The Jackbox Party Pack 5 review - a mixed party bag whose highs outweigh the lows

The Jackbox Party Pack 5

It’s the biggest Party Pack yet, including the return of the classic pop culture trivia mash-up YOU DON’T KNOW JACK: Full Stream; the game of hilarious hypotheticals Split the Room; the lyric-writing, robot rap battle Mad Verse City; the inventive drawing game Patently Stupid; and the outer space fling-fest Zeeple Dome.

The pizzas are in the oven. The beers are fresh out the fridge. Some of us have even remembered to charge our phones. It's time for a Jackbox party - and this time it's all about the latest instalment in the series, Party Pack 5.

For those out the loop (or who haven't been students in a while), Jackbox party packs are collections of multiplayer mini game collections. You typically get five games per pack, which can be played by up to eight people on their phones (along with the console or PC running the game's main display). They're pretty fabulous for evening's entertainment - typically because they allow for personalised jokes and crude yet creative humour. Think Cards Against Humanity, but with your name (and your secrets) laid bare for the amusement of all. It can get pretty messy.

As a lazy party host who's always on the lookout for easy entertainment, I've somehow become a veteran Jackbox player. With the latest instalment, I was looking for something that would strike a fine balance between the familiarity of past titles, and something new and quirky.

Read more…