The Jackbox Party Pack 8 lets you compliment your colleague on his sexy, sexy balls. Wait, maybe it was a criticism. In any case, that's the most succinct review you'll get. It's full of the usual Jackbox nonsense, which means it's really only as funny as the people you're playing with. In a rarity for Jackbox, there's no major dud here. All five games are worth playing, even if you’ll only play some a couple of times. What's more, four of the five are original, and one is a sequel to a Jackbox game from way back when - no Quiplash 4 here. There’s some crossover with other classics, but in general, the new games offer something… well, new. Most importantly though, they let you talk about sexy balls.

We tested Jackbox Party Pack 8 over Google Meet with a bunch of staff here - our lead guides editor Dave Aubrey was the one whose balls were in the spotlight. We've previously played older versions together and ended up inventing various ways to torture and dispose of our evergreen and news editor George Foster, so perhaps genital praise is a step up. In any case, since the Party Pack is five different games in one, it makes sense to review them all in turn. After all, I love Pack 5 even though I hate You Don't Know Jack: Full Stream and Zeeple Dome. Most people who play Pack 8 will probably feel the same way - I enjoyed every game, but outside of the review period, there are a few I can't see myself playing much, along with others I expect to fold into the regular rotation.

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Drawful Animate

Jackbox Drawful

This is Pack 8’s one sequel, with the change up being that instead of drawing one picture, you draw two, which are supposed to act as a flipbook - or gif, if you wanna be a tech whiz - to help you describe things. The rest of the game plays out just like Drawful did, asking players to guess your drawing while making up fake names to fool the others. However, this is a bit of an issue - the game expects you to know how to play. The rules are fairly simple, and despite only three of our party of ten having played Drawful before, we picked up on it fairly quickly, but Jackbox is often played in loud groups of friends who may have had a few drinks. Luckily, the confusion only makes it funnier, especially when the prompts of what to draw are so bizarre.

  • Verdict: I'll keep playing this one, but it's not my favourite
  • For fans of: Drawful (obviously), Patently Stupid

Job Job

Jackbox Job Job

The best game in Jackbox history is Quiplash, so it's no surprise that the series keeps going back to this formula. Job Job however manages to do something different. You are asked a couple of questions for a job interview, and then you’re asked a third question. However, to answer the third question, you will be given two random answers from other players and must assemble the words in a new order to create a funny response. It's Quiplash mixed with Zodiac Killer roleplay. This game is most dependent on your teammates being funny, but it's also the most open one. Unfortunately, it also suffers the most from the Jackbox writers wanting to wedge their own jokes in, with the set up going on a bit too long. It's like in Patently Stupid - nothing the game says will be as funny as the Urifan; a piss powered fan to dry your bedsheets when you wet the bed. Be quiet and let us be funny.

  • Verdict: A Jackbox classic in waiting
  • For fans of: Quiplash, Mad Verse City

The Wheel of Enormous Proportions

Jackbox Wheel

This is the game Jackbox has been pushing the most pre-launch, and I don't understand why. It's fine, but that's it. To begin, you ask the game a question. Why? That's only revealed at the end, and even now I'm still confused about it. However, once the game starts, things are more straightforward. You are asked a trivia question with multiple answers. It might be 'which of these are capital cities', say. One was 'things Soulja Boy does in Turn My Swag On'. Every answer right you get a point, every question wrong you lose a point. Simple. At the end of the round, you place coloured tokens on a wheel of fortune; more points = more tokens = more chances to win. Wheel spins, anyone with tokens gets a second set of points, and first to 20,000 wins. It's a standard trivia game with the added mystery of chance. Anyway, that question you asked? At the end of the game Jackbox answers that question for the winner, which in true Jackbox style is nowhere near as funny as writing 'Dave has big sweaty balls'.

  • Verdict: A good trivia game if that's what you play Jackbox for
  • For fans of: Trivia Murder Mystery Party, Guesspionage

The Poll Mine

Jackbox Poll

Sure, I guess this is a game. You split off into two randomly assigned teams, then have to either rank a list or pick your top three items. Everyone gets the same list. We had to rank which of us would survive longest in the old West - our social media king Trevor Ford won by a landslide - as well as select the worst places in the world to wear rollerblades. The game secretly adds up all your ranks and marks each item on a door. The game then asks someone to pick a door that corresponds to the top three or bottom three or whatever. Pick wrong, your team loses a torch - oh yeah, you're in a mineshaft, for some reason. Lose all three torches and the game is over. On the bright side, you can go back to Job Job after it’s all over.

  • Verdict: A good idea that doesn't seem very Jackboxy
  • For fans of: Split the Room, I guess? Mostly for fans of different games

Weapons Drawn

Jackbox Weapons

This is the most creative game in the whole pack, which is always great to see from a series that could do four versions of Quiplash and a Tee K.O. riff and achieve success. There are shades of Tee K.O. here, but there's a lot more to it. In some ways, it's overly complicated, but as a new concept, it's worth it. Weapons Drawn is Cluedo if everyone was the murderer. You are given two murder weapons to draw, but a unique letter is already on the pad - a letter you must hide with your own drawing, somehow. After that, you need to come up with the name of a guest to bring to the party. Then you must select a different guest to murder - but you will only be successful if the other players guess you brought them in the first place. Sounds complicated? We're not done yet. After that, you will gain points if you successfully kill your target and even more points if your guest is alive by the end. Then you try to solve half the murders. Yes, just half. You need to decide as a group which ones to focus on - we mostly did it by how funny the name was.

Anyway, in solving the murder you are shown the weapon, and will see one weapon from every guest. You need to find the missing letter and accuse the right person. This happens twice, then you solve the unsolved murders, then the game is over. It's different to anything Jackbox has done while still being Jackbox, but it'll end up slotting into the middle of the deck when it comes to Jackbox all-timers.

  • Verdict: A great idea, slightly too complicated
  • For fans of: Tee K.O., You've Got A Point

All in all, Jackbox Party Pack 8 is a great entry in the Jackbox series, propped up by Job Job and Drawful Animate. The Wheel of Enormous Proportions is one of the better trivia games when it’s not trying to be funny, and less punishing than Trivia Murder Mystery Party. The Poll Mine and Weapons Drawn are both new ideas for the series, but only Weapons Drawn really lands, and even then if you have the collective works of Jackbox, I don't think it'll come up in the rotation much. It's a solid Jackbox Pack with two great-if-not-quite-legendary games, one good trivia game, and two more experimental titles that your mileage may vary on. It's not Jackbox 3, but hey, it's also not Jackbox 6.

Jackbox 8 Review Card

Score: 3.5/5. A PC code was provided by the publisher.

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