It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not that one – not yet. It’s Jackbox time once again with The Jackbox Party Pack 10. Friends and families are gathered around the television, and laughter does indeed fill the air, but the gifts are those of comedy and the mobile phones are not distractions, but portals to a world of trivia, laughter, music and wonder. And, as it happens, some pretty fresh t-shirt designs…
If you are not familiar with the Jackbox games series, each new annual edition features five light-hearted party games, ranging from straight-up joke-craft to perplexing spins on trivia, social deduction games, musical menageries, and more. This year’s title is no exception, and as ever the best way to dive into a review is to split the pack and take things one game at a time. So, without delay, let’s take a look at Tee K.O. 2!
Tee K.O. 2
Tee K.O. 2 is the only returning title in The Jackbox Party Pack 10. A true fan favourite, the game involves whimsical artistry and not-so-sophisticated slogan design – all in the name of fashion. This game is for 3-8 players (plus the audience) and last around 15-20 minutes per play.
Over the course of three rounds, players must use a limited selection of drawing tools and colours to create open-ended artistic “masterpieces” to adorn a hoodie, t-shirt or vest, before combining these with equally absurd slogans of their friends’ creation. Then, a head-to-head vote takes place to crown the champion of T-Shirt Island.
The game is classic Jackbox low-stakes fun and silliness. It could perhaps benefit from a little more theming and structure in the design department, with the open-endedness being a bit too broad for some players to creatively flourish. That being said, the light and playful nature of the game allows anyone, no matter how stick figure-based their artwork may be, to have fun and contribute.
In the grand scheme of The Jackbox Party Pack 10, Tee K.O. 2 feels more like a callback to the series’ pedigree than a true hard hitter. It doesn’t quite make the top 3 in the pack for entertainment value, but it is by no means an unwelcome title on the roster. A little more polish and direction, and Tee K.O. 2 might have contended for a top spot. Nevertheless, it fulfils its role as the first game on the menu and a bit of a warm-up title for the shenanigans to follow.
TimeJinx
TimeJinx is a fresh classic of the Jackbox staple. A perfect blend of trivia that anyone has a chance of having a go at, crossed with a thematic twist to keep things just a little bit unique and interesting.
In this 1-8 player game, the questions fall somewhere on a timeline, and you simply need to get a close as possible to win. Golf-style scoring applies, with the lowest scoring player taking the crown. Bonus questions throughout the game offer the chance to reduce your score by a percentage, whilst hints are strategically offered to trailing players as a light and friendly catch-up mechanic.
Combining concepts from long-time casual tabletop classic game Timelines with both recent and historic questions to nail down the dates for, TimeJinx is an immediate hit when it comes to the Jackbox deck of games. One of the simpler titles to pick up and play in The Jackbox Party Pack 10, yet one of the most enticing and repayable to match, the game gets those brain cells abuzz at the start of a party without pushing you to think too hard, long, or indeed mathematically. This is one which I know my group of friends will be pumping the hours into over the course of the next year.
FixyText
Every Jackbox Party Pack has that one game which becomes utterly outrageous in the wrong hands, and entirely hysterical no matter who is playing it. The Jackbox Party Pack 10 FixyText fills those boots for this collection. A semi-team-based write-along game which challenges you to collaboratively and comedically respond to incoming text messages, this 3-8 player title is as much a hilarious ice breaker as it is an inevitable steaming mess throughout.
Playing to a theme, whether that be responding to the group chat or engaging in a flirty one-to-one with an unseen yet pushy CPU character, player simultaneously write the same shared replies to engage with the text shown on screen. Inevitably, every round of writing ends in a jumbled, comical array of misspelled and disorganised nonsense – at it is insane fun.
Noting that this would of course be the case, especially with backspace fully disabled for players, scoring in this game is based on player votes for the funniest parts of the messages sent. As with the best Jackbox games over the years, however, the scoring matters little next to the shared hilarity of the experience along the way.
FixyText is entertaining, albeit very loose. It lacks the intelligent aspect to become one of the top tier Jackbox minigames of all time, but it thrives in its unstructured-ness and offers laughs aplenty throughout. Definitely one to play later on in the evening, FixyText offers pure fun on players’ terms, as long as you aren’t looking for too many rules to streamline the experience.
Dodo Re Mi
Jackbox always pull a leftfield move with each Party Pack; sometimes a puzzle game, sometimes disarming bombs, and sometimes a delightfully musical title like Dodo Re Mi in The Jackbox Party Pack 10. This collaborative music making game, in which you are birds creating and celebrating music together in the jungle, is an interesting one indeed.
Playing tunes in time and to the beat is what will allow you to survive. Your instruments and methods are largely your choice, and you can play for as long as you might like. As you play, you hear you instrument coming out of your device, which makes this a tricky one for headphones-users – perhaps the only oversight by the Jackbox team for how players interact with the games during distance play. As you combine your individual contributions into a beautiful (or otherwise) ensemble, you are ultimately either celebrated by your peers or eaten by a rather menacing looking plant creature.
Dodo Re Mi is good fun, however certainly best enjoyed in-person. It is by no means a miss for the Party Pack, but the element of thinking through your device setups in advance is an uncommon hurdle before entry which caught my friends and I off guard. However, these barriers having been overcome, we surely enjoyed the musical delights (subjectively speaking) which followed.
Hypnotorious
The Jackbox Party Pack 10 Hypnotorious was the holy grail of our first playthrough of The Jackbox Party Pack 10’s titles. Just beating out TimeJinx for our favourite game of the night, this title is akin to an under-the-radar social deduction game. Requiring 4-8 players, this was something new and special, and we didn’t even know it until half way into the game…
At the start of the game, each player is designated an object, character or other “thing” to embody for the game. In one game I was buffalo chicken wings, for example, whilst in another I was sandals. I had to not give away exactly what object I was in answer to questions presented by the game, but demonstrate enough information to be able to group-up with those peers with whom I fit into the same category. Already, this was a good bit of structured, silly fun. Then, the twist came in…
Evidently, one of our party was in fact an outlier. They did not fit into a category with the others, but given that they had not been told their role and we did not actually know the category titles, the challenge to identify this individual was profound. If we failed, they would get a wealth of bonus points, so the onus was on the group, including the outlier themselves, to make a call.
For a game which is fundamentally about fitting in, without giving too much away, Hypnotorious was exceptionally clever and delightfully fun. It was the finale to our first games night with The Jackbox Party Pack 10, and it was so good we stayed up a little later to play it a few more times again. The cherry on top for this collection indeed, Hypnotorious was our winner for “Game of the Pack”.
Conclusions for The Jackbox Party Pack 10
The Jackbox Party Pack 10 was a familiar and expected maintaining of form from Jackbox Games. All five titles, one returning and four new, presented wholly enjoyable and comedic experiences which will continue the trend of frequent replayability and enjoyment for the year to come until Party Pack 11. A wealth of accessibility and family friendly settings continue to outstandingly promote play for all, as do a good range in styles and formats of minigame.
Hypnotorious came out on top for my crew as the best new offering, with TimeJinx a close second and frankly no bad game in the pack. The slight hitch of ensuring our device setups were applicable to playing Dodo Re Mi was an unusual and uncommon bump in the road for the often straight cut Jackbox games, but it was merely a minor grievance to overcome.
In comparison to Party Pack 9 and indeed the full array of predecessors for The Jackbox Party Pack 10 to hold up to, my group and I felt this was a middle-of-the-road sort of offering. That being said, the last few instalments have repeatedly smashed it out of the park, so take that as no signal that The Jackbox Party Pack 10 is not worth the time. A fine addition to any Jackbox fan’s collection, The Jackbox Party Pack 10 does not disappoint and continues a run of form which sets its family of titles apart from the competition as the best party games in the business.
For even more reviews head here https://invisioncommunity.co.uk/category/review/
Grab your copy of The Jackbox Party Pack 10 head here
