Parents' Guide to The Jackbox Party Pack 5

Like most You Don't Know Jack games, this collection of games is at its best when it sticks with what the series is best known for: trivia. The Jackbox Party Pack 5's primary game show-like question and answer mode is loads of fun, with cleverly written questions, cool ways for players to interact with one another, and terrific presentation and hosting. It's a great way for a big group of friends to play together, especially since everyone just uses their own phone to play rather than needing a controller. Three of the other games -- Mad Verse City, Split the Room, and Patently Stupid -- can be entertaining, too, but are more dependent on player interests. Players with no fondness for either drawing or hip-hop, for example, likely won't have much fun with Patently Stupid or Mad Verse City. And while Split the Room can cause some humorously heated debates between players stunned that others would choose one thing over another, it works best among a group of outgoing players, as quieter competitors are likely to be overcome by louder ones.

The one real dud in the mix is Zeeple Dome, which feels like an odd duck simply because it doesn't involve trivia knowledge or any sort of creativity. It's more like a collaborative version of Angry Birds, with players forced to cooperate and ensure they're targeting the proper aliens at the right time. But even if you decide to skip Zeeple Dome entirely, the other four games -- especially You Don't Know Jack -- make The Jackbox Party Pack 5 a good option for people who want a party game that can engage a whole room full of people for a couple of hours at a time. It's not exactly a marvel of innovation, but it's well polished and funny, it delivers plenty of content before repeating, and it has an almost non-existent learning curve. It's an easy recommendation for fans of social and party games.