Summary [8.0 out of 10]

After almost 10 years away You Don’t Know Jack is back  and updated for a new round of hilarious trivia. You Don’t Know Jack is set up like a game show with a host that asks you trivia questions and you compete for money either by yourself or up to three other contestants. The questions are generally not straight trivia questions and you often have to figure out what references they are making in order to get the gist of the question. This adds an extra layer to the challenge and makes for a more fun game. All of the old favorites are back with Dis or Dat, screwing  and the Jack Attack. All the  Sadly, changes in formula tarnish the glean just a bit and make this a slightly inferior product.

What It’s Like:

• Previous You Don’t Know Jack Games: Obviously.

• Trivial Pursuit: Pretty obvious why as well.

The Great:

• Humor: The game is really funny. I was worried that it would feel like it was trying too hard after all this time but it is genuinely amusing. Even when getting an answer wrong the game excels at making you laugh. This makes for a good time when even if you fail outright you are still having a good time.

• Variety of Questions: If you are into pop culture at all you are going to find a lot to love here as most of the questions are wrapped up in media and cultural references. Even given this the questions are varied and cover the whole spectrum of possible topics.

• Price: At a bargain price this game is well worth the price.

The Good:

• Wrong Answer of the Game: New to this version of YDKJ, the Wrong Answer of the Game is an answer that will net you massive amounts of money for finding it. They give you a clue at the beginning of the game by way of a product that is sponsoring the episode and you have to look for an answer somewhere in the game that matches it. If you choose this wrong answer correctly you get $4000 for the first round and $8000 for the second round. This adds yet another layer on top of the standard trivia and can be a real game changer for someone getting beaten badly.

• Question Animations: Like previous installments each question has an intro based on which number the question is. This has a little song and an animation unique to each question. In the past there would be two or three alternate versions of this. Here they are standard for the most part but occasionally there will be variations that are pretty funny. My favorite is the ongoing saga of one of the dancing number fours that is shot in one episode, a crime scene in another, a grave in yet another and so on. These moments are nice breaks from the trivia and because of the variations never get stale.

• Nocturnal Admissions: An intermittent trivia category, Nocturnal Admissions are essentially dreams the host, Cookie,  has about a movie and you have to piece together what movie he was dreaming about. These are pretty creepy with special appearances by Cookie’s cats and his mom in the form of a ball of yarn with lips and googly eyes. The questions range in difficulty but they are always amusing.

The Bad:

• Specific Episodes: In past games there was a group of questions that would appear at random and you could play game after game and never get the same one over. There would be occasional repeats but even then it wouldn’t be in the same order. In the current version each episode is static. You will always get the same questions in the same order without change. This cuts down replay significantly. Once you get through the 75 included episodes you basically just have to hope you forget the questions or you have to by additional episode packs through DLC.  If they make more YDKJ games in the future I hope they go back to the old set up.

• No Options for Longer Game: Again, in the previous games you had the option to choose a 10 question game or a 20 question game. Because the episodes are fixed in this iteration you no longer have that option. This is irritating if you want a longer game and I miss the option.

• Both Players Score for Each Question: Previous games used a buzz in system where a player would buzz in and answer the question. If they got it wrong the other players would have an opportunity to buzz in and steal the question. Here there is a count down from moment the question is asked that takes money away the longer it counts down and both players choose their answer. This allows everyone to get points on every question assuming they get it right. It is a matter of preference but I prefer the buzz in style as I feel it makes things a bit more competitive.

 

Conclusion [8.0 out of 10]

I loved the old series as I am a big trivia fan. Despite some irritating changes to the formula, You Don’t Know Jack remains my favorite trivia game and a must own for anyone who is into this type of game.