Title: The Jackbox Party Pack 12
Developer: Jackbox Games, Inc.
Publisher: List who published and distributed the game.
Release Date: October 15th, 2026
Platforms: PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One & Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2, Apple TV, iPad and the Mac App Store
Reviewed on: Steam
Price: $29.99

On Friday, October 16th, the latest entry in the hit party game, Jackbox Party Pack 12 released on all platforms. This installment brings new games for party counts ranging between 2 and 8 depending on the game mode. For those who have not played Jackbox before, it is a collection of mini games that typically require a TV or other shared screen for everyone to watch, as well a phone or computer for each individual player.

This pack brings five entirely new games, as opposed to packs in the past which often contain repeats:

• We Forgot a Card: A game where you caption wacky greeting cards for 3-8 players, with occasions ranging from the ordinary to the inscrutable.
• MegaPals: A wavelength / connections style game for 3-8 players where you try to see what two players are the most alike.
• Debate and Switch: A debating game for 2-8, where players take turns debating the yes/no side of an issue.
• Hyperspace: A game where you photoshop stock photos or selfies to best match a prompt.
• Idol Factions: A team trivia game where multiple players work together to sort answers into the right categories.

We Forgot a Card

In We Forgot a Card (3-8 players), you and your friends play three rounds of captioning various greeting cards. First, you collectively vote on an occasion, such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or Billionaires. You are then given your card to caption. It then goes up against a friend’s card, and everyone else then votes on which card is the funniest or best executed.

This game has some charm, and runs surprisingly well at low player counts in addition to higher ones. The cards are fun, but they don’t always offer a good opportunity for a punchline. On the other hand, I loved the bonus round where you had the chance to create a catchphrase for a plushy, that was actually read out by a robot voice. My favorite was the grocery store pack of meat plushy. The player signatures for votes are also a fun touch.

Megapals

Megapals is a game for 3-8 people where you try to determine which pair of people thinks the most alike. At the start of each round, you are given a prompt such as “Places to go where you finish your homework”, and then you get to type as many answers as you want within a 30 second period. You then score points every time you type the same answer as someone else. Points scale with how few people gave the same answer. In between rounds, there’s a cool graph that shows how interconnected different people are with handshakes. At the end of the game, two people are declared best friends and shown on a throne together with upsettingly realistic feet sticking out.

Megapals is a fun game mode, and scratches an associative part of the brain that I haven’t seen many other Jackbox games do. There’s a little hit of dopamine every time you and a friend write the same immature word, stupid inside joke, or obscure reference. I disagree with the game having a player count of 3 people. In a game where two people win, that effectively means there is only one loser when played with so few people. Another issue we ran into when playing with few people was how similar the rounds got, as we simply did not have many words to choose from for the next round.

Debate and Switch

Debate and Switch is by far my favorite game mode. The premise is, you and friends fill in the blanks on debate topics, such as “I could be rich and famous if it wasn’t for _____.” Then, you pick several topics to choose a side on. You and a peer go up against one another, and each have 30 seconds to make the Yes or No case on a given issue. The other players move a character to your side or your opponent’s side to indicate agreement. In subsequent rounds, you get the chance to replace one or more words in a prompt from a previous round. And that allows you to make some people

This game mode is best for opinionated people that like to argue about stupid things. Not much of a surprise I got so much joy out of it.

Hyperspace

In Hyperspace (3-8 players), you and friends use photoshop-style and doodling tools to make stock photos match a prompt. You can also use photos from your phone. Usually, you use them to enlarge or shrink the eyes, nose, and mouth of those characters. In later rounds, you can repurpose your old photoshops for new prompts.

This is another game that scales well both at low and high player counts. Both the drawing and comparing parts of the game are fun. In one of the rounds I played, a friend of mine kept submitting the same stupid picture of Fat Luffy from One Piece, and I’m not at all salty that it kept beating my detailed photoshops. Maybe that’s more of a me problem than one with the game.

Idol Factions

Idol Factions is a team vs. team trivia game for 2-8 people, where you play as weird little heads sorting words into the right categories. Despite having the best art style of any of the games, Idol Factions unfortunately has the weakest gameplay. At high player counts, it passable, and at low counts, it’s downright miserable. Despite being playable with two people, a lot of the supposed fun comes from passing answers between players and arguing over it, as well as relying on the collective knowledge of several people. But even at higher counts, there’s not much recourse if you don’t know an answer, aside from passing it to the other team and hoping they’re just as clueless. If your friend group is swarming with trivia nerds, go nuts. Otherwise, there’s not much here to enjoy aside from the artwork.

Final Score (4/5)

The Jackbox Party Pack 12 is a great entry to the series. Despite Idol Factions being fairly weak, in my estimation, the rest of the games in the pack are a joy to play, that I expect to become part of my friends’ regular rotation. I don’t know that I would recommend this as the first Jackbox game that you purchase, but if you already have the classics in your library, this is an excellent second or third pick up.

What about you? Which game from the new Jackbox is your favorite? Let us know in the comments or on the Boss Rush Discord.

Featured Image Credit: Jackbox Games