You Don’t Know Jack has always been an innovative property. The very first YDKJ game in 1995 was one of the first titles to take full advantage of the storage space offered by then-new CD-ROM technology, and there’s been plenty of experimentation since then. In addition to frequent physical releases, YDKJ‘s developers put out a daily online version in the internet’s infancy; something I enjoyed playing in between games of Acrophobia many years ago. There was even a brief live action version of the game show hosted by Paul Reubens, trying to capitalize on the popularity of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? More recently, there were daily updates for a mobile app and Facebook versions of the game, but support for these ended in 2015.
Since 2014, You Don’t Know Jack‘s developers have been taking advantage of the ubiquity of smartphones by allowing players to use their phones or other internet-enabled touchscreen devices as controllers. Every Jackbox Party Pack includes five different multiplayer games with simple controls, and that support local play or can be shared with a worldwide audience using Twitch. Other developers have tried to borrow these mechanics (looking at you, That’s You! and Use Your Words), but so far, no one has surpassed Jackbox at their own game.
This year’s Party Pack is the fifth collection of low-entry barrier social games. So how does it compare with its predecessors?
Source: Destructoid Review: The Jackbox Party Pack 5