Jackbox Party Pack 12 Review - A Pack In Search Of A Star

First Released October 15, 2026 Systems Leave a Review Overview Score Published Oct 15, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT Jackbox Party Pack 12 is another fun bundle of games, but it doesn't quite manage to reach the heights of the franchise's best showings. Every Jackbox Party Pack is, by nature, a mixed bag, and The Jackbox Party Pack 12 is no exception. With five party games included in every new bundle from Jackbox Games, some are bound to stand out more than others. They don't all have to be hits, as long as there's enough value in the overall pack to justify a purchase. Jackbox Party Pack 12 largely exists in a middle ground. There's nothing fundamentally unfun here, although the trivia-ish game Idol Factions drags its feet too much in the opening round. At the same time, it's hard to identify a clear standout to sell the pack. In a franchise that's delivered hits like Tee K.O., Talking Points, and Mad Verse City, the lack of a true showstopper is underwhelming, but Jackbox Party Pack 12 can still be a good time. We Forgot A Card (3-8 Players) If you play enough Jackbox, you'll eventually start to notice that Quiplash is a genre of its own. Games about writing funny lines show up like clockwork, and We Forgot a Card is Jackbox Party Pack 12's offering. Players offer up their own words to remix greeting cards in unexpected ways, whether they're sending congratulations to a friend or a Christmas card to an enemy. As far as the Quiplash lineage goes, We Forgot a Card is fairly routine. It doesn't bring any particular injection of creativity to the table, but the card concept gives it a little more juice than the default variant. While this one isn't likely to motivate any Jackbox nights on its own, it should be a fun game to bring out as a side attraction. MegaPals (3-8 Players) True to its name, MegaPals is a game best played with close friends. In the vein of Jackbox Party Pack 6's Role Models, MegaPals draws on how well you know your fellow Jackboxers. Players respond to prompts by typing as many words as they can think of, earning points when their answers match those of their compatriots. This might sound a little dry on paper, and its uninspired art style doesn't help to make the sale. In practice, though, it's immediately engaging, providing a great forum for shared interests and inside jokes. A series of rounds where each player picks from their friends' suggestions doubles down on the value of relationships, potentially leaving players with more knowledge of their friends than before. As possibly the best game in the lineup, MegaPals doesn't feel like a true pack seller. Even so, it proved to be a memorable highlight for my group, likely earning a place as the biggest reason for us to boot up the pack in the future. Debate And Switch (2-8 Players) Debate and Switch is essentially just a debate forum, but it offers just enough in the way of trappings to make it feel like a proper Jackbox game. Players choose and debate topics, then switch out a word to change the nature of the argument and pick up new positions to argue. Wins are determined by the spectating players, who run back and forth to indicate how much any given argument is swaying them. Unlike MegaPals, the art and writing here are charming, and watching friends run back and forth as you struggle to maintain your grasp on their easily-swayed minds is a lot of fun. That being said, when it comes to arguing a point, Debate and Switch's value proposition isn't quite as robust or unique as Talking Points from Jackbox Party Pack 7. Hyperface (3-8 Players) Jackbox Party Pack 12 doesn't quite have a full-blown drawing game in the vein of Drawful or Champ'd Up, but it does have Hyperface. In this variant, players start with images of faces, doodling on top of the faces or manipulating them with morph tools to drum up laughs. While the premise is thin, Hyperface is a good time. The prompts can sometimes feel a bit irrelevant, as the absurdity of the creations is the main point of appeal, but it's nice whenever something truly fits the bill. Although Hyperface probably won't provide as many hours of fun as Tee K.O., it's not a bad addition to the lineage. Idol Factions (2-8 Players) Most Jackbox Party Pack entries are bound to have a game that your group ends up ignoring, and Idol Factions might be that game for Jackbox Party Pack 12. This one tasks players with sorting answers into the correct categories (for example, identifying whether something belongs with "pare," "pair," or "pear." Once it gets rolling, Idol Factions has a frenetic energy that invokes the fun of chaotic games like Mario Party. The first round, however, is slow and easy enough to significantly damage the game's replayability. Even when it picks up energy, it still isn't funny or especially interesting, making it a uniquely forgettable Jackbox Party Pack 12 inclusion. Jackbox Party Pack 12 Is A Decent Offering For reliable Jackbox customers, Jackbox Party Pack 12 will probably be a fairly easy buy. There's plenty to enjoy here, and even the weakest inclusions should have some fans. If the main goal is to add a little more variety to party game night, this should fit the bill just fine. This isn't quite Jackbox at its best, though, with many of its ideas feeling like little more than adequate iterations on franchise staples. The Jackbox Party Pack 12 gets the job done, but when it comes to the creative spark, it might have clocked out a few minutes early.