with a stylized game that could only come from Jackbox.
Push The Button
This is the least played game in the pack by me, but I'll update this and probably post a reminder to try it out after more plays.
You have to figure out who the alien is in a series of mini-games. Those game can be drawing, but other games can come into play. How you can spot said alien is because the alien's prompts different from human. To draw and answer questions will be slightly off from what humans were asked to do. After mini-game is played you can push the button on your phone to accuse someone, but everyone else who isn't accused has to agree to toss the person in question out. Oh, and there's a time limit of ten minutes, but I think you can take it off if you like.
All I know is that we did not succeed in killing the fake human among us and so all of us perished in space. Fun.
I want to get more into this, but as of now it's not as fun as fast paced drawing games of the past in the pack, but it's not really a drawing game it's a mystery game.
Joke Boat
Two rounds before the boat cap-sizes and in the third your underwater and about to drown. But before all that you've got to craft jokes. How, pray tell? First, you'll be asked for prompts for words and places.
*Plural noun is an indication of more than one of something. So, example zebra would be zebras or piano would be pianos.
Then you'll choose the start of jokes. Then you'll have to choose those prompts form you and your friends and they'll be placed in the start of the jokes. Now, now you've got to finish the joke on your own. Good luck!
Oh, and you have to say your catchphrase. It's from a prompt and random words. Say it at the end of every joke with feeling. It's your catchphrase, my last one was, "Baby diaper, much!"
That's the first round. Second round is the same from what I can remember. Third round you've got to remix previous jokes;try and pull them off better. If you beat the original writer it earns you way more points and hurts those comedians that came before you. It's all voted by the group, so do your best to be funny.
As said, all this is on board a bad cruise, so the visuals pop again. Your avatar is a random dummy selected for you. The boat looks dilapidated and the captain looks sketchy. Hopefully, your the funniest comedian in the group or your sunk. By which I mean you'll literally drown.
Fun on many levels as you can just take time to ask your friends if they understand what words are or are they really mice running an advanced android mecha of a human. What's with all these pleads for cheese during the game and why were they so afraid of the cat that night. Wait...
 |
| Said cat |
-A fun new game, creating words with friends.
This one has you opening up the funkiest dictionary on Earth. You and your friends are given a random word and then get to define it any way you want. I've had a lot of fun with this seeing into the minds of probably the mice running the bodies of my friends. Where people or mice minds go is kind of fun based on what random definition they come up with.
After the word is defined, you have to come up with a synonym in the next round
*synonym (Not, what you put in your Christmas hot cocoa) -A synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word.
What better way to define something than creating a new word for it and yes, it can be a dirty or have as many ooooooo's as you want in it.
Then, finally, you use the synonym in a sentence, creating a new hurtful or silly word, which honestly should be a real thing that society should do with our time. We need new curse words or ways to be specific on certain subjects.
Easily the fastest game to pick-up and play. It's like the appetizer of the pack. And you can do a number of new definitions in no time. It's currently my favorite of the pack.
Overall and extras
All games have some way of posting that you played them on Twitter, signifying that you've done something with your time with friends and not those losers outside on a cruise ship or at the Grand Canyon.
It's a strange new pack for a strange new world, but we'll be playing into 2020 and throughout the holidays season with friends, family and strangers. And those mice that might be living in the heads of the skulls of my best buds...or maybe their living quarters are in the torso. I'll have to ask.
Anyway, grab this new collection now!
Jackbox Party Pack 6 is out on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Windows PC, Mac and other major digital platforms for $29.99, but random sales on different platforms happen quite often for the game.
Publisher provided game for review purposes