Making The Jackbox Party Pack 6

On October 17th, 2019, The Jackbox Party Pack 6 was released with five party games: Trivia Murder Party 2, Dictionarium, Push the Button, Joke Boat, and Role Models.

Check out the original trailer for this pack that was released on September 29th, 2019!

Trivia Murder Party 2

Do you like to test your knowledge with trivia games? How about the thrill of watching horror movies? Well, you can get the best of both worlds with Trivia Murder Party 2, our sequel to Trivia Murder Party. In this game, you and your group navigate the wacky floor and rooms of the infamous murder hotel. Be sure to get the questions right! If you don’t, you’ll be sent to the killing floor where you will compete with your friends in minigames to save your life.

When asked if he had any funny memories about the making of Trivia Murder Party 2, Editorial Lead and Co-Lead Designer, Arnie Niekamp, shared, “It was a lot of fun to think about the game "hopping genres" from something like Saw in TMP1 to '70s prestige horror like The Shining. I wrote up a lot of stuff digging into the murderous host's past, how he came from a family of murderers, but was always a bit of an outsider, wanting to be a performer (while, of course, also still murdering people).”

Studio Art Director, Dave Innis, shared some early concept images for the game:

VP of Audio and Editorial, Andy Poland, also shared unused question music: 

Dictionarium

Remember when you and your friends tried to create your own language growing up? You gave seemingly random words and sounds their own definitions without anyone else knowing. Dictionarium brings that childhood experience back by having you create crazy definitions to brand new words! What is a “blumberscooty”? A type of car? The newest social media platform? Your aunt’s favorite t-shirt? It can be whatever you say it is!

We often see comments online from fans celebrating the soundtrack to Dictionarium. The writer of the theme song, Andy Poland, said, “The theme song for Dictionarium pretty much popped into my head, completed. I woke up on a Sunday morning with it in my head and ran to the basement to record a rough version of it so I wouldn't forget it. ”

You can listen to the original theme song here:

Part of the fun was also the development of the letters as characters. Tim Sniffen, a Game Director at Jackbox, shared this fun teaser that was dropped before release:

Push the Button

In Push the Button, you and your group are astronauts aboard a starcraft traveling through space! Everything was going smoothly on your journey until aliens infiltrated your ship and blended in among the rest of the crew. Luckily, the ship’s AI, DODE (Digital Officer During Emergencies), has developed a series of creative tests that will determine if you’re human or a sneaky space creature trying to blend in. Find out who in your group are the aliens and eject them into space before the timer runs out or you’re all doomed!

In each pack, we try to include a social deduction game and this continues to be a fan favorite. Writer, C.J. Tuor, shared, “Push the Button is one of my favorite all time games from Jackbox. I love hidden identity games and I thought we could do something really special with our technology. You have to playtest Identity games a lot to anticipate audience reactions. My favorite memory: In an early playtest, we were trying out an 8 person game and people started to suspect Spencer Ham. When accused, HE SHOUTED (in a perfect alien voice), ‘BUT YOU'LL NEVER GET BOTH OF US!!!’... in a way I've only heard in the most intense Hidden Identity games I've played... and I knew we had something special.”

Writer and Game Director, Warren Arnold, chimed in saying, “Surena Marie, aka DODE, was hilarious recording her lines. Such a robotic delivery on the ridiculous stuff we wrote.”

Software Development Engineer, Allison Flom, shared a real-life DODE and button:

Joke Boat

Ahoy, matey! Are you ready to sail the sea of hilarity? If so, then prepare to participate in a hysterical talent show on the Joke Boat! You and your group will take turns writing and presenting jokes in front of each other. If you get stage fright, don’t worry, you can choose to either perform the joke yourself or have your dummy take the spotlight. Be careful though, after round 1, the ship will start to sink and only the top comedians will be saved with life vests.

Brooke Breit was a writer and designer on the game and she came up with the original pitch for it! When asked about how she came up with the idea, she stated, “Joke Boat had such a funny origin story. I was working on a joke telling mechanic, and Claire, another writer at the time, said ‘what if it's on a boat’. And that was it. I pitched it with the name ‘Joke Boat’ and a lot of games typically take a long time to figure out what the actual name is (most of the time, it is not the name it was pitched with). But we all sat down in that first meeting and said ‘Oh, it's Joke Boat, no further discussion needed’.”

Art Director, Owen Watson, shared some early concept art for the game:

Role Models

Step into our highly tested and perfectly accurate lab with Role Models. Every group has different types of people that fulfill certain roles. For example: the one who plans everything, the one who is always late, the crazy one who will probably get lost, and of course, the mom (or dad) of the group who will make sure everyone gets home safe. Which one are you? Are you the same role for every group that you’re a part of? Step into the Role Models lab to find out! You’ll also get points based on how well you know the members of your group and what their role might be.

When asked about the development process for the game, writer, C.J. Tour, shared, “I REALLY love Role Models, but that game really changed throughout the design process and by the end, we were really scrambling to write all the content (and new features) to meet the deadline. For example, the shirts you can buy, that was a later idea. So after my content was written, I had to go back and assign personality adjectives to things like ‘A stapler’ and ‘The Statue of Liberty’ from 9 - 5 for three days straight.”

Early concept are for the logo and menu of Role Models:

Throughout the upcoming months, we’ll be highlighting the work that went into each of the Party Packs. Stay tuned for more behind the scenes snippets, livestreams, discounts, and more. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to keep up with all the behind the scenes content.