YOU DON'T KNOW JACK VOLUME XL 1200 Questions +1Clk Windows 11 10 8 7 Vista XP Install

Actual Game

The Game
I'm a compulsive Jeopardy watcher, and every time I find a trivia game for the computer I give it a try. Usually I am horribly disappointed. It's like playing Trivial Pursuit while crowded around a keyboard: cramped, repetitive, and just plain no fun. But Jack is different from the moment you start it.

The reason the Jack series endured for so long is the game drags you right into it as it loads. The opening scene features dialogue between various key personnel preparing the game show You Don't Know Jack for airtime. You and up to two more of your friends are the next contestants. The program zips you right through the opening preparations and catapults you into either a 7 question tournament game or a regular 21 question game. You can play alone, or against others.

But it's once you get started that really shows how Jack stands out from the crowd. Jack boasts over 1,200 unique questions, with more than 30 hours of non-repetitive, highly sarcastic dialogue from the game show host who interacts with you. From presenting the categories, to announcing and reading the question, to pointedly rejecting your wrong answer, the game host is one of the best features of this witty and fun game. You'll find yourself laughing your head off as you play. And, unlike Trivial Pursuit, or many other trivia games, you'll find the questions challenging but answerable. You don't need a lot of specialized knowledge to get somewhere in this game. You just have to have participated in life during the past twenty or thirty years. This is one game that is definitely targeted at the twenty-something and thirty-something audience. I imagine that the older crowd may still find some enjoyable moments, but if you haven't reached twenty yet, chances are that many of the questions will just miss you altogether.

Design-wise, the game is quite simple. You are presented with three categories to choose from for each question, and the players take turns choosing the category. Then the host offers the dollar value, type of question, and actual question. Whoever buzzes in first gets the first shot at it. If you miss, the next guy to buzz in gets a shot. If you miss the answer, you lose the number of dollars that the question is worth.

Of course, the game has a few rather interesting twists. Each person is issued a flathead screw at the beginning of each round. If you think your opponent won't get the answer right, you can buzz in first, and use your screw to "SCREW YOUR NEIGHBOR", and make him answer the question. If he gets it right, however, you're the one who "gets screwed" and loses dollars, while he gains the money for answering correctly.

Questions come in three flavors. Standard multiple choice questions, with four possible answers. These can get pretty tricky, and pretty strange. You may also be faced with a Gibberish Question, which is a rhyming word scramble. The host gives you clues for the answer, but the longer you take to answer it, the less money you get. Then, for the final question of the game, you face the Jack Attack. Here's where the host separates the true gamesters from the pretenders. The idea is to pair ideas, words, or quotes together as they fly across the screen. Buzz in at the right time, and you gain $2,000. Wrong timing, however, loses you $2,000. This is the question that can make or break your score for the game. It has the same significance as Jeopardy's Final Jeopardy Question. The Jack series is irreverent, entertaining, and utterly captivating. It is no surprise the franchise spawned many many sequels.