Review: JACKBOX PARTY PACK 9 is one of the best packs full of laughs

Jackbox Games recently launched Jackbox Party Pack 9. This bundle includes five new games for you and your friends to have a good laugh with. The party pack is available on almost all platforms, including Apple TV, Amazon Luna and Xbox (affiliate link). Jackbox Games was kind enough to provide me with a PC code for Party pack 9, but the review below is mine. The five games included in the party pack are Buckle 4, Junktopia, Not sensory, QuixoteAnd Roomerangs. My plan is to discuss each game separately and then score the package as a whole at the end.

Introducing the ninth installment of the best-selling Party Pack franchise you know and love! Whether you’re hanging out with friends, hosting a remote happy hour, trying to make the holidays less awkward, or looking for your next game stream, The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is here to spice things up.

Let’s keep it simple. You don’t need extra controllers for extra gamers – everyone uses their phones or tablets to play! The games support up to 10 players and 10,000 audience members who join in the fun to influence the outcome of the game.

Fibbage 4 (2-8 players) – The hilarious bluffing party game returns with an all-new Final Fibbage, video questions, fan-submitted questions, and Fibbage Enough About You mode! It’s such a beloved game that we decided to give it a 4.

First, we have Buckle 4. This is a game where a question is asked and everyone gives their answer with the aim of getting the most votes. Get points for fooling others and voting for the true answer. There are also other modes like Enough About You that make it a bit more personal for the players. Overall, this type of game can be really fun, especially if all the players have the same kind of humor. I appreciate there is a way to make it personal if you want or there are more general questions. This has been a solid game for me and my group of friends.

Junktopia (3-8 players) – A strange wizard has turned you into a frog! Create hilarious backstories for strange objects and then have them evaluated. The player with the most valuable items becomes human again!

Junktopia it was a game where I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. This ended up being a lot of fun because you get pictures of various items including some really cursed stuff and you can name them and create weird backstories for them. It takes some creativity and playing with your audience, but it was a blast.

Non-Sensory (3-8 players) – Professor Nanners is here to test your NSP (Non-Sensory Perception) in this drawing, writing and guessing game! How close can you get to guessing where another player’s suggestion lands on the dumbest straight?

Not sensory it was an interesting game to say the least. You are given a scale from 1 to 10 and told what is 1 and what is 10. Then, you are given a score and must plot your interpretation of that score for the scale. Then, the other players have to guess what score you were given and receive points based on how close they are. You also get points for players who get close to the answer, so you want them to get it right. This ended up providing a lot of laughs and discussions about how we see scales like this and it was hilarious. We ran into an issue where a player on an iPhone would draw and then the drawing would disappear when they lifted their finger, but then appear in the actual game when it was time for reveals and stuff like that. Hopefully it’s just a minor bug that can be fixed.

Quixort (1-10 players) – In this trivia sorting factory, work with your team to sort the falling answers into their proper order before they hit the floor! Or, play in single player mode and see how many blocks you can sort before reaching the maximum. It’s as easy as A, C, B!

Quixote it’s honestly my least favorite of these games. The premise isn’t bad. You are split into teams and have to sort the blocks into a category like oldest or youngest celebrities. However, the categories were not suitable for me and my group and it takes so long. One team is sorting and the other has literally nothing to do. Jackbox offers a little tapping mini-game on your device while you wait your turn, but it’s a decent amount of time. It’s slow, it didn’t seem to have any categories that interested me and my group, and it’s definitely the weak link in my opinion. Having some kind of interactivity for the non-sorting team would be really nice and shorten shifts.

Roomerang (4-9 players) – Channel your inner reality TV star in an attempt to come out on top! Respond to requests, bring the competition and role-play to avoid being eliminated. Fear not though, even when you’re out in Roomerang you’ll find yourself back in the drama!

Finally, we have Roomerangs. This was surprisingly fun. Basically, each player is given a personality and then you have to respond to prompts. You can still answer, but it’s encouraged to answer in character and it was the most fun doing it. After each round, players are eliminated, but then return with a slightly different character. Basically, imagine a reality show character who gets busted, puts on a fake mustache, and then comes back to the game saying he’s a completely different person. Basically, Matt the Radar Technician from SNL. This one certainly provided a lot of laughs for my group and is possibly my favorite of them all.

I was disappointed by Party pack 8but Party pack 9 it definitely hit a lot of soft spots for me. My friends and I enjoyed most of the games and overall played well. Like I said, I wasn’t a big fan of Quixote, but 4/5 being ones I would definitely play again it’s really good. I wish Jackbox handled games differently where they have a launcher or hub that gives you access to all the games you own instead of having to try and remember which package had the game you wanted to play. However, Party pack 9 it’s a very solid hit and might just be my new favorite Party package.