When it comes to party games, they can make or break the party experience. But what makes a great party game? Is it the potential competitive game modes? Is it the people playing the game? What makes games like Mario Party, Mario Kart, Overcooked, Cards Against Humanity, Uno, and even Monopoly successful? For the last ten years, Jackbox Games has been working on and perfecting the answer to that very question. Last year, we had the chance to review Jackbox Party Pack 9 which featured Fibbage 4, Roomerang, Junktopia, Nonsensory, and Quixort. Earlier this year at PAX West, we met with Jackbox Games to preview Jackbox Party Pack 10. Now, after a bit more time with Jackbox Party Pack 10, we can finally review it and its five game modes.

Jackbox Party Pack 10
Developer: Jackbox Games
Publisher: Jackbox Games
Platforms: PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
Release Date: October 19th, 2023
Players: Multi-player, 1 to 9 players plus Audience (10,000)
Price: $34.99 USD, €34.99 | £29.50 | AU$59.50 | MEX$389.99

Below, we will be going over the different game modes in Jackbox Party Pack 10 and sharing our thoughts on each game mode.; each game mode’s information will feature the developer’s description. After that, we will be going over the game’s features.

Game Modes

TEE K.O. 2

Tee K.O. 2 (Drawing, Writing) (20 Mins): In Tee K.O. 2, return to T-Shirt Island, where the most hardened warriors in the world compete in a deadly fighting tournament. The drawing finger – not the fist – decides the victory! Tee K.O. 2 supports 3-8 players.

The fan-favorite fashion throw down returns! Create the ultimate garment out of your own weird drawings and slogans, then send it into battle. But with new drawing tools, new clothing options like hoodies and tank tops, and a new button-pounding final round… who will emerge as the next champion of Tee Shirt Island?

Tee K.O. 2 Impression

In Tee K.O. 2, players design logos for T-shirts, Undershirts, and Hoodies. After players are done creating logos for other players to use, they will then have to come up with slogans. After the timer runs out, the logos and mottos are sent to other players to design the best clothing apparel possible. After the first round of battling between designs, the winning shirt moves on to the final round, and a new round starts. The second round gives players the opportunity to select from some of the designs from the previous round and modify them; the winner of the second round goes on to the final round and the two winners battle it out. The winner is chosen in a tap battle where players tap their screen quickly to vote for their favorite design.

Although this game mode lets players share their creative drawings, it quickly devolves into dirty and inappropriate jokes. Additionally, designing logos on a phone can be rather difficult unless you have a stylus. Having players decide on the final victor by having players tap as fast as they can to vote is a bit problematic; more reckless users can easily damage their phones or create a dent. The game mode itself can be fun but you need a creative group with similar minds to truly enjoy it.

Fixy Text

FixyText (Writing, Teamwork) (3 to 8 players) (15 Mins): FixyText is the Wild West of text-editing. In this chaotic game, everyone’s in a group chat, typing all at once to make the most memorable statement. And there’s no delete key. Take that auto-correct! FixyText supports 3-8 players.

Ever wished someone would answer your texts for you? Imagined the masterful comebacks you and your friends would create if you mashed all your brains together? You’re in luck! This game lets you play out that fantasy with all of the chaos, and none of the backlash!

Fixy Text Impressions

Out of all the game modes in Jackbox Party Pack 10, Fixy Text was without a doubt our favorite. The chaos from players choosing a certain point to input their text and typing their thoughts can easily become chaotic. The only problem with Fixy Text is that a player can change where they are editing and ruin another player’s thoughts. Yes, that can lead to some comedic moments, but at other times, it can cause the computer to be unsure of what to say when it reads it out loud. On multiple occasions, we thought the AI would not read a word because we set the profanity and family settings to the highest strictness; shockingly, we were dead wrong when some of the dirtiest things came out of the AI’s mouth.

The fact that the game chooses the most popular words in the prior round can be a bit problematic, so a voting system of what word to use from the prior round would have been a better game choice. Overall, the game mode is fun and can be comedic but can also provide childish dirty jokes from an unknowing AI.

Dodo Re Mi

Dodo Re Mi (Music, Teamwork) (5 Mins): In Dodo Re Mi, your phone is your instrument. You and your flock must make music together to escape the hungry jungle plant. Dodo Re Mi supports 1-9 players

Hello gorgeous nature. Welcome to an uncharted jungle, inhabited by musical birds who play songs for a carnivorous plant that MIGHT eat them, if they don’t play their notes accurately. Are they dodos? No. Did they evolve from dodos? Maybe…don’t overthink it. We didn’t.

Dodo Re Mi Impressions

Dodo Re Mi can be fun for those who like rhythm games, but when you get people who have been drinking together to play this game, the results are a bit chaotic. Out of the songs that we tried, we only completed one successfully. The variety of items can be fun, but it does feel like the easier instruments give fewer point opportunities than the harder ones. The point value needed to successfully feed the monster changes based on the amount of players in the game. Even with a teammate getting over a 200-point combo on Very Hard, we still failed when some of the instruments missed notes and broke combos. If you are playing this in a room with others, the noises made by each instrument can be distracting when trying to hit your own notes.

This game mode can be fun if you have a competitive group but one or two people can very easily ruin the success rate. Unlocking the songs by playing others was a nice touch. Having instruments outside of the standard ones was also a great touch and made for a ton of laughs. T

Hypnotorious

Hypnotorious (Hidden Identity, Roleplaying) (20 mins): Hypnotorious is a game with secret roles, tentative alliances and of course, silly answers to ridiculous questions. Who is on your side? Hypnotorious supports 4-8 players.

HYPNOSIS, TEAMWORK AND HIDDEN IDENTITIES!!! In Hypnotorious, players are attending a hypnotist’s show, where, as you might expect, they get hypnotized. Each player will take on a new, unique identity such as Frankenstein, a snowman or a carrot. They will then be asked to answer questions as their character would.

Hypnotorious Impressions

Out of all the game modes, this was arguably our least favorite game mode. Despite watching the explanation video twice, most people in our group failed to understand the core concept of the game mode. When players got frustrated with the game, they just put what they were as their answer rather than hinting at it. The game does not appear to have a filter to prohibit players from exposing what they are and the profanity filter failed its job.

Having a way to guess who is the outlier early on would be a helpful feature. In order to truly enjoy this game mode, you will need a competitive group of players who want to be deceptive.

Time Jinx

(Trivia) (1 to 8 players) (20 mins) In Timejinx, you’re a time traveler from the future competing in a high-stakes trivia night. Save your current timeline by answering questions about the past. Timejinx supports 1-8 players.

What would you do if you had a time machine? Would you go back and try to fix some mistakes? Would you travel into the future to see who you’ve become? No, of course not! You’d use it to play an immersive trivia game!

Time Jinx Impressions

Time Jinx is a fun trivia game that makes players think about their answers. When asked questions, players must choose an answer they think is closest to the appropriate response or time period. Players who guess wrong and those who are furthest from the correct time period get more points. The player with the lowest score wins the game. Throughout the game, players have the chance to lower their score by getting bonus questions right. The game does involve players thinking about their answers.

The game does give an unfair advantage to older players with some questions being extremely obscure to those born after 2000. The game does require players to be able to do math for some questions. Just like any trivia game, it is easy for players to cheat and look up the answer quickly. Obviously, it is hard to stop people from cheating, but it would be nice if the game would punish them for leaving the window.

Gameplay Settings

Jackbox Party Pack 10 features a bunch of settings to make the game more accessible or fun for players. In addition to being able to play the game online with others, streamers can modify the settings to make it more safe or easier for others. Below are the features the game has to offer:

• A family friend filter (that doesn’t work as intended)
• Profanity filter
• Moderation setting that allows moderators to approve or reject inputs (mod.jackbox.tv)
• A US-centric option that disables US Specific questions
• Six spoken languages
• Subtitles
• Motion sensitivity reduction
• Extended timers
• No timers
• Tutorials (can skip)
• Post-game sharing so players can share the outcome on social media
• A Twitch sign-in, making players be required to have a Twitch account.
• Passworded games
• QR sign-in and connect
• Start the game with a controller-only feature.
• Room code hiding to prevent random people from jumping in
• Quickdraw in Tee K.O.2 shortening it from 3 to 2 drawings
• In Dodo Re MI, the player can skip playback, enable perfect playback, unlock everything, and remove flubs

Verdict

Despite some of its flaws, Jackbox Party Pack 10 is a fun game to play with friends and even strangers. Yes, Hypnotorious is a bit of a miss depending on who you are playing with but the other four game modes pick up its slack. Jackbox Party Pack 10 offers a variety of settings to make streamers’ lives easier and improve the game for the community. The price increase after years of a steady price does seem a bit off, but even at $7 a game is fairly priced. If you are looking for a fun party game, then picking up the latest Jackbox Party Pack is a good idea.

Jackbox Party Pack 10 was reviewed on a PC using a copy provided by Jackbox Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Jackbox Party Pack 10 will be released on October 19th, 2023 on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S