We love playing both The Jackbox Party Pack and The Jackbox Party Pack 2 here at Techaeris and find both to be fun party games. Jackbox Games is back with their third installment in the series and our The Jackbox Party Pack 3 review takes a look to see if the fun continues.
Before we begin, check out the launch trailer below.
Gameplay
The “threequel” to The Jackbox Party Pack, this iteration features one sequel and four new games. Some of the games also have a family friendly filter which makes the questions suitable for kids and pre-teens, providing fun and entertainment for players of all ages. Gameplay is as simple as picking up your smartphone or tablet, visiting the Jackbox.TV website, and entering a nickname and room code.
Quiplash 2
Quiplash 2 is the sequel to Quiplash XL which first appeared in The Jackbox Party Pack 2 — and is technically the third Quiplash game. In this “say anything” game, Jackbox Games has created all new questions, and there is even an option to make your own questions up for even more variety.
In Quiplash 2, players are given a series of questions to answer. When the game starts, the other players must pick the best answer for the question and players receive points based on the number of people who choose your answer. The questions are pretty funny and can get downright raunchy, and the answers that people come up with can be just as hilarious.
Quiplash 2 supports 3-8 players, has a family-friendly filter, and is just as fun as the original Quiplash and Quiplash XL.
Trivia Murder Party
The first of four new games in The Jackbox Party Pack 3, Trivia Murder Party is a deadly quiz show where you match wits with a trivia-obsessed killer. Each round features questions with four possible answers. Choose right, and you go on to the next round. Choose wrong and you’ll find yourself either dead or having to face off against other players who got the answer wrong in a chance to stay alive.
Once you die, the game isn’t over for you and you get to keep playing and answering questions. It’s important to answer right at this stage as when the final round comes along, this will help determine your position for the final series of questions. In the final round, players are tasked with selecting one, two, or — in the case of the dead “ghosts” — three possible correct choices that go along with the question being asked. Based on the number of correct answers you get, you move that much closer to the door and your escape. If a ghost passes a living player, the living player then dies and the ghost is resurrected. In other words, everyone has a chance to escape.
Trivia Murder Party is a really fun addition to the series, and we definitely had more than a few laughs at the dialogue and questions in this game. This game can be played with 1 to 8 players.
Guesspionage
Guesspionage is a 2 to 8 player “brain-battering data-mining guessing” game and it is the second game in the pack with a family-friendly filter. Each round sees different players on the hot seat, having to guess what percentage of people have done something. Once they’ve locked in their answer, the other players get a chance to choose if the percentage is higher or lower. The person in the hot seat gets points based on how close they are to the correct answer, while the others get points based on whether they guessed correctly if the percentage was higher or lower. In later rounds, you can guess if it’s much higher or much lower as well in order to score double points.
I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s the weakest game in the pack, but it did tend to be the one that people requested the least while playing.
Tee K.O.
Another new addition to Jackbox Games’ stable of games, Tee K.O. produces some hilarious results with a “t-shirt slugfest where you battle your custom t-shirts to the death!” Once everyone is set up and ready to go, the 3 to 8 players are asked to create three drawings. After everyone has completed these drawings, you then come up with as many slogans as you can in the time limit.
Once the drawings and slogans are in, each player gets to create a custom t-shirt based on a selection of drawings and slogans from other people. As you can imagine, some of the slogans attached to certain drawings definitely have some interesting results. Next, the t-shirt designs go head to head and the players vote on which one they like best for each round.
After the initial round of drawing and choosing, another round tasks players with drawing yet another design and coming up with more slogans and then creating another t-shirt design to go into battle. Once again, players vote on which t-shirt they like best and then the winners go head to head for a final round.
Aside from the hilarious results which can ensue, there’s an option to even buy your favourite t-shirt designs after each game has completed. Just a quick note, this game doesn’t have a family-friendly filter but because you are both drawing the designs and coming up with the slogans, it’s not needed and Tee K.O. can be enjoyed by all ages.
Fakin’ It
The final game in The Jackbox Party Pack 3 is definitely one of the most fun, and is the third game with a family-friendly filter. In Fakin’ It, 3 to 6 players get together and try to fake answers and fool everyone else in the room and get away. One player picks a set of actions that must be performed, whether it be pointing at someone else, holding up a certain number of fingers, making a funny or weird face, or raising your hand. After the action is selected, all the players besides one will get the same question while the faker will be told to try to blend in by making a funny face or raising their hand and so forth. After everyone readies up, the game counts down from 3 and then everyone must answer the question they just saw by raising their hand or whatnot.
The TV then shows what the question was, and everyone else has to guess who the faker is. The vote to discover the faker must be unanimous, so it pays to discuss, accuse, and lie your way out of why you answered how you did. If the vote isn’t unanimous or everyone votes for the wrong person, the round continues and each faker has 3 chances to get away.
After a few rounds of Fakin’ It, a final round sends prompts to everyone’s phones with a less specific prompt or different prompt to the faker. For example, everyone might get a prompt asking what the last cute animal video they sent to someone else was, while the faker might get a prompt asking what animal they are most afraid of. Like the other rounds, the question is then displayed on the TV and everyone must guess who the faker is.
This game was one of the top requests for playing again, and it really is a fun group party game when you’re with a bunch of people you know — or think you know — really well.
Graphics
Being a pack of party games, there’s not much to expect graphically here but the different styles of art went well with each game. The graphics in both Trivia Murder Party and Tee K.O. were especially noteworthy and definitely helped to enhance the gameplay and set the mood for both those games.
Sound
Sound definitely has a bigger impact here, and once again the host in the game was funny and pretty spot on with his comments and humour. The sound effects and background music was well done as well, and once again in games like Tee K.O. and Trivia Murder Party helped to enhance the game experience.
Multiplayer
Like its predecessors, The Jackbox Party Pack 3 is a multiplayer game through and through. Even though you can play Trivia Murder Party alone, there isn’t much point and it’s much more fun with other people.
The multiplayer experience is pretty smooth, with players using their smartphones or tablets as controllers. There was the odd instance where the game would freeze up on a device but a simple refresh of the page would have the player back in the current game in no time at all.
In addition to the players playing the game, each game in the pack supports up to 10,000 audience members who can play along — and in some cases affect the outcome of the game with their votes. It’s definitely a perfect feature for those who choose to stream on Twitch or other services while playing.
Concept
Being the third installment in the series, the general concept of being able to use your smart device as a controller isn’t new, but the various game concepts introduced in The Jackbox Party Pack 3 are new and well implemented in this format. The developers over at Jackbox Games once again have managed to keep things fresh and fun in this latest addition to the series.
Wrap-up
If you’ve played the first two party packs in the series, The Jackbox Party Pack 3 is a fun continuation with new games and enhancements to the game. For those new to the series, it’s definitely a fun pack of party games to jump into and be introduced to the fun and humour developed over at Jackbox Games.
Either way, The Jackbox Party Pack 3 is a fun set of 5 games sure to keep you and your guests or family members entertained for hours to come.
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