Blog Post 7: JackBox Game
I actually used to play JackBox with my dormmates in Japan, so coming back to it for class was a nice throwback and a breathe of fresh air in this climate of stress and finals. JackBox is a compilation of party games wherein one person hosts, and everyone else joins from their browser through their smartphone. The games typically feature a voiced narrator and nice visuals, which is a big plus as it helps establish the “game show” atmosphere.
To begin, the class delegated amongst themselves what game from the many JackBox games available we wanted to play. We decided on a would you rather style game called “Split The Room” as the first game to play, which worked better than the “Fibbage” game of the second round (due to being all online and nobody knowing anything about each other).
The game mechanics are simple, we are to come up with an answer to the questions asked of us with the goal to “split the room”; the more the players are split on a topic, the more points you can earn. The points are also awarded for how clever an answer you may have had as players can vote on their favorites. Once everyone answers their question, the choices are presented to the rest of the players and audience. I wound up winning with most points somehow, though I’m sure it would be that much better having the chance to play the game in person.
When I used to play JackBox in Japan, it was a lot of fun due to being able to read the room and give an answer that would suit the audience best. Online only made the games a bit more difficult since we can’t see each other in order to gauge how well our answers will do, and we hardly know each other since our interactions haven’t extended any further than the two hours a week that we meet.
