It works for up to eight
I was randomly flipping through my email last week and saw a peculiar Xbox One release — a little party game called Fibbage. Billed as a “fibbing” party game (the likes of which I’m sure you’ve seen before), this one has a small twist to it — it’s developed and narrated by the folks at Jackbox Games, the studio responsible for You Don’t Know Jack.
It also has a rather unique control method in that all eight players use smart phones, tablets, or PCs to play, so you don’t have to rustle up a ton of expensive controllers.
The concept is very simple — at the start of each round, all players will come up with a convincing “lie” to add to the multiple choice pool. So for a question like “this strange fishing rod sold at Hank’s Goods in Camden, Maine is comprised of 70% [blank]” — you might come up with “fish bones” or “endangered redwood.” The real answer is usually something odd (but not always), and in this case, it’s carrots. It’s not all niche trivia, and I found myself knowing roughly one answer every three rounds or so.
Setting up a game is also easy. All you have to do is go to fibbage.com on basically any device, then enter your name and the “room code” that each round displays on the screen — that’s it. I was able to get the game up and running on multiple tablets, smartphones, and PCs, and it’s a good game to spring on people since they will likely always have their phones on them.
Like any lie-based board game it’s a blast to play with friends, as Fibbage shows you what everyone’s fib was at the end of a round, and the satisfaction you’ll get from successfully passing off a lie is amazing. It gets better the more players you add to the mix, but it’s completely playable with two people, because it adds an extra “lie,” on its own to keep you on your toes. Jackbox Games promises that there are “hundreds” of questions, and in roughly 40 games comprised of multiple rounds I haven’t seen a repeat yet.
Fibbage originally launched on the Amazon Fire TV, but you can find it on the Xbox One now and the PS3/PS4 in “early September.”
