Gamers Guild: Jackbox Party Games

Posted on November 13, 2020

by Stefani H

Looking for something new to do on Thursdays from 4 -6 p.m.? Check out a virtual teen program and play Jackbox Games with Toledo Lucas County Public Library! After registering below, you will receive a confirmation email from Zoom containing information about joining the program.

Gamers Guild: Jackbox Party Games
December 10
The Second Thursday of Each Month

Jackbox Games offers a variety of fun and engaging online games. Register and compete virtually through Zoom to play a variety of Jackbox Games and meet other teens who enjoy gaming.

First, each player needs an internet connection, and a computer, tablet or smartphone. From there, game play follows these simple steps:

  1. All participants will join the Zoom meeting
  2. The librarian loads the game on their own device to cast to Zoom
  3. The game generates a four-letter code for participants
  4. Each player goes to jackbox.tv on their device
  5. The player will enter their name and code
  6. The librarian’s shared screen on Zoom will guide players throughout the game

What games are available and who decides which games are played?

Teens get to choose! The Library owns a variety of games and each will be listed with the description provided by the Jackbox website. This is an open house style program – which means you can stay for 10 minutes or play for the full two hours. It’s your choice! The games are as follows:

  • Quiplash – Players type in their best response to the prompt and then are pitted against each other in a head-to-head battle, while the rest of the players (and audience) vote on their favorite.
  • Role Models – In Role Models, you and your friends become guinea pigs for a mad scientist studying human nature. Just choose a category, like Alice in Wonderland, then match each of the players (including yourself) to a “role” within that category. For example, your carefree buddy might be the Mad Hatter, and the creepy weirdo of the group might be the Cheshire Cat. If the test subjects are split on who’s who, tied players perform a tiebreaker experiment tailored specifically to that role to determine who truly deserves the title.
  • Murder Trivia Party 2 – Players answer trivia questions and answering incorrectly will send you to the Killing Floor, to play mini-games that can kill.
  • Joke Boat – In Joke Boat, you play the role of an amateur comic competing in a talent show on a fourth-rate cruise ship. The comedian who writes and performs (or has the game perform) the best jokes will win!
  • Dictionarium– In the Dictionarium, you’re served up hot, fresh, never-seen-before words and it’s your job to define them. The definition with the most votes wins, but you’re not off the hook yet! You’ll also come up with a synonym and use the word in a sentence.
  • Push the Button– Crew members will compete in a series of tests meant to determine their humanity. You’ll scrutinize text responses in the Writing Pod, critique crude doodles in the Drawing Quarters, eyeball odd choices in the Deliberation Deck and attack tough takes in the Opinion Hold.
  • You Don’t Know Jack: Full Stream – [This is a variation on a popular trivia game.] This time around, the game (and Cookie) have been acquired by the friendly corporate overlords at Binjpipe, your premiere media streaming service. Binjpipe’s consumer-pleasing algorithms have led to tons of brand new features like “Data Mining” questions, “Player’s Choice,” and brand new Screws that mess with your opponents’ devices when they’re trying to answer the question.
  • Split the Room – In this surreal game of what-ifs, players are given a weird hypothetical situation that’s missing one key detail. Like this one: The hot new Christmas toy is a cute robotic otter that’s programmed to hold hands with you and say nice things. A bug has been found where once every 100,000 times it will whisper “_____.” You’re the CEO. Do you recall the toy? Your objective is to fill in the blank with something you think will divide the room’s response. The more divisive it is, the more points you get.
  • Mad Verse City – Mad Verse City, you hear your MC avatar rap the bars that you’ve written (they’re a little robotic, but they’re doing their best). Feeling a bit off your lyrical game? Use the “Write for Me” and “Suggestions” buttons to help. Once you submit your rhyme, smash the “Fire” and “Boo” buttons to react to the other players during the battle.
  • Patently Stupid – You’ll attend an exclusive, invitation-only seminar hosted by ex-spouses Toby and Lena that is only open to everyone, everywhere. Once inside, each attendee will create a unique problem that will be tasked to their fellow players to solve! Simply draw your inventive design, give it a title and tagline then get ready for the (fake) moolah to roll in! Once you create an inspired invention, you get to present your idea using our amazing presentation tool! Who doesn’t love public speaking?! Okay, not everybody. But, if you’re too shy or you’re streaming the seminar, there’s a handy-dandy presentation tool that will do the work for you! Neato!
  • Zeeple Dome – Contestants will fling their bodies at bone-shattering speeds, all in the hopes of grabbing some fantastic prizes and tons of cash! Of course, there will be gruesome monsters in your way, but that’s half the fun!!!
  • Drawful 2 – In Drawful, each player receives a weird and unique prompt that they must try to draw on their mobile device (without the aid of an eraser). After each “artist” presents their work, everyone else anonymously submits a title that could fit this bizarre drawing. Your goal is to somehow find the correct prompt while fooling other players into selecting your decoy answer. Bonus points are awarded to those who submitted decoys that are especially clever or dumb… it’s usually the dumb ones.

You can find and sign up for this and many more events here! See you online!

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