Jackbox 10 review. 5 new games to ring in the holiday season.

It is hard to believe that with all the new historic moments and crazy drama not allowing us to breath for a moment, we are already a year removed from Jackbox's last game. And with a new holiday season approaching fast (yes, I indeed count Halloween as part of the holiday season) it is good to have new games to share with others so we can take a moment, breath and have some laughs and enjoy the moment. So, enter Jackbox 10.

Once again Jackbox is trying to keep fresh, and this edition has new five titles that include a wild variety of games to play with friends and family local or online. Of course, being all in the same room is the best experience for any Jackbox game, but the creators have leaned into its grown twitch popularity as well as allowing some improvements to use a discord or zoom call to share the experience with those further away. An immediate plus for the 2023 edition in the series is that 4 out of the 5 games included are new experiences including one totally fresh new kind of gameplay making its debut in the series.

Being as we got this game early I coerced the family and some friends into grabbing phones, laptops and tablets and try the new Jackbox Menu.

A new coat of paint.

 

TEEK-KO2

First let start with a familiar face in this new pack with TEE- KO 2. Much like the first version you are entering a mortal Kombat of T-shirt designs, where many enter but only one will end up victorious.

The concept goes like this. Draw 3 things, anything you want, and make up 4 or more random phrases.

 The next part of the game you will get to choose from a few different phrases and pictures other people made and design your own t-shirt, hoodie or sleeveless.  In this new version of the game there are improved drawing tools, more design options and later in the rounds you can even take someone else's drawing and add to it or change it, to "improve" it in any way you see fit.

T-shirts then go head-to-head for a vote in which one is the ultimate article. If you are not the best artist, or have the funniest text, things can work out really well when they are combined by others at random and you score points for getting voted best shirt, having your image or text used etc. This makes it that you have multiple chances to score points and feel you are participating to the fullest.  Other than that, it is pretty much the same game and I think if you did not like the first TEE-KO there is nothing here that will convert you, and if you loved the first one you will like this one just as much.

New creative and mind-bending challenges

Moving on to the 4 new entries in the Jackbox library. Yes you read that right, 4 brand spanking new games for your entertainment. Not another Fibbage or murder party trivia this time. But do not worry trivia nerds, you will get your random knowledge itch scratched.

FixyText

Taking the concept of text messages gone wrong, FixyText spins the concept of our online communication habits and vices and turns it into a wild, multiplayer texting game.  Your mission? To reply to communications from other using a Wildy weird texting machine. The catch? You all reply at once, there is no delete key, backspace or autocorrect. Needless to say, chaos ensues.  

After the text is done and read by a hilarious AI voice, making nonsense words even funnier you get points for any part you participated in that gets votes from the players for being funny.

The humor in this can come from two different things. And depending on who you are you will find one funnier than the other. The obvious one is people who type creative or outrageous things. But then there is the part where all the text is getting jumbled, and things no longer make sense or even words become monstrous alphabet chimeras. No longer recognizable are proper language.

The problem for us with the game is if you deal with those scoundrels that just type a bunch of naughty words to be extremely out of pocket and throw real creativity or chance funnies out the window. It is like playing cards against humanity and knowing you will likely lose to someone with the most vulgar card. So it is up to you and your friends what is the best way to play this and what content is funny or not. But things can get hilarious and also out of control fast. 

However, this game is undeniable unique and can be total random in the fun it delivers. 

Time Jinx

Trivia heads, this is your time to shine, but if you have lived in the last few decades and/or stayed awake a little bit during history class, or even are remotely involved in anything pop culture you can participate in this time traveling trivia game.

Played with up to 8 players, you all take guess when a certain even happened. For instance, "Billy the kid was born in New York in this year" The game will give you a range and you will have to try to pinpoint the correct year. The closer you are to less points will get. Like a round of golf, the fewer points the better.

Not all questions are about ancient history though, things can run all the way up too the 2020's. And surprisingly questions of events within the last 10-20 years were some of the toughest as it all seems to bland in. The laughs and screams of disbelief that something was much closer or much longer ago then people thought causes fun discussion moments during and after the game, making you wonder how time even works. 

The game varies the way it asks questions and lets you choose answers. At some point you get two variants of an event, and you have to pick the correct answer for instance. All thinly veiled with a time travel premise where you are tasked to correct the past.

As you go through the rounds, the game puts in some assist to keep the score closer by giving those doing really bad some hints to make it a little bit easier on them and help them catch up a little. If they pay attention. Some people cannot be helped no matter what.

 

If you just live in the here and now or are younger you probably will have a harder time with this but is it not impossible to play as you can just guess and it entirely possible to win that way (and surprise everyone else).

This was one of our favorites, due to is presentation and the "fairness" for people that are perhaps less creative. 

Dodo Re Mi

I loved Dodo Re Mi, a new game and genre for Jackbox that takes the idea of games like guitar hero and Parrapa the Rapper and creates a teamwork game where you play as little cute birds who simultaneously create music to feed a weird cavernous plant. The game supports 1-9 players, and it most fun with more people all in one room and their phones as loud as possible. 

You see Jackbox went all out for this game and designed unique gameplay moments that include playing the instrument live on your phone/tablet. Not all instruments are as easy to play or are traditional instruments. To try and play flight of the bumble bee and the person next to you just goes "AARG AAARG ARRRG" as they slam their finger on their phone, times 9 is hilarious just by itself. You will see when you try it. Just imagine someone rhythmically squeezing a rubber chicken on stage during a school concert.

At the end of the song, the game will play back all this chaos into one major song, and it will be revealed if you collectively beat the plant or if someone will get eaten. It then also scores and shows who did best individually. 

So how do you score? Well that is done by pressing /tapping in time with the beat of the music as presented for your chosen instrument on your device. For those already worried about timing, which is essential for these kind of games, Jackbox found a way to deal with that quite effectively. Before each round you will be asked to tap, tap, tap, on your phone with the sound on your TV/Screen . This will sync each device uniquely for the game. We found this work surprisingly well.

Dodo Re Mi contains both original songs and familiar music played in unexpected genres and is a blast to play. There are no round progressions with a end winner. this game is about having fun together and create silly compositions until you are ready to stop and change games. Fun detail is that if you like your song you can share it with a link to social media. A fun addition to bring the game outside of your evening of fun and share with others, and perhaps entice them to come play with you next time.

Last and not least there is ...

Hypnotorious

This one was a favorite in our group. 

Hypnotorious is a hidden identity/roleplayinggame where players get "hypnotised" and assigned secret roles. You can change your role once if you do not like your first choice, but this can also backfire.

Once assigned you will answer a series of questions as that Character, subject or object. For instance, you are a Mercedes or Lady Gaga.  After the question the answers are shown, and it is time to guess who else might be in your category. Problem is you are not even sure yet what those categories are. Is it famous singers? hairstyles? food?  So some discussion and social deduction to who or what someone is might lead to clues to see who belongs with you. Guess right and score points at the end (until then points are secret as to not give away if you are on the right path or not)

But to make things even more confusing, one of you is an outlier and does not belong in any of the other categories. But who is the outlier? It might even be you. And you definitely do not want to NOT belong, you want to hide with the others if you can. So do you make your clues very vague or make it clear what /who you are. either choice can backfire on you so choose smart.

In the very end the categories and everyone's exact roles are revealed, and point awarded. Each game has two rounds so you can go again right away to try and do better in round 2.

This game works with 4-8 players and again more players, mean more confusion and potentially more fun.  There is a big caveat to this being fun and that is the problem on not knowing who/what the role assigned to you. If you know nothing about that role, it will be hard to give clues. We tried to allow people to do a search but did to have too much time to come up with enough information before the game continued. Despite us running into this with the younger players, it was far from a dealbreaker for us and as I mentioned before it was a far favorite of this pack for us. 

The artwork in this game with the silly brain characters was just too funny and adorable as well really helping to sell the game.

If it sounds too confusing to not worry. After one round you get it and before the end of your first game you will be well versed into what to do and how to play this one.

, tentative alliances and of course, silly answers to ridiculous questions. Who is on your side? Hypnotorious supports 4-8 players. 

“What is Hypnotorious?” you might ask. It’s a game where you and your fellow players take part in a virtual stage show where our host, a mysterious hypnotist, mesmerizes you, then gives you a character to play. So thoroughly do you take on this new persona, that when he asks you a question, you will answer as that character!

Conclusion

Jackbox 10 was a big improvement for us because of the new game variety and the balance in games, there is a little bit of everything from creative, to knowledge and a bit of random hilarity.  The unique DODOREMI brings a fun new group style of game to a larger group to play and working together and was a brave bold step for Jackbox to take this time around. Hopefully we keep seeing unique games like this being developed more. And the humorous FizyText is just pure unadulterated chaos. For us the number one vote went to Hypnotorius which was the first time we all liked one of the social deduction games in Jackbox the best. But all of the games felt like winners for us this year, with TEE-KO being in last place just due to its length and complexity when going through all the steps. 

The usual quality of life improvements such as extended timers, hiding room codes, keeping things family friendly and a bunch of Twitch streaming integrations, continue in this pack from before. Those little touches have shown how much the game series has grown into its role as a social game for everyone. 

2023 us a great jack box year. In a way the game feels comfortable and familiar, but it also feels fresh and news. it is more than worth checking out this latest edition in the series to and get you ready for the cold indoor winter months that are around the corner. Or do you really want to talk to uncle Steve about his latest political hot takes again?

Jackbox 10 will be out 18 October 2022 on all consoles and PC and will cost $34.99 USD | €34.99 | £29.50 |

This is a price hike from last year and you will have to see if that is worth the cost for 5 new games. Lucky for you, there is a demo out to playtest as well to see if these are up your alley.

Game: Jackbox party pack  10
Publisher: Jackbox games inc.
Developer: Jackbox games inc
Release Date:18 October 2022  
Platforms:  PlayStation, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC 
Review Platform: PC (Steam)
ESRB: T(Teen) for Crude Humor, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Sexual Themes

About the writer: DadGeek (Rob) is the co-founder of GeeksVsGeeks. He is a product of the eighties and never let go of his geek interest and hobbies no matter how often someone told him to stop. His love for gaming and all things geeks has been part of his parenting style and permeates throughout the whole family. A family of Geeks vs Geeks