Quiplash

Genre: Party Game

Players: 3-8 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Quiplash is a Party game that actually first released on multiple platforms in 2015, with the XL version of the game (which includes more content) having previously made it to the Nintendo Switch in The Jackbox Party Pack 2 in 2017. For those who are curious, you can see my review of that collection here, but the short version is that I found Quiplash XL to be pretty much the middle of the pack in that package. However, for players not wanting to take the plunge on a $25 collection of five games, they can now instead opt to buy just this one game (albeit the non-XL version) for $10, since it has been released separately for the Nintendo Switch in 2020.

Visually, Quiplash is fairly simple, mostly just showing text questions with simple cartoony characters and mostly static backgrounds. It’s not horrible, but it’s pretty basic, and far from anything that one might consider impressive. At the very least I can say that it does what it needs to. This is joined by a voiced host to guide the players, some energetic music, and not much else. Yeah, it’s a pretty sparse presentation, but one could argue that puts the focus on the questions and answers that comprise the gameplay.

While players use a traditional controller to set up the game’s lobby, the majority of the game is played using a smartphone or some other personal internet-connected device. Basically, playing this game requires each player to have their own modern internet-capable device, and for most this means the Smartphones the majority of us already own, with this game supporting up to eight players at a time. The game creates an online lobby with a room code, and players use their internet-connected devices to go to the Jackbox.tv website and enter the code to join the room.

It’s an unusual setup, to be sure, but it’s one that ensures that each player has access to their own private screen, which is a necessary element of this game as players will be submitting their answers to prompts privately and anonymously, ideally removing favoritism from the voting process that follows.

See, the idea of this game is that players are given a prompt, such as “A brand name for a medication that intentionally CAUSES male impotence” or “The secret to a happy life”, to which players must answer with… whatever answer they believe will tickle the group’s fancy. The funniest answer? The grossest answer? The most accurate answer? The least accurate answer? It’s all up to what your own group is most likely to find the “better” answer, because the correct answer is judged by a vote from the group.

If you’ve ever played a game of Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity, you should have a pretty good idea of how this game works, although the format of this game ensures that the sky’s the limit when it comes to the sort of answers you can come up with, rather than having to match a limited number of answers on cards with the prompt you’re given.

In a party setting, this makes for a fun, though largely sort of brainless activity. I don’t know about you, but every group I’ve played games like this with devolves into choosing answers completely arbitrarily or devolving into stale running jokes. But at least until that point, this kinda’ game can make for a fun and funny time in smaller doses.

Overall though, Quiplash is a decent party game, and one that’s pretty easy to invite just about anyone to play (as long as they don’t mind occasional adult-themed questions and questions that insinuate adult answers). However, whether it’s a good value is debatable. Is it more worth your while to get the full Jackbox Party Pack 2 with all five games for $25, including a better version of this game? Or is it more worth your while to spend $10 to just get this one? Personally, given how I feel this game is fun in short bursts, I believe it’s best balanced out with the other games in the collection, but if all you’re looking for is something akin to Cards Against Humanity and want to spend as little as possible, you may find getting this game on its own to be worth your while.

tl;dr – Quiplash is a Party Game where players try to create a funny answer in response to a prompt, with the other players voting on the answer they like best. This is a pretty fun game that makes for a lot of amusing answers, well worth bringing out at parties, especially for Cards Against Humanity fans. Having said that, a better version of this game is already included in the second of the Jackbox Party Pack series on the Nintendo Switch, so players might want to weigh the value of this game against that package.

Grade: B

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