Jackbox Party Pack 6 | Xbox One Review

If you’ve been following The Gaming Outsider for at least a year, you know that we’re all big fans of Jackbox Games. OK, so maybe I’m a bigger fan than most. I genuinely look forward to this time of year when the latest collection of party games drops from this developer. It’s become somewhat of a tradition for me to gather my non-gamer friends to play, and this year was no disappointment. Unlike most years, all five games in Jackbox Party Pack 6 were immensely replayable. There’s definitely a standout that got the most love from my group, but fans of this genre won’t want to miss the latest entry. Let’s get into the games.

Trivia Murder Party 2

Trivia Murder Party 2 was the first game my group played from Jackbox Party Pack 6, and it was an immediate favorite. It capitalizes on the formula from the first game that appeared on Party Pack 3. The questions are trickier, and the minigames in between are genuinely clever. Most games came down to the wire and had my entire basement exploding in cheers once the winner was announced. The intensity of each match is palpable, which is impressive considering this is a glorified trivia game.

If you’re new to Trivia Murder Party, it works as follows. Two to eight players enter a haunted house where wrong answers run the risk of players being killed. Those who guess incorrectly enter a minigame where the loser dies. What’s great is that player isn’t eliminated from the game, however. They’re at a slight disadvantage, but still have a good chance to pull off a win. Once all but one player has perished (or the top floor of the house is reached), the game shifts into a final round. Here, the players race to the exit to escape by answering multiple choice questions. The catch here is that multiple answers (or none) might be correct, which adds a new strategy to the mix. It’s a fantastic element that makes it possible for anyone to come from behind and win it all. Truly a fantastic experience.

Dictionarium

If you’ve ever played the board game “Balderdash,” you’ll be right at home with Dictionarium. Everyone is presented with a nonsense word at the same time. Each player enters a made-up definition, and all answers are presented on the screen at once. Players vote on the one they find the most clever or funny, and the ones with the most votes get the most points. It’s fairly simple, but it’s so convenient to play this style of game electronically instead of using paper and pencil.

Push the Button

Push the Button is another game that borrows from board games. This one works very similar to games like “Mafia” or “Secret Hitler,” where certain players are designated as a villain. Depending on the number of players in your game, one or two players will be told via phone that they are an alien. They are not to reveal their identity, else they will lose the game. Rounds proceed with one person choosing three people to be interrogated by the rest of the team. If a player is an alien, they might be given a different question than everyone else. The job of the human characters is to determine which players’ answers don’t align with their actual personality.

At any point in the match, a player can claim they know who the alien(s) is/are and accuse them of being so. All of the non-aliens have to agree on the decision to jettison them into space. Obviously, the aliens themselves have no say in this vote, but must pretend like they are voting to conceal their identity. If the humans guess correctly, they win; but if they guess even one human character as an alien, the aliens win. To add an element of pressure, the humans have a timer that constantly ticks down, forcing them to move quickly. Much like Dictionarium, it’s fantastic to be able to play this in an electronic format instead of relying on paper and pencil.

Joke Boat

In Jackbox Party Pack 5, one of our favorite games was Mad Verse City, in which you entered rap battles against your friends. It sounds insane, but it’s quality fun. Party Pack 6 takes that idea a step further with Joke Boat, and it works surprisingly well. Pairs of players are given the same setup for a joke. Their job is to come up with the best punchline. The rest of the players vote on their favorite joke, and points are awarded accordingly.

It seems like a simple concept, but there were plenty of laughs to be had with my group. This is one of those games where you must play to your audience, so knowing your fellow competitors personally definitely helps. It’s not as strong as Mad Verse City, but it’s close.

Role Models

The last game in the collection is Role Models, and even though it got the least amount of play from my party, it’s still a worthy entry. This game acts as a sort of social experiment where players choose which of their friends fit a particular role. For example, if there are six people in your game, it might ask you to decide which player resembles each of the cast of Friends the most. Hilarity ensues when comments like, “What do you mean I’m like Ross?” ensue.

Points are allocated to players who received the most votes for respective “roles”, and after several rounds a winner is crowned. The icing on the cake is that the computer generates a “personality” for each player based on how the other players voted for them. It’s a ridiculous concept that definitely brought forth more than a few laughs.

Jackbox Party Pack 6 Final Verdict

What’s not to love here? Outside of Trivia Murder Party 2, the other games may require you to know a little about your competitors to get the best experience. This shouldn’t affect most who play with friends anyway, but those streaming with an audience might feel a bit awkward. This a minor complaint on an otherwise solid collection of party games. If you’re a fan of any of the previous collections, Jackbox Party Pack 6 is the best in years. Don’t even hesitate picking this one up; you won’t be disappointed.

This review is based on an Xbox One copy of Jackbox Party Pack 6 provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. The game is also available on PC, Mac, PS4, Switch, iOS, Amazon Fire, Comcast Xfinity, and Android TV.