You Don’t Know Jack

snap2145When’s the last time you played a trivia game with categories like “If you can’t beat ‘em, lick ‘em;” “Whatchya talkin’ about, Willis?” and “‘80s bands that can’t accessorize”? You’ll find all these categories and more in this entertaining trivia game from Berkeley Systems, the company best known for their After Dark screen savers. The rules of the game are simple: Choose either a 7- or 21-question game, pick a category, and answer the multiple-choice questions by ringing in with your “buzzer” (an assigned key on the keyboard).

The questions are clearly geared for players in the 25-35 age group; they focus on 1970s and 1980s TV shows and movies, farm animals, grammar basics, and anything else that you can think of. It’s an eclectic, yet delightful, mix of topics. There are also Gibberish Questions, in which you are given a mixed-up phrase to sort out. Answering questions correctly earns you money, and the player with the most money wins.

The game uses crisp, clear, text-based graphics throughout, and there are no silly video clips or lengthy animations to get in the way. This simple production is given a lot of personality by the game’s host, whose voice-overs sound a lot like comedian David Spade.

Playing Jack by yourself is fun, but it’s a real blast with a group. The keyboard-buzzer configuration makes it easy for three people to play at the same computer, and the manual comes with simple instructions for playing tournament-style with larger groups. The only complaint about You Don’t Know Jack is the obvious one: If you don’t like trivia — even clever and fun trivia — you won’t like this game.

System Requirements: 80386/33 MHz, 8 MB RAM, DOS

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