Jackbox 10 is a perfectly good entry into the series, with the majority of the games within it being "good" and not all that stand out. It can certainly lighten the mood of any party or social gathering, but it won't elevate it in the same way that previous Jackbox games might. Tee K.O. 2 and FixyText are the standouts, with the other three games being just alright. Taking all the previous scores adds up to a total of 7/10. This year's Party Pack is undoubtedly an acceptable entry in the Jackbox franchise, but it won't hit the same peaks as the previous games would.
- K.O. 2 fixed most of the flaws from the original game
- FixyText offers easily understandable hilarity anyone can enjoy
- The collection of games offers incredible visuals and sound design
- Occasionally there are a few bugs that break the game
- Timejinx and Hypnotorious could've used some extra time
- Dodo Re Mi rhythm game in Jackbox isn't the best idea to begin with.
If you’re someone who plays a bunch of multiplayer games with your friends and family, you’ve definitely heard of the Jackbox Party Pack series before.
It’s a series consisting of compilations of five smaller games to make a well-rounded package of fun times that can be played with around 1-8 players or, in some cases, much more by using the audience feature.
These games usually have somewhat consistent genres, namely, a drawing game, a writing game, and a trivia game, with the other two being more interchangeable.
Still, there’s usually a hidden role game (the best ones) or a presentation game. These are all fun and make for incredible games to put on at an event, and the ones within Party Pack 10 are no exception.
Within this pack, we have the typical three, on top of a hidden role game and a rhythm game (which sounds like a bad idea, but let’s hear them out). As always, only one person needs to buy the game, and the rest can use their phone or the web browser on their computer. This is the tenth Jackbox game, and with the price increase up to $35, it’s got a hell of a lot to live up to.
This review will go much differently from the other reviews on Indie Game Culture. Instead of going for specific aspects of the game (i.e. Visuals, Sound Design, etc.)
I’m going to be individually ranking each game on a scale of 0-2, 0 meaning the game will barely get played even if the pack is on, 1 being a fine party game but nothing to jump for, and 2 being a great party game that is worth booting up the entire pack for. Let’s dive into Indie Game Culture’s Jackbox Party Pack 10 review.
Tee K.O. 2
Rating: 2/2
Player Count: 3-8
This game is peak; I take no other answers. Tee K.O., the iconic classic from Jackbox 3 with some of the most hype presentation ever, finally gets its sequel, and it’s fixed almost every flaw in the original game and topped just about everything its predecessor did.
It’s still about drawing silly tee shirts with funny catchphrases, and this time, you get the addition of the marker, undo, and eraser tools from Champ’d Up, with the game offering you prompt ideas for when you don’t know what to draw.
The basic structure of drawing a few potentially quality things, writing a few hopefully funny things, and then combining the drawings and slogans your friends made hasn’t changed much.
However, you do get to modify any previous drawings (I have never seen anyone opt not to do this) in the second round now, as well as the final round consisting of mashing as hard as possible for the shirt you liked most.
The most glaring issue from the first game still present here is the scoring system. You’re actively rewarded for making bad art and slogans since you’re not using it (outside of the second round), but that isn’t fun.
The person making the shirt is the only one getting points; you just get a little mention at the end, and that’s it. Regardless of that small blunder, though, Tee K.O. is hilarious and still just as fun as ever, especially with the improvements.
One unforgivable blunder made by Tee K.O. 2, though, is replacing the original characters with existing ones from all throughout Jackbox’s history. I have not met a single person who liked this change.
We all adored the original characters from the first game, and it’s so weird that they changed this. It doesn’t affect gameplay in the slightest; I want to know why they did that.
Timejinx
Rating: 1/2
Player Count: 1-8
This is the standard trivia game of the pack, and as it goes for almost every trivia game, it’s fine. I’m not a huge trivia buff, so bear with me on this one, but I think this game is just okay; it consists almost entirely of answering questions, asking you when something happened, and giving you a general range of what to answer.
This continues for around three questions and rounds, all following the same general format.
Unlike something like Trivia Murder Party, there’s nothing here for people who don’t like trivia, no minigames or diversions to help you catch up if you get something wrong.
There are in-between rounds that can improve your score, but to win, you have to answer more trivia; it’s just a different kind of trivia from the usual. You get something like “What is the correct answer for this era?” or “Fix the word in this sentence,” all sticking to the time-traveling theme.
It’s super chill, some pretty fun trivia, and guessing isn’t too bad since you get a range of answers and get rewarded for getting as close as possible, rather than open-ended or straightforward multiple-choice questions.
The vibes of this game are immaculate, and it’s great if you want something to relax a bit instead of the usual loud and chaotic Jackbox experience.
It’s fine. It’s chill, a tremendous wind-down game and something that people dedicating half their brain to useless fun facts will enjoy. If you hate trivia, you might still enjoy it since it’s easy to guess, and the losing players get hints.
Bonus points for the creative final round, making you say when something in the future will happen, almost always on the 100th anniversary of something, which is just a more creative way to word the standard questions.
FixyText
Rating: 2/2
Player Count: 3-8
This is the writing game of the pack, and man, it’s so good, guys. The premise is pretty simple: write a response to an awkward text that you can choose from several categories.
However, you and 1-3 other players are editing the text simultaneously like you’re all on the same Google Doc, and you can’t delete anything that anyone has typed; you just add more.
This simple concept continues across a few messages, and each team swaps off each message. The opposing team will choose their favorite words, and the person (or people) who wrote them will be rewarded with points.
I don’t think the points matter too much since just seeing what chaotic amalgamation of terribly spelled words is more than enough entertainment, and it’s potentially the most entertainment I’ve seen from a Jackbox game in a while.
You tend to win the better you are at making chaotic and unhinged posts on social media, so this is like getting fed the wildest things you’ll ever see on your timeline, but with a million hilarious spelling errors.
The game will also reward scores to both players if you co-authored a word with someone else, which is a super nice addition, considering some of the best things in this game are word amalgamates that are hilarious when said by the text-to-speech reader.
The only issue I had with the game was having to wait quite a bit for the other team to finish writing, and it occasionally started breaking and not putting everything my team wrote on the screen.
We wrote at least 50 words, and the only thing that came through was “an.” When functioning, though, FixyText is a great reason to get this pack; it’s honestly just as funny as Job Job for my fellow broken English enjoyers.
Dodo Re Mi
Rating: 1/2
Player Count: 1-9
This is the unique game of the pack, going completely non-traditional with a very competent Rhythm game within Jackbox. This means we don’t have a traditional presentation game, though Tee K.O. and FixyText have presentation elements, so I don’t mind.
This game has a ton of content to go through, and for me, personally, the main problem is that it is, in fact, a Rhythm game within Jackbox.
Phones aren’t great at delivering many inputs fast, and mashing keyboard buttons to play a Rhythm game isn’t great either.
It still works fine, and it’s crazy that they developed a way to play this without latency rearing its ugly head, but if you don’t like Rhythm games, then this will not appeal to you at all; there is nothing else here. And people who want Rhythm games probably already have plenty to play, so what’s the point?
Frankly, it’s funny and is more “content” than is typical for Jackbox. You get a Rhythm game you can focus on and try to do well at, and then you can hear everyone’s efforts combining to make a beautiful symphony or a chaotic mess. It’s neat.
Also, this is the extremely rare co-op and non-competitive Jackbox game, and it’s pretty satisfying and especially great if you want to play one thing for a long session.
That said, there are a ton of songs; it’s fun hearing your and your friends’ parts being played in multiplayer, and for some reason, this and TimeJinx can be played in singleplayer if you’re some kind of weirdo who’s into playing Jackbox by yourself, god that sounds depressing. This is definitely a super niche game, but if you’re looking for co-op rhythm games, this is for you.
Hypnotorious
Rating: 1/2
Player Count: 4-8
Taking the place of the Hidden Role game of this back, Hypnotorious is a unique concept that I think needed much more time in the oven.
You and 3-7 others get hypnotized into believing you’re something, whether an object, person, or location, and you have to answer three questions from the perspective of that thing. While charades are almost always fun, the twist this game adds is… Meh.
One player is in a category of things all to themselves, while the others are in one or two different categories. Naturally, the players have to identify the odd one out, give their answers, and sort themselves out into jars.
However, the odd one out does not know that they’re the impostor in this scenario but still gets points if they, somehow, gaslight everyone and themselves and are coincidentally correct.
This leads to something between the energy of Push the Button and Fakin’ it. You’re still actively accusing others and yelling, but the fact that no one knows who anyone else is leads to everyone just being kinda confused and calmer than usual.
Every time I’ve played this, the impostor just gave up and conceded to being the odd one out because there’s not much point in arguing if you don’t even know the argument is correct.
I think this is the weakest hidden role game Jackbox has ever put out. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still a high bar to clear, but being unable to strategize, troll, or actively deceive others by the skin of your teeth is… Weird.
I also wish the categories could be chosen because we often got people or things none of us knew about, meaning the game would be impossible without Googling things. It’s not bad by any means; it’s just that Push the Button and Fakin’ It are way way way better.
The Alternatives
If you’re looking for something other than this party pack for your friend gathering needs, I have several recommendations on some great party games, including other party packs that are more consistent in quality.
- Jackbox Party Packs 3, 6, and 7 are the easiest three games to recommend, in my opinion. They contain absolute bangers like Trivia Murder Party, Quiplash, Push the Button, Talking Points, and Champ’d Up, and in my opinion, are more consistently fun times and are worth pulling out at any decent gathering of people.
- Ultimate Chicken Horse is similar to Mario Maker but takes a much more chaotic and multiplayer-centric take on the idea, having you build levels while playing them and competing against your friends to win. This is it if you want something with more meat on its bones.
- Overcooked is a chaotic cooking simulator where you try to manage a restaurant’s constant flow of orders while also having to play around with the other cooks in the kitchen. It’s a fun time if you want something easily understandable that can get all your friends yelling at the screen.
The Verdict – 7/10
It’s hard to live up to 3 or 7, but the fact that three still has an excellent version of Tee K.O. on top of four great games means you should only get ten if it’s your third or fourth Jackbox.
That said, it’s certainly better than most Jackbox titles, which is refreshing after Jackboxes 9 and 8 didn’t include anything notable besides Job Job. This one having two standouts is certainly a nice change of pace after two years of overall “eh” titles that wouldn’t make you the coolest person at the function.
Still, with more time, Hypnotorious and Timejinx could’ve been incredible showstoppers, and Dodo Re Mi would be what it is.
If you want an overall pretty consistent package of perfectly good party games, some single-player content to go along with it, and two titles that will get everyone in the room excited or laughing hysterically, then this one is great. Just note that while there isn’t anything quite like Jackbox, there are Jackbox games that are entirely better than this one.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Tee K.O. 2 is an unsurprising hit, fixing up most of the flaws from the beloved original.
- FixyText is a surprising banger, offering easily understandable hilarity anyone can enjoy.
- The overall pack is consistently quality, with incredible visuals and sound design as usual, and no “bad” games in the collection.
Cons
- Timejinx and Hypnotorious could’ve used some extra time; one feels alienating, and the other feels underbaked.
- Dodo Re Mi is probably the best it could be, but a rhythm game in Jackbox isn’t the best idea to begin with.
- There are still quite a few minor annoyances and bugs that can occasionally break the game.
Questions and Answers
Question: What Games are in Jackbox Party Pack 10?
Answer: Tee K.O. 2, the T-shirt tournament game. Timejinx, the time-traveling trivia game. FixyText, the hilarious text response game. Dodo Re Mi, the cooperative rhythm game. And Hypnotorious, the hidden role game of charades.
Question: What Platforms is Jackbox Party Pack 10 on?
Answer: As with every Party Pack, this one was simultaneously released on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. So, pretty much everything.
Question: How Many Players does Jackbox Party Pack 10 Support?
Answer: Most games go up to 8 players, aside from Dodo Re Mi, which goes up to 9. As always, you can have an absolutely massive amount of players join using the Audience feature.
Play Log
I played Jackbox 10 for around 10 hours, usually in groups of 3-6 people; as usual, it was more fun with more people, and as usual, it works perfectly on Steam Deck.
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