Jackbox Games Inc. (formerly, Jellyvision Games Inc.) is an American game developer founded by Harry Gottlieb, best known for The Jackbox Party Pack series. The series is a collection of ten digital party packs that were released sequentially over the years, with the first six gaining significant attention during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to bring friends together through social distancing. Each party pack contains 5-6 short form games that are usually played with 3-8 players (though some games allow for single or duo play). Unlike other multiplayer games, the Party Packs only require that a single player actually owns the game, adding to the “party game” feel of the packs. With this, playing the packs is more accessible for large groups of players. These games also reach a very wide audience in terms of content, as in each pack, the moderator – that is, whoever owns the party pack – has the option to turn filters on, which make the games appropriate for players ten and up. Otherwise, some packs may make mention of sexual content in select games – a feature which makes the game more humorously appealing to mature players!
I played the game “Fibbage”, a game in Party Pack 2, with six players (including myself). Fibbage is a sort of social deduction game where players respond to a prompt with answers that are believable, and attempt to guess what the actual answer to the prompt is (meaning the game itself inputs the correct answer).
Though I played with people I already knew, it was very clear to me how the game design implemented patterns for strengthening relationships amongst groups. It is incredibly difficult to play the Party Packs with strangers, as the game owner must either project their screen to one in a physical room with all the players, or stream their screen on a platform like Discord, Zoom, or Twitch. However, the short-form and replayable nature of the games makes it more accessible for players to come together, as each game takes anywhere from 15-25 minutes, and gameplay is different every time. The latter is an incredibly successful mechanic that is implemented across all games in the packs, with players being presented with different prompts to create jokes with, draw t-shirts about, or answer trivia questions about every time they play. This is a mechanic that seems to separate the games from others in its genre, as it creates an environment where all players are treated as equals (i.e. no single player can practice playing many times and become “better” than all other players), which makes the game fun for newcomers.
For “Fibbage”, players take turns choosing a word that relates to the prompt for a question, a prompt is generated by the game, and all players respond with a “fib” of their own writing. After a timer runs out, players attempt to select the answer that they think is the truth.
The game implements a mechanic where an individual player gets points for both every time they select the true answer and every time another player selects their lie as the true answer. Further, if any player guesses the game generated lie, they lose points. These mechanics create an environment where all players must implement a form of strategy to ensure to maximize their individual points. Players may then bluff to try to write a fib that seems game-generated, or choose one that other players may not think they wrote. However, there is an interesting dynamic where all players are liars, and everyone is working to find out what they lied about, making the game particularly fun when playing with people you know very well.
The mechanics of the game cause many times of fun to emerge: sensation due to the silly noises and descriptions generated by the game, as well as the visual inputs of contrasting colors and funny player icons; challenge as players are attempting to work through barriers (such as deception) in order to win a game; fellowship through select cooperative games, or forming alliances within games where everyone works for themselves; and the most appealing type of fun found through nearly all Jackbox Party Packs, expression, which allow players to freely answer prompts with their own jokes, or create drawings that reflect their artistic abilities (or lack thereof). Fibbage differs from other games in the Party Packs, as it encourages players to think about what is believable, in contrast to thinking what the funniest answer will be. Similar to other games however, are the game mechanics that subconsciously encourage players to put themselves in the shoes of other players, and ask themselves what these people will find to be a believable answer.
In addition to players gaining points from others selecting their answer, all players can also “thumbs-up” any answers they thought were particularly good or humorous, with no penalty or benefit other than giving players kudos. This also adds to the fellowship sense, as players are able to give other players affirmations at no cost to their play.
The game “Fibbage” is similar to our game concept through the dynamics and type of fun it creates. Our game concept involves deception among all players, with players working to figure out who is cooperating with them and who is working against them. Similar to Fibbage, players want to deceive other players into agreeing with the choices they make, as to promote their own selfish goals. Our game also aims to create fun in terms of sensation, challenge, fellowship, and expression, as players traverse the board and aim to create a cafe that reaches their individual goals. One mechanic that Fibbage lacks that we’ve implemented into our game is a sense of group deception, where players work together with other players to reach a common, shared goal, but don’t know who those players are. Many of the Jackbox Party Packs are competitive non-cooperative games, which may not bring players together as much as the designers hope. I would love to see a Party Pack that splits players into two teams and has them work against each other! Fibbage also has a very clear ending points, as players work through rounds and know when to anticipate the end of the game. In our game, the end game may come earlier than expected, which can add a sense of urgency for players to reach their goals as soon as they can.
Further, as Fibbage is a digital game, it is not possible for other players to see other players screens, or even their facial expressions if they are playing virtually without their cameras on. This adds another layer to the deceptive layers of the game, a feature which our concept lacks. We hope to implement another layer of player secrecy, by allowing players to keep their cards secret even after discarding them, which may strengthen the deceptive feel of the game. Fibbage also does not require the amount of deceit needed in our game, as players in the former enter the game aware of everyone’s role (since they’re all the same), and there is no need to “sniff-out” the imposter(s), like there is in our game. Then, our game has an extra level of anxiety for some players who find themselves uncomfortable when tricking others. We’ve combatted this by adding an element where players are on a deceptive “team”, rather than working alone.
In our game each player’s points are somewhat secret from the other players, which means that at any point it is unclear who is “winning” the game, where in Fibbage the points are publicly displayed and updated with each round. As an analog game that works in sequential turns, our game differs in the sense that players play one at a time, where in Fibbage everyone plays their “turns” at the same time. The latter creates a game environment where no one is waiting on other player’s choices in order to play. However, in our game the turns happen very fast, which we hope will combat the “waiting-around” feeling sometimes present in analog games of this nature.
