You Don’t Know Jack is an awesome party game, a legend among video games in a category that’s all-too-slim. The recent 2011 iteration for Xbox 360 and PS3 was likely the best one yet, and reminded us all of the fun of playing with actual friends in the same room. It’s an intelligent and hysterical trivia game made all the better for its incredible host, one so-called Cookie Masterson, who is just as likely to abuse you as…. abuse you. It’s always for a good reason, though.
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It's a wonderful game but there's always a big issue with digital party games, and that is the issue of controllers. Not only would you have to round up enough for everyone to play but enough batteries for each, and explain to everyone which of the thousand buttons to hit, which was always confusing for non-gamers who love trivia. I always ended up using Guitar Hero controllers because who has four $50 controllers laying around the house?
Fibbage is the latest trivia party game from the You Don’t Know Jack developers and they’ve brilliantly sidestepped this issue by allowing you to play the game from your cell phone, tablet, or computer. It’s likely that every single person coming over your house to play will have a smartphone, and they can just use that as the controller. This not only makes the logistics of setting up a game a billion times easier, but it also increases the number of players to eight.
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Cookie Masterson, the hostest with the mostest, returns and is just as biting and funny as he’s ever been. He really should be hired to narrate every game.
The basics of Fibbage are easy enough to explain to new players in a manner of minutes. The game gives you a fact that’s incomplete, such as “Anatidaephobia is the fear that somewhere in the world a ____ is watching you.”, or “Current brand-name product that was originally called "Baby Gays" in 1926."
Now it’s time to think. Thanks to your mobile devices being used as your controllers, you’ll tap in a word that you think will fool everyone. After that, all of the players' lies will be displayed on screen, along with a few provided by the computer and the real, true answer. Everyone selects which answer they think is correct and if you actually get the right one you'll earn points, and also you’ll get points if your lie is chosen by another player.
And that’s really it! Unlike You Don’t Know Jack there aren’t really any themes or changes to the basic formula- it’s really just this simple. As with every party game ever invented the fun will be determined on the crowd that you pick- you better hope you have witty friends who can think on their feet… and maybe a few drinks on hand.
It's a easy formula but absolutely brilliant in its execution and as of right now, Fibbage is the best digital party game that exists.
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Fibbage was reviewed on PS4 from a download code provided by the publisher. It's also available for PS3 (with cross-buy), Xbox One and Amazon Fire TV, Right now it's also a part of the Jackbox Party Pack bundle with four other party games.
