science

Jackbox Games

Jackbox Games is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jackbox Games rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Jackbox Games belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jackbox Games to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jackbox Games from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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.

History Jackbox Games was founded in 1989 by Harry Nathan Gottlieb as an educational entertainment company called Learn Television. 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 Games 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. From 1999 to 2001, Jellyvision developed five games based on the American version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, all of them featuring Regis Philbin's likeness and voice. The first of these adaptations – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – was published by Disney Interactive, while the later four were published by Buena Vista Interactive which had just been spun off from DI when it reestablished itself in attempts to diversify its portfolio. Of the five games, three featured general trivia questions, one was sports-themed, and another was a "Kids Edition" featuring easier questions. 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. Jellyvision attempted to enter the marketplace with console-based versions of You Don't Know Jack, but these games were unsuccessful. Jellyvision Games was shelved, and the following year Gottlieb launched a new company called the Jellyvision Lab. 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. 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. 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. Near the end of 2011, Jellyvision Games was spun off into a separate company. 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. 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 on the Amazon Fire TV and as a digital-only title on Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in September 2014. Fibbage proved successful with players, particularly using streaming media services like Twitch. In October 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, except in 2024. Around mid-March 2020, Jackbox Games experienced a large increase in traffic due to the stay-at-home limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team currently produces videos and live streams named "The Jackbox Party Club" in which the producers, designers and team of the Party Packs play together along with the audience.

Games developed

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

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 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 and iPad

The Jackbox Party Pack series (2014–present)

The Jackbox Party Pack games are individual collections of five party games per pack, designed for online play by multiple people, including large audiences, via streaming websites like Twitch. Packs follow a loose format, with every pack generally including at least one sequel, drawing game, and writing game. Since 2014, Jackbox has released a new set of games in these packs each year, with a total of 11 packs available as of 2025.

Standalone games 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 were then featured as part of The Jackbox Party Pack.

Lie Swatter (2013) Lie Swatter is a single-player game for mobile devices that 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). A multiplayer version of Lie Swatter is included in the first Jackbox Party Pack, which supports up to 100 players. The game has also been ported to a hands-free version on the Amazon Alexa.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jackbox Games

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jackbox Games claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jackbox Games before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jackbox Games ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jackbox Games

In research: Jackbox Games appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jackbox Games in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jackbox Games is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2008 establishments in Illinois, American companies established in 2008, Companies based in Chicago, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jackbox Games outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jackbox Games in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jackbox Games means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jackbox Games out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jackbox Games in simple terms?

Why does Jackbox Games matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jackbox Games?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jackbox Games.