I’ve played Jackbox with friends before, and we usually stick with Drawful. It wasn’t until we started playing in class that I realized being an audience member was a thing! I experienced this for the first time when we played Monsters Seeking Monsters (which I didn’t even know existed)!
I think the prime mechanics in the game were simulation and role play. It took the idea of online dating and incorporated a certain level of spookiness to it. Each player undertook a secret role — they were either a vampire, ventriloquist puppet, body swapper, and so on parading as a human on a dating app.
What’s really unique is that even the audience, whether it’s one person or ten people, has a secret role assigned to them too. The game allows the audience to play as one entity and whatever the majority votes for is what they decide to do. Rather than just spectating, we were able to have an active role (as the monster hunter!) in the game, even if we weren’t one of the main players. This makes it really inclusive!
It took me a while to get used to being an audience member, especially since I never played this particular game before. I was just clicking on any of the options that showed up on the screen, and trying to follow along as best as I could. That’s why it was nice that it was a group effort, so I wasn’t entirely in the dark. It was really entertaining, though, especially the whole story between the vampire and the body swapper!