Category: Game Reviews

I find some JackBox games interesting because most of the time you want to win in the end but you need the support of others to get you there. In Spilt the Room, you are given a hypothetical situation with a fill-in-the-blank. A few multiple choice answers are given. You win more points in a round if the majority vote picks the same multiple choice answer you did.

How long did it take you to learn the game?

At the beginning of the game, we are introduced to a narrator who looks like a cat butler. He explains the game and takes you through the different prompts that will show up on your phone. I have played JackBox before, therefore, I knew that I would using my phone to interact and a TV to see the responses. I thought it was helpful that the cat butler narrated through the whole game because it gave more context and personality to the game itself. After the second round of answering the hypothetical scenarios, I caught onto the game.

How do you interact with others?

You interact with other by seeing what answers they decide in each round. I find it interesting to see how everyone answers to a scenario. Depending on the people and scenario, you might not know how people will answer. There is not a lot of physical dialogue between players but I also think that depends on the group of people you are gathered around.

Would you play it again?

I would try it again. I would not play it as regularly as some other games I play because I think it requires a good group of people but given the right context, yes.

I have played many jackbox games over the years, and for the most part I enjoyed the majority of the games and think that they are well made, both from a artistic and technical standpoint. Sadly, Zeeple Dome is not as polished as the other games Jackbox has made. This is both due to the game itself, as well as the technical issues surrounding it. For starters zeeple Dome requires you to essentially aim your character in the right direction. While this would feasibly be a good mechanic when you are physically in front of the screen, when online the input delay is large enough that aiming resorts to aiming in the general direction and just hoping that your character will hit the enemy. Another aspect of the game that isnt really well explained are the enemies. Usually with jackbox tutorials they give you a good understanding of how the game works, while still keeping it simple and easy to understand. Zeeple Dome doesnt even explain the mechanics of the game, ESPECIALLY how the enemies work. In fact I didnt even know we had to hit the enemies specifically when they light up with our characters colors, until Tasia said so in the chat around 15 minutes in. Normally I think that the player could figure these things out on their own, but there are so many characters and particles bouncing around everywhere that analyzing what happens when you hit an enemy is unlikely. Overall, Zeeple Dome has fun mechanics that theoretically would result in a fun game, but the lack of explanation of how the game works, as well as the frustrating delay in the controls results in a unfun experience.