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Are Fibbage XL and Quiplash Worth Standalone Buys on Switch?

by Neal Ronaghan - July 23, 2020, 11:19 am EDT
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Jul 23, 2020 The team behind the hit party games YOU DON’T KNOW JACK, Fibbage, and Drawful presents Quiplash, the laugh-a-minute battle of wits and wittiness! Use your phone or tablet to answer simple prompts. Quiplash is a standalone game available for purchase through the icons on the page above. Our games are available on a wide array of platforms, so make sure you pick the right one for your needs. NOTE: Titles are not transferable between platforms (i.e. You can only play the game on the platform you purchased it from.).

As the number of Jackbox games on Switch hovers around double digits, we try to guide you on the latest additions.

I was admittedly a little surprised when I saw Fibbage XL and Quiplash were coming to Nintendo Switch this week. As someone who has been playing Jackbox Party Packs since day one, I always forget that some of these games have origins as standalone releases. Regardless, the big question with these releases is should you buy them even when there are six other Jackbox Party Packs to choose from on Switch.

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But first off, here’s a quick overview of why both games are a lot of fun. Fibbage is a novel take on a trivia game, sort of. Anywhere from two to eight players can play and all are given a fun fact or weird bit of trivia with a word or phrase removed. All players have to come up with a believable lie to try to trick others to pick as the right answer. Players get points for tricking players and also points for guessing the correct answer. Quiplash lets three to eight players come up with amusing answers (or “quips”) to questions. Then the answers are put head-to-head against other player’s responses to the same question. I’d venture to say that Fibbage and Quiplash are the best two games in the Jackbox Party Pack era, though they have multiple versions and sequels available.

Fibbage XL actually was a part of the original Jackbox Party Pack, so even if it is now a standalone release on Switch, it’s already available on the system. The new release is $9.99 while the original Jackbox Party Pack is $24.99. However, if I’m being brutally honest, Fibbage XL is like 50% of why the first pack is great. Word Spud and Lie Swatter aren’t memorable. You Don’t Know Jack has better versions. Drawful is a stone-cold classic, though. If you desperately wanted the best of the first Jackbox Party Pack, you could just get Fibbage XL and Drawful 2 (which is available separately on Switch). But here’s also the other thing with Fibbage: later packs have Fibbage 2 (in Jackbox Party Pack 2) and Fibbage 3 (in Jackbox Party Pack 4). Fibbage 3 is the pinnacle of the series, especially with the clever Fibbage: Enough About You bonus game as well. While Fibbage XL is a great game - assuredly the best part of the first Jackbox Party Pack - there are two versions of Fibbage that followed it that are better. If you want Fibbage, get Jackbox Party Pack 4. Though if you want to just keep it simple and only play one game, Fibbage XL is there for you.

Unlike Fibbage XL, Quiplash debuted as a standalone game. It was the result of a 2015 Kickstarter, though about a year after its launch, Quiplash XL came out as a part of Jackbox Party Pack 2. A year later, Quiplash 2 came out as a part of Jackbox Party Pack 3. Quiplash had a very active three-year run. More recently, Quiplash 2 InterLASHional, a variant on the second game that includes multiple languages, came out on PC with a Switch release planned for the future. Speaking of the future, Quiplash 3 will be a part of Jackbox Party Pack 7, which is currently due out later in 2020. Much like Fibbage XL, it’s hard to recommend just buying the standalone version of the game despite the fact that Quiplash is a ton of fun to play. This is a fantastic game, but you are likely better off shelling out a little more money to get Jackbox Party Pack 2 or 3 - or just waiting for Quiplash 3 when it comes with Jackbox Party Pack 7.

Of course, if you just wanted to make it simple and have your Quiplash and your FIbbage in one game on your Switch, just spend $24.99 on Jackbox Party Pack 2, which includes Fibbage 2 and Quiplash XL - the successors to these two standalone releases. Additionally, you get Earwax, Bidiots, and Bomb Corp., which is a nice bonus and worth the $5 of added cost.

At the end of the day, just play yourself some Jackbox. In this age of isolation and quarantine, the ease of accessible online multiplayer in the Jackbox Games is incredible. All you need is one family member to figure out streaming and then somehow teach your parents how to go on Discord or Twitch. That’s not easy, but it sure beats being sad. I’d much rather embarrassingly make a foul-mouthed joke in Quiplash in front of my parents than watch the news. Viva la Jackbox Games.

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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 Nathan 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[edit]

Jackbox Games was founded in 1989 by Harry Nathan 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[3] Jellyvision attempted to enter the marketplace with console-based versions of You Don't Know Jack, but these games were unsuccessful.^[4] Jellyvision Games was shelved, and the following year Gottlieb launched a new company called the Jellyvision Lab.^[3] 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.^[3][5]

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.^[6][7] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Near the end of 2011, Jellyvision Games was spun off into a separate company.^[8] 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.^[9]

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 for consoles in 2014. Fibbage first appeared on the Amazon Fire TV and was released as a digital-only title on Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in September 2014.^{[citation needed]}

Fibbage proved successful with players, particularly using streaming media services like Twitch. In 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 2020.^[3][10]

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][11]

Games developed[edit]

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

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:

• You Don't Know Jack – 2011 – For personal computers and consoles
• You Don't Know Jack (Facebook) – 2012 – Via Facebook integration, and later to include tie-in iOS/Android versions.
• You Don't Know Jack Party – 2013 – For Amazon Fire TV

The Jackbox Party Pack series (2014–present)[edit]

The Jackbox Party Pack games are individual collections of several party games, designed for online play by multiple people, including large audiences, via streaming websites like Twitch. Since 2014, Jackbox has released a new set of games in these packs each year, with a total of seven packs currently released.

Standalone games[edit]

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)[edit]

Lie Swatter 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).

Clone Booth (2013)[edit]

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.

Word Puttz (2013)[edit]

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)[edit]

Fibbage is a party game played by 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 selected 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. 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. 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 including the audience members 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.

Quiplash (2015)[edit]

Quiplash is a party game played by 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 they end up getting all of the votes, they get a 'quiplash' and earn a bonus score. 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 winner is the player with the most points in the end.

Quiplash enables the audience to be an active participant, working from their previous success with a similar model of play from Fibbage and Drawful.^[12] Jackbox 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.^[13][14] Enhanced versions of Quiplash featuring more prompts have been included in The Jackbox Party Pack.

Quiplash Episodes

Drawful 2 (2016)[edit]

Drawful 2 is a standalone game released on June 21, 2016 for Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.^[15] It follows the same format of Drawful from the 2014 The Jackbox Party Pack. 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 awards 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.^[16] 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.^[17]

Quiplash 2: InterLASHional (2020)[edit]

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 on lockdown; 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.^[18]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abGraft, Kris (May 27, 2020). 'As traffic hits all-time high, Jackbox adjusting to dev'ing from home'. Gamasutra. Retrieved May 27, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
2. ^ ^abSarkar, Samit (June 5, 2013). 'You Don't Know Jack developer Jellyvision rebrands itself as Jackbox Games'. Polygon. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
3. ^ ^abcdGriner, 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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
4. ^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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
5. ^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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
6. ^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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
7. ^Alexander, Leigh (August 19, 2008). 'Jellyvision Returns To Game Biz With Bilder'. Gamasutra. Retrieved October 25, 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
8. ^'Jackbox Games'. Crunchbase. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
9. ^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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
10. ^Schreier, Jason (October 20, 2020). 'Jackbox Games Benefits From Retro-Style Party Games in Pandemic'. Bloomberg News. Retrieved November 7, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
11. ^Francis, Bryant (May 7, 2020). 'Q&A: How Jackbox CEO Mike Bilder is grappling with quarantine-driven success'. Gamasutra. Retrieved May 27, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
12. ^Conditt, Jessica (June 30, 2015). ''Quiplash,' a streaming party game for 10,000 people'. Engadget. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
13. ^Marchiafava, Jeff (March 16, 2015). 'Quiplash'. Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 24, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
14. ^Jackbox Games (April 13, 2015). 'Quiplash – An Outrageous New Party Game'. Kickstarter. Archived from the original on February 23, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
15. ^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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
16. ^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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
17. ^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.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
18. ^Favis, Elise (August 14, 2020). 'Playing remotely: The massive success of Jackbox Games during the pandemic'. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

External links[edit]

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• Official website

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