Jackbox Party Pack 12 Preview: Our First Look at Debate and Switch, Hyperface

Screenshot: Debate and Switch

Recently, I had the chance to test out a couple of Jackbox party games from the upcoming Jackbox Party Pack 12, which is releasing in October this year. For this preview, I sat down (digitally) with some Jackbox crew and a few of my peers to play a match each of “Debate and Switch” and “Hyperface.”

First off, I have to get this out of the way: “Debate and Switch” is itself, a bit of a bait and switch. See: “debate and switch” is an established TV Trope, and it usually refers to a morally hard choice that is somehow undone or made moot by other actions.

I’ll borrow an example from tvtropes.com: A man needs lifesaving medicine for a loved one. He decides to rob a pharmacy to get it, but before he can, he wins the lottery. Moral choice undone. This is not what “Debate and Switch” is, unfortunately.  It turns out it’s a more traditional debate with a few twists. Bummer, but it could be fun with the right group.

And while there were some lively debates in my group, sadly, I am not only a terrible debater, but I was suffering from some technical issues, which is awkward for a technology writer. By the way, it turns out if you can’t speak, you can type your answer. That’s handy! Though I don’t know if I can type out my whole platform in a mere 30 seconds…

Screenshot: Debate and Switch

However, I digress. 

“Debate and Switch” is all about debating made up scenarios. 2-8 players take to the debate stage and debate topics like (and these are taken straight from the Jackbox Games website about the game) “All menus need photos of the food on them” or “The high school mascot should be really, really scary.” The second round of debate changes things up a bit–literally. Players have the ability to switch out a word in the debate prompt. For instance, we were given the prompt “Spelling Bees should have physical challenges” (or something) and I changed it to “Spelling Bees should have metaphysical challenges.”

Come on, I’m funny. Validate me. Sadly, I was arguing in the “against” column and got rolled. 

But I will have my revenge, as I’ve been honing my debate skills for the inevitable release of Jackbox Party Pack 12.

At least “Hyperface” went a little better for me. Wait, no it didn’t. This time I was paired off against an absolute artist.

See, “Hyperface” requires a bit of artistic skill to elicit the requisite laughs, and therefore votes, to win the game. You can take a selfie, or use stock photos, and you have three rounds to manipulate the face into a clever approximation (or interpretation) of the prompt. Like, “your face after you tell a bad joke at a party” or something similar. 

Despite my attempts at being clever, it turns out someone who puts the entire editing time of nearly three minutes to full use instead of smudging the face into a squint and drawing some lines to show expression would succeed. But it’s not just that, she was a genius and showed the absolute blast “Hyperface” can be with a dedicated group of artistic friends. Sadly, I don’t think this would go over great with my group. If we were playing “Hyperface” I could manipulate a face to look incredibly (and cartoonishly) disappointed that we’re playing a photo editing game.

Okay, it sounds like I’m being harsh on it but I’m really not. “Hyperface” was one of the highlights of what I saw during my press preview, and has me excited for Party Pack 12. Especially since it lets you get really creative, with a whole range of brushes that let you draw, grow, shrink, smudge and distort to your heart’s content.

Jackbox Party Pack 12 is coming October 15th to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. Also keep a look out for Trivia Murder Party III coming to Steam Early Access September 17th.