For an hour on Saturday afternoon at C2E2, Jackbox Games hosted a panel with the cast of Hello From The Magic Tavern. Panelist Arnie Neikamp is not only the host and producer of Hello From The Magic Tavern, but also a director at Jackbox Games. Other cast members on the panel included Matt Young, Adal Rifai, and Brooke Breit. Joining the group was Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s popular Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me radio show. Peter also played a small role on Hello From The Magic Tavern.
Honestly, this was an awesome mix of improv guests to compete in Jackbox’s silly party games, to which I give kudos to whoever put this together. It was worth the wait in line and panic of potentially not making into the room.
Of course, panels are never as long as you want them to be. Due to time limitations, the panelists were only able to get through two games, Patently Stupid from Party Pack 5, and Fakin It’ from Party Pack 3. In retrospect, these were excellent choices for the group based on their improv skills.
The panel started off with Patently Stupid and the audience was given a room key to join. The tagline for Patently Stupid is, “The competitive drawing game Patently Stupid (3-8 players). Create odd inventions to solve bizarre problems.” Needless to say, we were busting out laughing the entire time. This is a perfect game to play with a crowd, because the audience can help sway the results. If the player doesn’t sell the product well enough, that could shave off some money that might leave them short of their overall funding goal. All the panelists were insanely creative with their pretend products and it was really difficult to choose a winner. Brooke ended up taking home the top prize of losing all of her funding. I did love Peter’s “Extra Butt” product though, for when you need it, right?
The tagline for Fakin’ It is, “One of your friends has something to hide in this sneaky game for tricksters.” If you have trouble lying, you will definitely have trouble with this one. The panelists were pretty good, as only one of them was found out after a couple of rounds. The player who is deemed “the faker” has to be super good about lying on the spot, giving explanations to why you did certain things that are in line with your fellow competitors. This is another great party game from Jackbox.
The hour blew by quickly and us audience members were definitely left with wanting more. Luckily, Jackbox Games hosts a twitch channel with broadcasts every Thursday at 3pm Central Time. I recommend checking it out if you have the chance. Also, Party Pack 5 is available on just about every platform, so check that out for your next get together.
For more information on Jackbox Games, head to: https://jackboxgames.com/
For more information on Hello From the Magic Tavern, head to: https://hellofromthemagictavern.com/
For more information on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, head to: https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/
