With two players, start The Jackbox Party Pack 12 with Debate and Switch or Idol Factions. With three to eight, you can also choose We Forgot a Card, Hyperface or MegaPals. One person runs the pack, and everyone joins the selected game’s room from a browser at jackbox.tv. Choose your first game by what the group wants to do: write a punchline, edit a photo, match words, argue a position or sort trivia with a teammate.
Which game fits your group?
| Game | Players | What you do | Listed length |
|---|---|---|---|
| We Forgot a Card | 3 to 8 | Choose card fronts, write messages and give talking plushies new lines | 20 minutes |
| Hyperface | 3 to 8 | Distort a selfie or stock photo to answer a prompt | 15 minutes |
| MegaPals | 3 to 8 | Submit words, find matches and choose new prompts | 15 minutes |
| Debate and Switch | 2 to 8 | Argue for or against a statement that can change | 15 minutes |
| Idol Factions | 2 to 8 | Pass answers around a board and sort them into categories | 15 minutes |
For a group that prefers making something before showing it, try the cards or photo editor. Choose Debate and Switch when people want to speak, or Idol Factions when they want a shared task with quick calls between teammates. MegaPals suits a group that wants to keep submitting short answers instead of polishing one joke.
Get everyone into the same room
The host installs and launches The Jackbox Party Pack 12, selects a game and presses Play to open its lobby. Other players only need their browser controller; they do not each need a copy of the pack. Enter the room code shown on the host’s screen at jackbox.tv, then wait until the intended players have joined before starting.
Keep the main game screen visible to everyone. In person, that means arranging the host’s display where the group can read it. For a remote session, the host can share the game through Discord or Zoom while players use jackbox.tv for their inputs. Sharing only a room code leaves remote players without the card reveals, debate stage and trivia board they need to follow.
We Forgot a Card: finish the message before the timer runs out
Begin by voting for an occasion. After the category is chosen, browse the card fronts on your phone, pick one and write the message inside. Treat the front as the start of your joke: read its exact wording before you commit, and choose something you already have an ending for.
The tutorial offers both fronts that fit the occasion and an odd option influenced by another player’s writing. You can use that odd option, but read it before selecting: a funny phrase can still be difficult to finish. For a get-well occasion, a front asking what someone almost died from gives you a clear sentence to complete. A random phrase requires you to invent the connection as well as the punchline.
Front selection and writing share the round’s countdown. Browsing until the last few seconds leaves very little time to enter the inside message. Make your choice once you have a usable idea, type the ending and press Send. In the game’s pen display, players’ pens lower as they finish.
If the controller offers “Make a random card front (for another player)” after your submission, write an opening someone else can build on. A sentence that invites a completion gives the next writer room to add a joke.
The reveal compares cards in head-to-head matchups. Read both the front and inside before voting, then sign your preferred card through your controller. Your signature is your player avatar, so the marks on the revealed cards show how players voted. Card voting awards points, and a score sheet follows the round. Another occasion vote begins the second card round; keep playing after that score sheet because the gift finale still remains.
The plushie finale has two writing steps
First, complete the sentence with a blank on your phone and press Send. The game gives that message to a plushie another player can choose later. Write a short opening that leaves them something to respond to. The tutorial’s example starts with “Welcome to my” and fills the blank with “NIGHTMARE!”.
Next, choose a plushie from the shared selection. There is only one of each: when another player takes it, that choice is gone. If your favourite becomes unavailable, pick one of the remaining toys and read the message attached to it. Avoid spending the writing time waiting for a taken plushie to return.
Write the extra line that completes what the plushie says. The inherited message is already part of the reveal, so respond to it rather than repeating it in your answer. Read the two lines together before sending. The finished toys face each other for votes, then the final score sheet and Winner screen settle the game.
For another match, the post-game screen offers Same Players and New Players. Use Same Players to play again with the group, or New Players when changing the lineup.
Hyperface: edit a selfie or stock photo
Choose a stock image or take a selfie, then edit it to answer the prompt on your controller. Use a stock photo if you prefer to keep your own face out of the game. Read the situation before editing so you know which expression to exaggerate.
The editor includes smudging, growing, shrinking, drawing and makeup. Pick the feature that carries your response, then use those tools to exaggerate it. For the pictured chicken prompt, the example reshapes the nose into a beak and adds a red comb. That gives voters a connection to the prompt before they inspect smaller details.
The game puts edited photos into matchups for everyone else to vote on. In the final round, you can return to an earlier face and rework it, or start a new image. Reuse one when its existing edits help your new idea; start again when they would make the response harder to recognise.
MegaPals: keep the answers coming, then use the unmatched words
The first round gives everyone 45 seconds to enter as many responses to the prompt as they can. Keep moving through different associations instead of spending the whole window on one elaborate answer. The game shows which players submitted similar words and ranks friendships by unique matches.
Round two adds a use for answers that did not match. After the match reveal, like your favourites among the unmatched words. The most popular becomes the next prompt, so be ready to follow the group’s new subject. A word that was your answer a moment ago can become the starting point for everyone’s next batch.
The finale asks questions about individual players. Respond with that person’s tastes in mind. When the prompt names you, choose favourites from the incoming words to boost particular friendships. Points reward matches, and the pair with the most matches together finishes as the Kings of Friendship.
Debate and Switch: follow the changed statement
Submit a statement the group can argue for or against. When you take a podium, defend your assigned side; when you are watching, move your character toward the side you agree with. Watch for listeners crossing the room as you speak; you can see which argument is drawing them over.
After the first debate round, players can replace a word in the topic. Read the resulting sentence before continuing your argument. If a change alters what the proposal asks for, your old example may no longer support your position. Build the next point around the new wording, even if you have to abandon the speech you were preparing.
Off the podium, you can also submit comments that appear as word bubbles. Use them to offer a counterexample or give a speaker something to build on. A debater can use those comments or ignore them, so keep listening when yours appears. A short remark tied to the current statement is easier to use than one about a topic the room has already changed.
Idol Factions: pass the answer toward its category
Read all three categories before the stream of words begins. Your team must send each answer to the correct category, using the board positions and passes between players to get it there. Call out the intended category when passing a word so the next teammate can continue its route.
Players occupy positions near category buckets, other places that help with sorting, and portals to the opposing team. Move or pass according to where the answer needs to go. Correct answers grow your team’s stone avatar.
Watch for bombs among the incoming words. Their countdown shows how long you have to send them through a portal and distract the other team. Route a bomb toward a portal when it appears, then return to sorting answers. Later rounds increase the pace, so call the category or the bomb’s destination promptly instead of trying to explain the entire board while words keep arriving.