Parents' Guide to The Jackbox Party Pack 4

Each entry in this party game series tinkers with its formula just a little bit, and while this new pack is arguably the most confusing, its modes are the most fun in the whole franchise. Of course, your mileage will vary, because in a large part, how fun the game is has a lot to do with how eager you and your friends are to make jokes and sometimes look foolish with ones that don't hit their mark. Your fun also will hinge on everyone's willingness to learn rules and be a little in the dark on each mode for a while. Some games are far more confusing than others: Monster Seeking Monster is perhaps the least obvious about what you're supposed to be doing or writing, as you have to quickly acclimate yourself to a bunch of rules, and then role-play as different characters with different parameters and win conditions on top of that. To be sure, all modes take at least one go-through just to understand.

Nevertheless, the whole package here is very well thought out. If you're waiting for your friends to finish their answers after you've already submitted yours, there are on-screen distractions and jokes to make the delay far more bearable and even enjoyable. Each group of friends is more likely to gravitate toward certain games and find their favorite, though Survive the Internet feels the most inspired among the new additions here. If you don't have enough players, the game will add an AI player with pre-written jokes to bring a new voice with road-tested humor, a nice boost of variety. It's too bad all these games don't offer this option, because otherwise, you will be pretty limited by who lives near you, who you get along with online, or who you overlap with on time zones to make play plausible. Still, if you can get a group together, you're guaranteed to have some laughs and to really enjoy yourself -- reliably.