What Is Jackbox Games?

Jackbox Games is a Chicago-based game studio best known for party games such as Quiplash, Fibbage, Drawful, and Trivia Murder Party. Its official site, jackboxgames.com, is the hub for its games, how-to-play information, company background, support, and shop. The key thing to understand before visiting: Jackbox games are built for a group sharing one screen, and the other players join from their own phones or devices — they don't need to buy the game to play.

What the studio makes

Jackbox describes itself as a maker of social games in the spirit of charades — group activities where the fun comes from the people in the room, a Zoom call, or a Twitch stream. Its catalog spans several genres so that different kinds of players can take part in the same session:

• Writing and bluffing games — Quiplash and Fibbage
• Drawing games — Drawful
• Trivia games — Trivia Murder Party and its spin-offs
• Hidden identity and social deduction games — for example Suspectives in The Jackbox Party Pack 11

Games are sold mainly in party packs, and each pack contains five original games. According to the site, the studio has made 10 different packs so far, with The Jackbox Party Pack 12 the current release. Jackbox also publishes titles with partner studios, so not everything on the site is developed in-house.

How a game night actually works

The site's core explanation is simple: one person owns and runs the game on a screen everyone can see, and the other players join using their own devices. The practical conditions are:

1. A shared screen — a TV, laptop, or stream that all players can see.
2. A host who owns the game — purchased on a major platform such as a console or PC storefront.
3. Devices for everyone else — other players don't need to buy anything to join.

That last point is the main reason Jackbox packs work well for gatherings: one purchase covers the whole group. The trade-off is that the group experience depends on everyone being able to see the host screen, so remote play needs a screen-sharing setup.

What you'll find on the site

The official site is organized around a few clear purposes:

The blog is worth checking before buying: it carries patch notes (for example, updates for Trivia Murder Party 3 in Early Access) and sale announcements, such as a Steam Autumn Sale discount of up to 65% on party games. Prices and platform availability change, so confirm the current offer on the shop page rather than relying on an older post.

Deciding whether it fits your group

Jackbox is a good match if you want a low-friction group activity where one purchase serves many players and the games are designed to keep a mixed crowd involved. It's a weaker fit if your group can't share a single screen, or if players want individual, competitive video games rather than social party formats. To choose a pack, look at the five games included and match them to your group's preferences — drawing, writing, trivia, or deduction — rather than assuming the newest pack is the right one.