Jackbox Spinning Off Fakin' It into a Standalone Party Game

Fakin' It is the party game that stands out most in Jackbox Party Pack 3. Despite launching a decade ago, it's still one of the most popular Jackbox Games titles, with thousands of active players coming back for more party fun every year. So it's no surprise taht Jackbox rode the momentum of the Trivia Murder Party experiment to turn Fakin' It into a standalone title. Players will have to practice their deception skills this fall for the launch of Fakin' It XL on Nov. 12, 2026.

Social deduction games have been quite successful this past decade, so it's no surprise that when Jackbox Party Pack 3 released in 2016, Fakin' It quickly became a fan favorite, giving players a series of questions that they must answer either with a gesture or via text. The faker doesn't know what they're actually answering until after the question shows up on the screen. They must do their very best to fool their friends into thinking they're providing an honest answer.

Based on personal experience, booting up a Jackbox Party Pack with friends is always a hoot, whether online or locally. But as the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, Fakin' It wasn't as designed for remote play, as analyzing others' facial expressions is crucial to determining who the faker is. That is one of several improvements being made to this party game with the release of Fakin' It XL. Polygon interviewed Jackbox Games' Chief Marketing Officer, Brooke Hofer, who let us in on the details: Each player will have an avatar that accurately depicts their reaction to the prompt. This should help players on the other side of the livestream interpret reactions.

Additionally, two secret tasks will be introduced in Fakin' It XL, and they are both perfect for online play. In Emojional Damage, players will be asked a question and the faker will be told a general emoji category. While players must respond with the perfect emoji for the situation, the faker will have to come up with lies to make it seem like they responded to the same question — in a way, it is similar to Text You Up. In Thumb Luck, players will be asked to give their opinion on specific topics, and they must respond with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. The faker doesn't know what they're responding to, and might find themselves in a tough situation where they have to explain why they're against "Dogs in Costumes."

Fakin' It XL launches this fall with two brand-new secret tasks

The important thing that Hofer emphasized: Everything that players love about Fakin' It is back. Just bigger."The best part of Fakin’ It is the unexpected and deeply silly things you learn about your fellow players along the way. The most brilliant rounds are when you can make a case for more than one person being the Faker. That means though, that someone else has a really surprising take that they have to defend."

Fakin' It XL, which will support up to eight players in the party, launches Nov. 12, 2026 on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. It will be available on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 later this year.