Nothing livens up a party like a round or two of Jackbox games, and The Jackbox Party Pack 11 is no exception. This latest set of five games includes a mix of classics—trivia, social deduction, drawing, and general hilarity—with several unique spins that keep the old formulas feeling fresh and new. Jackbox enthusiasts will love how much The Jackbox Party Pack 11 feels like classic Jackbox, and newbies can enjoy some straightforward games that provide plenty of fun without requiring tons of rule-reading or lengthy explanations.
I previewed The Jackbox Party Pack 11 alongside a group of other journalists, and we experienced two hours of nonstop laughter. This latest set of party games from Jackbox consists of Doominate, a game about ruining good things, the cookie decorating game Cookie Haus, fantasy-themed "trivia RPG" Legends of Trivia, the recording-based Hear Say, and the social deduction game Suspectives, in which one member of your group has to avoid being accused of a heinous crime.
Kill Your Darlings In Doominate
Every game in Party Pack 11 is great, but Doominate was a personal standout for me. It features so many elements of a truly great Jackbox game: the rules are simple, it doesn't take too long to play, each round is consistently hilarious, and it works whether playing in person or online, as I did. Doominate reminds me a lot of such classics as Quiplash and Fibbage— but with a particularly (and hilariously) dark spin.
In Doominate, you are provided with something good, and you have to ruin it. In the first round, you are presented with prompts by the game that are usually somewhat generic, such as "a swimming pool" or "a cool VR headset." Then, players vote on who ruined it best. It's a great way to introduce players to the game, and the prompts are widely applicable enough that everyone can participate and share a laugh. I won one of my only rounds here, by ruining "a cool VR headset" with "but the only game it can play is Do Your Taxes Simulator."
In the second round, though, is where the fun truly begins: you get to suggest things that you personally love, and the other players have to ruin them. My contribution was "The Nintendo Switch 2," which was promptly flattened by "...but all the games cost $200."
Then, in the third round, you have to "un-ruin" the things you already ruined, which resulted in "...but you have an uncle who works at Nintendo and gives you a 90% discount." I loved that the game ended things on a positive note; it elevates Doominate even further.
Speak Up With Hear Say
Hear Say is an audio-based game where you record sounds based on a prompt you are given, which range from "an angry goose" to "confessing your love to someone." Then, like in many other Jackbox games, the other players vote on which interpretation of the prompt they like best. You then get to see a small video incorporating the winning prompt, such as it being remixed by a DJ or put through a voice distorter.
While Hear Say certainly had its funny moments (I was particularly fond of the prompt "apologize for soiling your pants in the poshest way possible"), I found it the weakest of the games in Party Pack 11. It's heavily reliant on using microphones, and a few times, players' submissions were ruined because their microphone picked up background noise or even interference from another player speaking. There are also solo "mini-game" rounds where you have to raise and lower your volume according to a prompt, and those were pretty dull, especially as you didn't get to hear other players' entries.
Suspectives: Can You Find The Criminal?
Suspectives is a social deduction game and one of the most elaborate games in the pack—although it is still fairly straightforward to pick up, and doesn't get bogged down in too many details. You fill out a survey, and one person among you is randomly assigned as the culprit. Afterward, you get to "interrogate" each other as more and more survey answers are revealed.
Although it's a relatively straightforward game, Suspectives is quite hard. In its current form, it appears weighted against the criminal, especially if your group knows each other well and can recognize the guilty party's survey answers. I was assigned to be the criminal, and everyone knew it was me pretty much after the third (of seven) answer was revealed, where I was found to have gotten some Taylor Swift lyrics wrong. It was one of those "everyone should know this" songs that I somehow managed to have never heard before. It doesn't help that Suspectives also has a mechanic where you can prove multiple people innocent partway through the game; by the final round, only four of seven suspects hadn't been cleared, meaning I pretty much had no chance of winning when my fellow players easily spouted Taylor trivia during their interrogations.
I think that Suspectives still needs some balancing to make it less of a slog for the guilty player, but it's still a fun game. The survey I took was a delightful mix of Starcraft trivia, subjective opinions about bad smells, and out-of-left-field questions like "Do you even lift?" Suspectives also has the strongest aesthetic of the games in Party Pack 11, with a grim film noir theme that remains consistent throughout. It's a fun game, just in need of a little bit of balancing.
Cookie Haus Is Cozy And Tasty
Cookie Haus is Party Pack 11's drawing game as well as its cozy game. Customers come into your shop and order themed cookies—ranging from "cool stuff" to "medical side effects"—you decorate and name your cookie, and the group votes on which to give to the customer. It's a relaxing game that serves as a great break from the high-intensity fun of the rest of the Pack, and I appreciated it. It was probably my second favorite after Doominate.
Jackbox is no stranger to drawing games—most notably the Drawful series—but Cookie Haus stands out simply because cookie decorating feels different from merely drawing. You have to work with the shape of your cookie, worry about layering icing, and navigate the random variety of sprinkles you are given, which range from standard sparkles to smiley faces and even vegetables. The characters who order cookies are also fun, and each feels genuinely unique - my personal favorite was the shady-looking guy covered in mushrooms.
Legends Of Trivia Is Simply Epic
Finally, there's Legends of Trivia, a hybrid trivia game and fantasy RPG. This is one of the longest and most elaborate games Jackbox has ever made, and it could have easily stood on its own. It's essentially a full-length game included in a Party Pack. The other games are fairly quick, but Legends of Trivia can take around 30 minutes at a minimum per round, and it's nice to see Jackbox experiment with longer and more involved titles.
Legends of Trivia is a solid title that trivia fans and fantasy lovers alike will enjoy. I loved the variety of question types and topics (although our group was stymied by sports trivia more than once - who would have guessed games journalists don't know much about sports), the uniquely designed characters (I chose to play as the vampire wizard, because of course I did) and the classic monsters such as slimes and trolls you encounter on your way. It's one of Jackbox's hardest trivia games, perhaps the hardest, and I'm excited to embrace the challenge when Party Pack 11 releases.
Overall, Jackbox Party Pack 11 is a quality mix of party games that blend new ideas with old classics. Doominate and Legends of Trivia alone make the pack worth it, and Cookie Haus and Suspectives help round out the variety. Hear Say is the weakest game in the Pack, but that doesn't mean it isn't still fun. Overall, party game enthusiasts and Jackbox fans will likely get a kick out of The Jackbox Party Pack 11 and its suite of five fun new games. Personally, I can't wait to boot up Doominate and ruin everything that my friends and family love.