The 10th Party Pack is a huge milestone for Jackbox Games and the team is excited for players to be able to enjoy this new pack of party games in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

In the coming months, we’ll be sharing details and behind the scenes looks at the five games the team is building for the tenth Party Pack.

In addition, because each of the Party Packs are full of special memories, the Jackbox Games team will be highlighting one Party Pack per month leading up to the release of The Jackbox Party Pack 10.

Joining Tee K.O. 2, Timejinx, Hypnotorious and FixyText in The Jackbox Party Pack 10, DoDo Re Mi is the first-ever musical game published by Jackbox Games. In the game, players and their bandmates will work together by playing songs to feed a hungry musical plant – and avoid being eaten by the plant.

Containing both original songs and familiar music played in unexpected genres, each player will select an instrument to play, controlled through their phone, and be able to hear their bandmates’ instruments as they collaborate in real-time.

Bird-brained origins

Senior Software Engineer Chase McClure dreamed up the pitch for Dodo Re Mi. Chase remarks, “this idea of literally turning your phone into an instrument got into my head and wouldn’t leave.” 

But Jackbox has never made a music game before, and Chase was hyper aware of challenges of making this game. “It’s tough to overstate just how new this idea and tech is for our studio and the initial prototypes were… rough,” he says, “but just enough of the idea was there to prove, if we can pull it off, it could be a really special game.”

The studio agreed that this game was special. Once Chase’s pitch was greenlit for Party Pack 10, the production team was assembled and ideas for the look and feel of the game began to flow.

Game Director Brooke Breit recalls quickly drawing inspiration from birds. “Birds are musical. And the idea that there are these fictional birds that can make the sounds of many different instruments became our wrapper, the creative vision for the world of the game. Then, it just made sense that these birds have to perform well for this carnivorous plant in order to survive. Nature is brutal, right?”

Making music

Among the many challenges of creating this game is that of creating the instruments. Party Packs typically require one audio lead per game. In this case, Nate Sandberg took on that role and wrangled some additional support in instrument creation from Avery Makel. 

Avery shares, “Due to legal reasons, we needed to record our own samples for each instrument.” 

The team recorded samples of several instruments played by masters of the craft, including students at Central Michigan University. 

But of course it wouldn’t be a Jackbox party game without some body humor. Nate fondly recalls, “I guzzled two Dr. Peppers and jumped up and down to generate enough gusto for our burp instrument.”

Nate’s work isn’t all burps and tubas. Nate has worked tirelessly to compose the playable songs for this game. Dodo Re Mi’s Assistant Director Michael Siciliano recounts “Every time Nate dropped a new track in Slack was an event.” 

Taking flight

Chase elucidates what makes Dodo Re Mi so unique. “It certainly innovates what a Jackbox game is just by being a new genre,” he says “But it also innovates on the entire genre of music game in the way your devices are producing audio in real-time and recording playback of your specific game session.”

As the team puts their final touches on Dodo Re Mi, it’s clear just how excited they are to share this with Jackbox fans old and new. Avery mentions, “I’d love to see a room full of new players jam out together and laugh themselves silly.” 

Game Producer Pauline Ferraro anticipates broad appeal saying, “Everyone can find something to do that speaks to them in the game as there is a wide range of difficulty, genres and instruments to play.” 

Get your band together

Nate shares, “I hope that players get that feeling of creative collaboration that I know well from my years playing in bands.” 

Summary

Tee K.O 2 (3-8 players): A Jackbox Games fan-favorite returns to the ring with a new cast of characters, fresh drawing tools, brand-new styles and a new Final Round! In Tee K.O 2, players head to Tee Shirt Island to create clothing designs and witty slogans. Each design and slogan are assigned to other players, who then race to assemble the funniest clothing item - now including sweaters, tank tops and hoodies! Final designs battle it out in a series of one-on-one group votes where the player with the knockout garment racks up points. The new Final Round decides who taps out and who emerges the grand champion of Tee Shirt Island!

FixyText (3-8 players): Essentially chaos in the group chat, FixyText throws players into one text box to come up with a crazy response to an over-the-top message in limited time. The player whose words create the biggest waves, lands the biggest laughs and gets the most votes, wins! 

Hypnotorious (4-8 players): Prepare to be mesmerized in Hypnotorious, the deduction game where players are hypnotized into a new persona (falling into one of 3 categories) and must decipher each other’s identities. Players take part in a virtual stage show and answer questions in character, carefully keeping their persona a secret from the others. Once questions are answered, players will try to group up based on perceived similarities. Those that group up accurately score a lot of points! But beware because one player, The Outlier, does not fit in at all, so if you want to score big points you’ll need to identify them before it’s too late. The kicker is, The Outlier doesn’t know they’re The Outlier, so they’ll be trying to figure it out like everyone else!

Timejinx (1-8 players): In Timejinx, players assume the role of a time traveler who meets up with their ragtag group of friends for trivia night at the residence of our acerbic host, Jerri Rigg. Throughout the course of the wild night, players are given a series of multiple-choice questions where they must guess the dates of various historical events. Correct answers earn the fewest points, and the player with the lowest score wins! 

DoDo Re Mi: Your phone is your instrument in DoDo Re Mi, the first-ever rhythm game from Jackbox Games! Players play as a flock of birds who must band together and make music to feed the hungry jungle plant and avoid being eaten by said plant. Containing both original songs and familiar music played in unexpected genres, each player will select an instrument to play, controlled through their phone, and be able to hear their bandmates’ instruments as they collaborate in real-time.

The Jackbox Party Pack 10 is coming to all major platforms in Fall 2023.