Like with every Jackbox, most of the enjoyment of the game comes from the people you play with. That written, the games included in the Jackbox Party Packs need the prompts and mechanisms that allow for people to get together and have fun. Jackbox 9 overall does a decent job of this, but with some issues.
Fibbage 4 is a sequel to a previous game series and doesn't divert away from the formula. They've included a new style of prompt (a video) and edited out a final prompt in the mini-mini-game Enough About You - which my friends actually prefer. It's a well done quiz game with plenty of fun and exciting contributions from both the game and players.
Quixort is the new trivia game that is sorting answers. It's a strange choice, as the trivia games included in previous party packs (You Don't Know Jack, Trivia Murder Party and The Wheel) were exceptionally well done. The player needs to sort answers on their phone using a Tetris-like block placed on a line, which is confusing to some people I've played with, leading to some difficulty that wasn't fun. As well, the final round makes the player replay their final prompt, which is an interesting decision, but ultimately leaves anyone I've played with frustrated and disappointed. The game also has the unfortunate problem of making a second player or group of players wait for another team to finish playing the game for a long time - unlike most of the other trivias.
Junktopia is also one of the least favourite among my friends and family. It was a forgettable experience, as everyone had to ask whether we've already played it or not. Part of the issue is that the player's contributions are simply two prompts regarding an item they're describing. Other Jackbox games use this feature (Survive the Internet) but give some variation to the purpose of writing prompts. This game, again, makes the unfortunate choice of repeating the final prompt - bringing all of your previous items together to just name them. This makes the game repetitive with a longer period of time without engaging in unique or creative input from players.
Nonsensory is a surprisingly fun and enjoyable game. It reminded us of Guesspionage (JBPP3), as players attempt to find the hidden value (between 1-10 mostly) of a prompt. Players each make their own content which others guess at. This leads to much more excitement and engagement from everyone involved.
Finally, Roomerang is an interesting and well-designed game. It requires the players to role-play a character, which my group doesn't actually do - and instead treating the game like a Quiplash, where we vote the funniest prompts. Despite human error, this game does have one striking fault, which is that players produce so much content in the game that is not very well visible, or immediately erased from the screen after showing them. Our group typically adds more time to answering prompts, but there wasn't an option to extend viewing the responses, which is what we would have needed.
Despite all of that, the Jackbox Games continue to be some of the most fun party games that are accessible to all sorts of groups, as long as they have smartphones. I still highly recommend this, if not just for half of the games included for their exceptional design. Players will still need to bring others into their games to find out what is fun and how they can all enjoy the games together.
Fibbage 4 is a sequel to a previous game series and doesn't divert away from the formula. They've included a new style of prompt (a video) and edited out a final prompt in the mini-mini-game Enough About You - which my friends actually prefer. It's a well done quiz game with plenty of fun and exciting contributions from both the game and players.
Quixort is the new trivia game that is sorting answers. It's a strange choice, as the trivia games included in previous party packs (You Don't Know Jack, Trivia Murder Party and The Wheel) were exceptionally well done. The player needs to sort answers on their phone using a Tetris-like block placed on a line, which is confusing to some people I've played with, leading to some difficulty that wasn't fun. As well, the final round makes the player replay their final prompt, which is an interesting decision, but ultimately leaves anyone I've played with frustrated and disappointed. The game also has the unfortunate problem of making a second player or group of players wait for another team to finish playing the game for a long time - unlike most of the other trivias.
Junktopia is also one of the least favourite among my friends and family. It was a forgettable experience, as everyone had to ask whether we've already played it or not. Part of the issue is that the player's contributions are simply two prompts regarding an item they're describing. Other Jackbox games use this feature (Survive the Internet) but give some variation to the purpose of writing prompts. This game, again, makes the unfortunate choice of repeating the final prompt - bringing all of your previous items together to just name them. This makes the game repetitive with a longer period of time without engaging in unique or creative input from players.
Nonsensory is a surprisingly fun and enjoyable game. It reminded us of Guesspionage (JBPP3), as players attempt to find the hidden value (between 1-10 mostly) of a prompt. Players each make their own content which others guess at. This leads to much more excitement and engagement from everyone involved.
Finally, Roomerang is an interesting and well-designed game. It requires the players to role-play a character, which my group doesn't actually do - and instead treating the game like a Quiplash, where we vote the funniest prompts. Despite human error, this game does have one striking fault, which is that players produce so much content in the game that is not very well visible, or immediately erased from the screen after showing them. Our group typically adds more time to answering prompts, but there wasn't an option to extend viewing the responses, which is what we would have needed.
Despite all of that, the Jackbox Games continue to be some of the most fun party games that are accessible to all sorts of groups, as long as they have smartphones. I still highly recommend this, if not just for half of the games included for their exceptional design. Players will still need to bring others into their games to find out what is fun and how they can all enjoy the games together.