Game: The Jackbox Party Pack 12
Developer & Publisher: Jackbox Games
Genre: Party Game Collection
Release: October 2026
Price: $29.99
Players: 2–8 · audience up to 10,000
Platforms: PC · Mac · Linux · PS4/PS5 · Xbox · Switch/Switch 2 · Apple TV · iPad
🎉 How we reviewed it: we played The Jackbox Party Pack 12 on PC via Steam. Party packs live or die by the group you play with, so our verdict also draws on the experiences of other groups since launch.
📱 Know this first: only one person needs to own it. As always with Jackbox, the host runs the game and everyone else joins using their phone, tablet or any web browser as a controller. It also supports Remote Play Together on Steam and streaming audiences of up to 10,000, so it works on the couch or online. And every game here is brand new, with no remakes of older Jackbox games.
🆕 Five New Games, No Reruns
Players are relieved that Party Pack 12 is five completely new games, with no sequels or rereleases of older titles. Two of them are being talked about as instant classics: Hyperface, the series’ first photo-editing game, and MegaPals, a word game about how well you know your friends.
Long-time fans are broadly positive. Several feel Party Pack 11 is still slightly stronger, but call this one of the better packs in recent years. One player who has played every pack calls it the best since Party Pack 7, while another feels Jackbox is on the up again.
Warp your friends’ faces, then argue about it
The Jackbox Party Pack 12 bundles five new party games: a greeting-card joke-writing game, a friendship word-matching game, a town-hall debate game, a team trivia game and a selfie-warping photo editor. Each game takes around 15 to 20 minutes, so you can easily cycle through the whole pack in one evening.
Our verdict: The Jackbox Party Pack 12 delivers five genuinely hilarious minigames that’ll have your friends laughing until they can’t breathe.
The Five Games
Hyperface3–8 players · 15 min · Photo Editing
Warp selfies or stock photos to answer prompts with smudge, stretch, squash and drawing tools, then vote for the best.
MegaPals3–8 players · 15 min · Word Matching
Match your answers with your friends’. The two players with the most in common become the Kings of Friendship.
Idol Factions2–8 players · 15 min · Team Trivia
Two teams race to sort words into categories on a shared board, while throwing bombs through portals at their rivals.
Debate and Switch2–8 players · 15 min · Improv Debate
Argue silly opinions at a town hall as the crowd moves to your side, and watch topics flip with a single-word swap.
We Forgot a Card3–8 players · 20 min · Joke Writing
Design greeting cards for odd occasions, ending with a plushie gift that has its own custom voice-box message.
The Stars of the Pack
Hyperface is the game everyone is talking about, and the biggest surprise. One player expected a one-and-done gimmick, others call it the sleeper hit, and it’s a much-needed twist on the usual drawing game formula. Crucially, you don’t need to be an artist: you’re warping photos, not drawing from scratch, which makes it far more accessible than Jackbox’s picture games usually are. Being able to use your own selfies, as well as some memorably ugly stock photos, gives it huge replay value. Players love its presentation and soundtrack too, and one compared its otherworldly 2000s-computer aesthetic to a mix of Frutiger Aero and Kid Pix. One group ranks it alongside Champ’d Up, Quiplash and Tee K.O.
MegaPals is the other star. It’s a simple concept (try to give the same answers as your friends), but it has more depth than you’d expect, and it’s brilliant for friend groups with years of inside jokes. One player thinks it could become the new Blather ‘Round: a game that doesn’t scream “Jackbox”, but is a great party game in its own right. Another calls it possibly one of their favourite Jackbox games ever.
🎯 The Rest of the LineupIdol Factions has become several players’ favourite Jackbox trivia game, because everyone plays at once in real time instead of taking turns, and juggling your board with portals and bombs makes it feel like a proper game rather than a quiz. The prompts are easier than in some trivia games, too. But it’s still trivia, so groups who don’t enjoy trivia will probably skip it.
Debate and Switch is the pack’s most divisive game. Some groups love yelling over each other on the podium, praise its unique voting system, and like that you can lean into role-play by inventing fake scandals. Others found it slow and compared it unfavourably to Talking Points. It all depends on how much your group enjoys improvising.
We Forgot a Card is the safest pick: a quick, fun head-to-head joke-writing game in the vein of Tee K.O., without the long drawing round at the start. Several players call it the least exciting of the five, but it still gets plenty of laughs, and one says the plushie’s high-pitched text-to-speech voice is wonderful.
Where It Stumbles
⚠️ Not Every Joke Lands1. It’s not cheap. At $29.99, a couple of players found the price steep, though, as one put it, Jackbox packs always are. One mixed review suggests waiting for a sale.
2. Two games depend heavily on your group. Debate and Switch is either fantastic or a slog, depending on how much your friends like to improvise, and one player rated it the weakest of the five. Idol Factions won’t win over anyone who dislikes trivia.
3. Some of it feels familiar. One group felt that only MegaPals and Debate and Switch are truly fresh, and that the others are “been there, done that” for long-time fans, recommending it most as a first Jackbox pack. Even Hyperface misses for some: one group found it the weakest of the pack, and another felt it was a limited take on drawing games.
4. No photo uploads in Hyperface. You can warp stock photos or take selfies, but one player wishes you could upload photos from your phone.
♿ Easy to Join, Easy to Play
Players join with any phone or web browser, and Steam lists full controller support, camera comfort options, custom volume controls and playable without timed input. One tip for Hyperface: if the host PC doesn’t have a working webcam, play on your phone to take selfies.
Things to Know
📋 Before You Buy
• $29.99, and only the host needs to own it
• Available on Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux) and the Epic Games Store, plus PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series X|S, Switch/Switch 2, Apple TV, iPad and the Mac App Store
• 2–8 players per game (three of the five need at least three), with audiences of up to 10,000 for streams
• Supports Remote Play Together, online play and couch play · Steam Achievements · Steam Cloud
• English only · runs on almost anything: a Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM and a 3 GB install
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly
HyperfaceA hilarious, accessible new take on Jackbox drawing games.
Debate and SwitchDivisive, and only as good as your group’s improv.
The Price$29.99 is steep for some.
MegaPalsA brilliant friendship game, and a possible new Blather ‘Round.
We Forgot a CardFun, but the least exciting of the five.
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Idol FactionsReal-time team trivia that feels like a proper game.
Familiar FormulasSome games feel “been there, done that” for veterans.
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All-New GamesFive fresh titles, with no rereleases.
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One Copy, Any DeviceEveryone else joins from their phone.
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The Verdict
The Jackbox Party Pack 12 is a consistently strong pack, and its five all-new games are a big part of the appeal. Hyperface and MegaPals are genuine standouts that could sit among Jackbox’s all-time greats, Idol Factions is one of the series’ best trivia games, and while Debate and Switch and We Forgot a Card won’t be everyone’s favourites, neither is a dud.
It may not quite topple Party Pack 11 for some fans, and $29.99 isn’t cheap. But with five fresh games, easy phone-based play and only one copy needed for the whole group, it’s easy value for a regular game night.
The honest read: if your group loves Jackbox, Party Pack 12 is an easy recommendation, and if you’ve never played one, it’s a great place to start. Just warn your friends before you start warping their selfies.
Hello, I'm Flare, a devoted gamer deeply intertwined with the gaming world. Since childhood, video games have been my passion, offering endless joy in each adventure. My love for gaming extends into my professional life in game journalism. Each game is a new journey, a source of fascination and excitement, continually drawing me into its enthralling universe. Join my gaming journey. 👑
