The popular Jackbox party game series returns for its ninth year in a row with The Jackbox Party Pack 9. The long-running Jackbox franchise has proven to be remarkably entertaining when played with the right people, thanks to its wide variety of games ranging from trivia to drawing to guessing challenges. Each Jackbox Party Pack comes with five unique party games, and this year’s pack will be no different.
Jackbox Party Pack 9 comes with four brand-new games and the return of the fan-favorite Fibbage but with a few changes to the classic Fibbage style. Before the package launched, Game ZXC received a quick preview of all five games and a bit of hands-on time with two of them with the guidance of Jackbox developers. The Jackbox Party Pack 9 should feel familiar to long-time fans of the franchise; however, many games in this year's package seem tailored for fans of the writing and drawing games and are also more accommodating for a wide range of player counts.
The first game introduced during this preview was Junktopia, which plays out like Quiplash, but if it were hosted by a wizard on The Price is Right. The premise has all the hallmarks of a goofy Jackbox setting: the player has been turned into a frog and must go shopping for various bits of junk, write a story for each item, and have other players appraise the items based on those made-up stories. Whichever player gets closest to the original item prices across multiple rounds receives the most points. The winner is then able to turn back into a human. Junktopia quickly establishes itself as a simple and funny addition to the Jackbox Party Pack lineup that could easily find a home in the rotation of many Jackbox fans.
Roomerang is a reality TV-inspired game where players respond to prompts in a role-playing manner to avoid being cast out of the house once the voting round concludes. Roomerang is a longer and bigger game compared to Jackbox Party Pack 9's other offerings, taking closer to 35 minutes to complete, with the capacity for up to nine players. On the surface, it seemed a little daunting, but the game balanced playing and learning on the fly quite well from what was demonstrated.
Due to the longer nature of Roomerang compared to other Jackbox games--and the frustration that could come from being voted out early in a 35-minute match--the developers have allowed players to come back, but with a slightly different name. That is where the boomerang-inspired title comes from, seeing as players regularly leave and return to the Roomerang house. Roomerang seemed like a slower-paced game compared to the rest of the Jackbox Party Pack 9, with fewer opportunities for great quips than other entries in the package, but it may feel better to play than it is to watch.
The last Jackbox game showcased was Nonsensory, a game encompassing prompt-based writing, drawing, and guessing. Developer Arnie Niekamp describes Nonsensory as a game similar to Quiplash but focused on a more nuanced target. In this game, players will have to guess how close another player’s writing or drawing prompt ranks on a scale from one to ten. For example, one player is tasked with drawing a bird that is 70% annoyed; meanwhile, the other players will estimate how annoyed that bird looks based on the image illustrated by prompted player.
Hitting the exact number on the scale that the prompt wants will grant the most points, but points are still distributed to any players who come close to the actual answer. Nonsensory looks like a lot of fun; it lets players get into the head of their competition while playing off group dynamics, which is where Jackbox feels most fun to play. It has the potential to become another fan-favorite Jackbox Party Pack game and will undoubtedly deliver plenty of hilarious moments.
For the hands-on play session of the preview, the Jackbox team gave everyone a taste of Quixort, a vast team-based game for up to ten players that mixes trivia with Tetris-like sorting. To kick off Quixort, players will split into two teams, and one group will choose a trivia topic like “Roman Numerals.” The first team must frantically sort those Roman numerals correctly along a conveyor belt as they fall from the sky. After the first round, the other team will have its own prompt to figure out and sort, attempting to do better than the first team. Whichever team lines up the most trivia blocks in the correct order wins the round.
Thankfully, Quixort doesn’t just contain straight-faced bar trivia prompts like “Roman Numerals,” although those are easier than the goofier trivia topics. In this preview, one team chose the “A Day in the Life of a Jackbox Developer” prompt, which became quite entertaining as collaborative and creative thinking from all party members pieced together what developers do when creating Jackbox Party Packs. For larger groups looking for an easy-to-learn no-frills trivia game that is done in no time, Party Pack 9’s Quixort might be the perfect offering.
Lastly is Fibbage 4. The Jackbox fans and the development team love Fibbage so much that the developers decided to bring it back for the fourth time. Fibbage 4 is almost the same game everyone knows and loves: players will have to respond to various prompts and try to bluff or goof their way to victory. However, there is a bit of a new spin this time. Fibbage 4 will feature various fan-submitted video questions and an all-new Final Fibbage round. Fibbage is a Jackbox classic, and fans will undoubtedly continue to love this slight refresh in Party Pack 9.
Some new and returning features are also coming to The Jackbox Party Pack 9. Recent Jackbox Party Packs have made great strides in moderation and accessibility, letting players fine-tune the games to what is most comfortable with content control. These features will be present in the upcoming ninth entry while also introducing streamer-friendly settings like lobby-kicking and a significant quality-of-life improvement with server reconnecting should players disconnect mid-game.
From the brief time spent with The Jackbox Party Pack 9, it can be safe to say that creative writing and drawing fans will be the ones that enjoy this package the most, thanks to the addition of Junktopia, Roomerang, and Nonsensory to the Jackbox lineup. However, for everyone else who isn’t so keen, just about every entry in Jackbox Party Pack 9 is quite forgiving and keeps the whole experience accessible and inclusive. Moreover, this seems like it will be an excellent set of games for big parties or online sessions. No game caps out at less than eight players and includes options for up to nine and ten players. Jackbox Party Pack 9 is sure to be familiar, fun, and accessible to those picking it up.
Jackbox Party Pack 9 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
