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Jackbox Games

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"Jackbox" redirects here. Not to be confused with Jack Box (Mascot).

Jackbox Games, Inc.
Formerly
  • Learn Television (1989–1995)
  • Jellyvision Games (1995–2001, 2008–2013)
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded
  • 1989 (historical)
  • 2008 (current incarnation)
FounderHarry Gottlieb
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Mike Bilder (CEO)
  • Allard Laban (CCO)
Products
Number of employees
40[1] (2020)
ParentThe Jellyvision Lab (2008–2011)
Websitejackboxgames.com

Jackbox Games, Inc. (formerly Jellyvision Games, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Chicago, Illinois, best known for the You Don't Know Jack series of quiz-based party video games and The Jackbox Party Pack series. Founded by Harry Gottlieb, the company operated as Jellyvision Games from 1995 until its closure in 2001. After seven years of dormancy, Jellyvision Games was revived in 2008, and the company rebranded as Jackbox Games in 2013.[2]

History

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Jackbox Games was founded in 1989 by Harry Gottlieb as an educational entertainment company called Learn Television.[2] Prior to developing You Don't Know Jack, the company created a children's trivia game called That's a Fact, Jack!. In 1995, the company rebranded as Jellyvision and developed the first edition of You Don't Know Jack; originally a PC game, its success established a franchise, and Jellyvision produced numerous installments of You Don't Know Jack from 1995 through 1998.[3]

In 2001, the computer game market shifted, as players moved from personal computers to home consoles of the sixth generation, affecting the demand for CD-ROM games.[4] Jellyvision attempted to enter the marketplace with console-based versions of You Don't Know Jack, but these games were unsuccessful.[5] Jellyvision Games was shelved, and the following year Gottlieb launched a new company called the Jellyvision Lab.[4] Pivoting away from games, the Jellyvision Lab focused on business software, developing a technology called the "interactive conversation interface" inspired by the voice-driven interface of You Don't Know Jack. These interactive conversation products were a success, in part because of the You Don't Know Jack series' popularity.[4][6]

In 2008, as networked consoles and mobile devices became popular, Jellyvision Games was relaunched as a subsidiary of the Jellyvision Lab, hiring Mike Bilder to lead the studio.[7][8] The company released an iOS application of You Don't Know Jack and, in partnership with THQ, a console version in 2011. The studio later developed a Facebook version of the game, allowing them to continuously provide new trivia; later, the game expanded to include a standalone mobile application that allows data sharing and competition with the Facebook version. The game, now defunct, was awarded the "Social Game of the Year" at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards.[9]

Near the end of 2011, Jellyvision Games was spun off into a separate company.[10] The studio rebranded as Jackbox Games in June 2013, and announced that it would continue to focus on developing social games, for mobile devices and home entertainment devices like Roku and Ouya.[11]

During this time, the company allowed the game to be played using smartphones and tablets as controllers, rather than actual game controllers. Jackbox released more apps including Clone Booth (a humorous photo-manipulation app) and the games Lie Swatter (a find-the-lies game of unusual facts) and Word Puttz (a word game). The studio released Fibbage: The Hilarious Bluffing Party Game on the Amazon Fire TV and as a digital-only title on Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in September 2014.[12]

Fibbage proved successful with players, particularly using streaming media services like Twitch. In October 2014, the company packaged Fibbage, You Don't Know Jack, and three other games that were designed to be played with others over a stream. This was the first Jackbox Party Pack, and they have continued working on this approach, releasing a new Party Pack each year through 2023.[4][13]

Around mid-March 2020, Jackbox Games experienced a large increase in traffic due to the stay-at-home limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1][14]

The team currently produce videos and live streams named "The Jackbox Party Club" in which the producers, designers and team of the Party Packs play together along with the audience.[15]

Games developed

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You Don't Know Jack series (2011–2013)

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Main article: You Don't Know Jack (franchise)

Jackbox Games was founded to bring back Jellyvision's premiere title, You Don't Know Jack, which prior to 2011 had not been published since 2002. The revival sought to take advantage of newer technologies such as modern consoles and mobile gaming tied with Facebook integration. Jackbox Games has brought three of these standalone titles to market:

The Jackbox Party Pack series (2014–present)

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Main article: The Jackbox Party Pack

The Jackbox Party Pack games are individual collections of five party games per pack, designed for online play by multiple people, including large audiences, via streaming websites like Twitch.[16] Packs follow a loose format, with every pack generally including at least one sequel, drawing game, and writing game. Since 2014, Jackbox has released a new set of games in these packs each year, with a total of 10 packs available as of 2024.

Standalone games

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Jackbox Games developed additional games initially geared to mobile devices after the success of the Facebook-based You Don't Know Jack game. These have been released as individual titles, while some have been then featured as part of The Jackbox Party Pack.

Lie Swatter (2013)

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Lie Swatter is a single player game for mobile devices that presents the player with a number of statements which may be true or false, and the player is required to determine which ones are lies and "swat" them. The player earns points for correctly guessed answers (i.e. not swatting true statements and swatting false ones).[17]

A multiplayer version of Lie Swatter has been included in The Jackbox Party Pack, which supports up to 100 players. The game has also been ported to a hands-free version on the Amazon Alexa.[18]

Clone Booth (2013)

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Clone Booth is a photo app for mobile devices that allows one to take a photo and then have that digitally manipulated into a number of stock historical images which then can be shared via mobile devices.[19]

Word Puttz (2013)

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Word Puttz is a single player game for mobile devices. On each level, the player is presented with a miniature golf hole, including a tee and a cup; other obstacles may also be present. The objective is to create words using a given set of letter tiles to create a path from the tee to the hole, in the manner of Scrabble. The player is scored based on how few words they use, as well as point values of those letters in the words.

Fibbage (2014)

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Fibbage is a party game played by at least two players and up to eight players via a streaming channel. It is broken into three rounds. In the first two rounds, each player has an opportunity to pick one of five randomly generated categories, and then all players are presented with an obscure fact with a missing word or phrase. Each player secretly provides the answer to the missing phrase, trying to craft an answer that appears legitimate. If players enter the correct answer, they are told of this and encouraged to enter a false answer. If a player doesn't enter a legitimate answer before the timer runs out, they can press the "lie for me" button and get two choices. The game then presents all players' answers and the correct answer randomly. Players must then select the correct answer. If the player selected the correct answer, they score points, while if other players have selected that player's fake answer, they also score points for each player that selected their answer. If the player selected the lie the game wrote itself, they lose points. In the final round called "The Final Fibbage", the game provides one last question for all players to answer. The player with the most points at the end wins. Following each question, players have the opportunity to mark one or more answers as favorites, and the player with the most favorites is shown at the end of the game.

Improved versions of Fibbage, offering new questions/prompts and additional features, have been included in various Jackbox Party Packs.[20]

Quiplash (2015)

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Quiplash is a party game played by at least three players and up to eight players via a streaming channel. It is broken into three rounds. In the first two rounds, players are given two prompts to supply a humorous answer for; each prompt is seen by two random players. Then, the prompt and the two provided answers are shown, and players and the audience vote on which is funnier, with the players that provided the answers given points on how many votes they get. If a player's answer gets all of the other players' votes and, if there is an audience, a majority of the audience's votes, that player gets a "quiplash" and earns bonus points. However, if two players that see the same prompt enter the same thing, they get a "jinx" and they don't get any points. The final round called "The Last Lash" has all players reply to the same prompt, and players subsequently select three of the answers as the funniest. The player with the most points at the end wins.

Quiplash is the first game to feature an audience.[21] Jackbox Games used a Kickstarter approach to fund development of the game, with the March 2015 campaign seeking US$15,000 and finishing with over US$30,000 from over 1,600 backers.[22][23] Enhanced versions of Quiplash featuring new prompts have been included in various Jackbox Party Packs.

Drawful 2 (2016)

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Drawful 2 is a standalone game released on June 21, 2016, for Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.[24] It follows the same format of Drawful from The Jackbox Party Pack and is played by at least three players and up to eight players. Players are presented with a silly phrase they must try to draw out on a canvas. The picture is then shown to all players, who attempt to guess the original phrase, with points awarded to players who select that phrase, and to players who have their response voted as the "correct" phrase. Drawful 2 has added features, such as allowing players to use two colors for their drawings.[25] The game includes support for user-generated phrases which are created in a similar party-oriented manner as the game itself, which then can be shared with other players via a code.[26]

Quiplash 2: InterLASHional (2020)

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Quiplash 2 InterLASHional was released on April 8, 2020, as a newer version of Quiplash 2 that was originally released in 2016 as part of The Jackbox Party Pack 3. Jackbox developed the InterLASHional version following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced many people to stay home due to resulting lockdown restrictions; the various Jackbox Party Packs had become popular games played over streaming network services to help people pass the time and created a large influx of players. Jackbox saw that many of these were non-English speakers, leading them to decide to create the standalone of Quiplash 2 with translations for French, Italian, German, and Spanish in addition to English.[27]

The Jackbox Survey Scramble (2024)

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The Jackbox Survey Scramble was released October 24, 2024.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b Graft, Kris (May 27, 2020). "As traffic hits all-time high, Jackbox adjusting to dev'ing from home". Gamasutra. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Sarkar, Samit (June 5, 2013). "You Don't Know Jack developer Jellyvision rebrands itself as Jackbox Games". Polygon. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 1 XL on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Griner, Dave (June 16, 2017). "Inside the Rise, Fall and Triumphant Rebirth of a Beloved Chicago Game Studio". AdWeek. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  5. ^ Smith, Ryan (February 9, 2011). "Interview: Chicago's Jellyvision Speaks With GameSmith About New "You Don't Know Jack" Game". Chicago Now. Archived from the original on February 28, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
  6. ^ Schiesel, Seth (February 9, 2011). "Where Challenges Abound for Fans of Trivia". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
  7. ^ McElroy, Justin (August 19, 2008). "Jellyvision getting back into the games biz". Joystiq. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  8. ^ Alexander, Leigh (August 19, 2008). "Jellyvision Returns To Game Biz With Bilder". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  9. ^ Creswell, Jacob (March 25, 2021). "Jackbox's Wild, Forgotten History". CBR. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  10. ^ "Jellyvision Games is now Jackbox Games". Engadget. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  11. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (June 5, 2013). "Jellyvision changes name to Jackbox Games" (Press release). Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  12. ^ Fibbage™: The Hilarious Bluffing Party Game, retrieved January 1, 2023
  13. ^ Schreier, Jason (October 20, 2020). "Jackbox Games Benefits From Retro-Style Party Games in Pandemic". Bloomberg News. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  14. ^ Francis, Bryant (May 7, 2020). "Q&A: How Jackbox CEO Mike Bilder is grappling with quarantine-driven success". Gamasutra. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  15. ^ "Jackbox Games - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  16. ^ "Jackbox Party Packs". Twitch. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  17. ^ "Lie Swatter". Jackbox Games. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  18. ^ "Lie Swatter". www.amazon.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  19. ^ Official Clone Booth Trailer, retrieved January 1, 2023
  20. ^ Fields, Sarah (December 16, 2022). "The Jackbox Party Pack 9 Gets an Update". Game Rant. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  21. ^ Conditt, Jessica (June 30, 2015). "'Quiplash,' a streaming party game for 10,000 people". Engadget. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017.
  22. ^ Marchiafava, Jeff (March 16, 2015). "Quiplash". Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 24, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  23. ^ Jackbox Games (April 13, 2015). "Quiplash – An Outrageous New Party Game". Kickstarter. Archived from the original on February 23, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  24. ^ Sarkar, Samit (June 21, 2016). "Drawful 2 now available with special launch-day discounts". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 22, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  25. ^ Rowen, Nic (March 22, 2016). "DRAWFUL 2 WILL FINALLY REALIZE THE DREAM OF DRAWING WITH TWO COLORS AT ONCE". Destructoid. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  26. ^ Sarkar, Samit (April 15, 2016). "Drawful 2 will let you create and share your own question packs". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  27. ^ Favis, Elise (August 14, 2020). "Playing remotely: The massive success of Jackbox Games during the pandemic". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  28. ^ Ashcroft, Helen (October 24, 2024). "Jackbox Survey Scramble Review - Good For A Quickie". TheGamer. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
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