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The secret MVP of this tier is Fakin' It, one that maybe doesn't translate well to social distancing but has been an extremely fun game in-person. It's not quite Tee K.O., but it's still quite good. Set up like a hotel ballroom weekend seminar, players invent problems and then pitch solutions, complete with cocktail napkin etchings they have to convince other players to invest in. Patently Stupid is a solid game, and one worth playing a good few times thanks to the novelty of pitching each invention. Fibbage XL hits the same problem of being surpassed by another version of itself. Quiplash 2 falls a hair short of its predecessor due to The Last Lash, the addition of a final round that doesn't produce quite as many laugh-out-loud moments as a typical Quiplash prompt. Though the trivia options have never quite translated perfectly (some mild phone lag can really mess with You Don't Know Jack), the elaborate theming of questions and answers, as well as the jokes and jests each round, make both You Don't Know Jack and Trivia Murder Party 2 fun "once-in-a-while" games. Trivia Murder Party 2 is similar to Jackbox but with a horror theme, with players living or dying based on correct answers to trivia, before one final sprint for the exit. And where else can you start but with You Don't Know Jack, the trivia game that started it all? Players go through round after round of multiple-choice trivia in a traditional format, but with a few extra twists, including "screwing" opponents to answer fast. This batch of games is the list we run down when a break is needed from the classic Jackbox experience. If the first tier of games are the best of the best, the gold standard of Jackbox, these are the alternatives.
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With 30 games within six party packs, spread out over six long years (not including the standalone releases Jackbox Games have released, like Drawful 2), Senior Editor Caty McCarthy and News Editor Eric Van Allen-perhaps USG's foremost Jackbox experts-collaborated to definitively rank the party games for USG's Play Together Week, from best to avoid this at all costs. (Even if, at the rate things are going in this pandemic, it'll have to be played exclusively remotely.)
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Knowing that this year's Jackbox Party Pack 7 features Quiplash 3, as well as a new new addition called The Devil is In the Details, we're already gearing up for more laughs with friends. Even in their weaker packs (2019's Jackbox Party Pack 6, we're looking at you), there is always some fun to be found in some tucked away corner. At USgamer, we count ourselves among the Jackbox Party Pack forever-fans.
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