You Don't Know Jack (franchise)

You Don't Know Jack
You Don't Know Jack volume 2 icon
Developer(s)	Berkeley Systems, Jellyvision
Publisher(s)	Sierra On-Line
Platform(s)	PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Release	1995 NA
Genre(s)	Party game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

You Don't Know Jack is a series of computer games developed by Jellyvision. YDKJ, promoted as the games "where high culture and pop culture collide," combines trivia with comedy.

The games are known for their humor and challenge, as well as simple presentation. With some rare exceptions, the games never use graphics, and instead rely only on animated text art for visual content. This was not a purely stylistic choice, the game was designed to minimise the amount of disc accessing needed by keeping files small.

How it works

The game usually opens with a 'Green Room' segment, in which the players are prompted to enter their names, briefed on their assigned 'buzzer' buttons and given instructions for play. The Green Room segment resembles a real gameshow, in that the audio includes rehearsing singers, a busy producer, and a harassed studio manager/host, and the only graphics are a large 'On Air' sign in the middle of the screen, visual representations of the players' button assignments, and a box for name entry.

Depending on what the player does (or does not do), the Green Room is slightly different. If the player doesn't enter a name after three promptings, for example, the game will play along with that assumed 'stage fright' and give the 'frozen' player a gag name. Additionally, the player can choose to skip the 'how-to-play' instructions, at which point the host will gripe about your impatience and order the crew to start the show.

In 'The Ride', players are presented with an initial question, and depending on what the players choose, the game will either proceed as normal, or name the players 'by force' (letting the players attempt to type a name, but automatically filling out a name for them when they do). The answer chosen also determines the theme of the round played.

One, two, or three players can play the game. The premise of You Don't Know Jack is similar to that of a TV quiz show: players compete for money by answering trivia questions (since it is not a real quiz show, however, players do not win real money). All versions of the game have an off-screen "host" who is voiced by a Jellyvision staff member and referred to by his nickname — "Cookie" and "Schmitty" are the two most common in the series. However, in YDKJ: The Ride, all the hosts from the previous games, including Nate Shapiro, the original host from the first game, take turns hosting and Buzz, the notedly unpopular host from the second game, appears briefly, but is almost always tossed down a trap-door by the reigning host.

Most versions of YDKJ offer the choice of playing a 7- or 21-question game; some versions offer only 15 questions, and the 4th volume, The Ride, offers only 13 questions. In a 21-question game, there is a brief intermission after the tenth question.

In most versions, a randomly-chosen player is given a choice of three different categories. Each category has a humorous name that vaguely describes what that question is about. After a short animated introduction (often accompanied with a jingle about the question number), the host asks the question. The first player to buzz in with the correct answer — using their specified buzzer key on the keyboard — wins the money for that question and gets to choose the next category. Players lose money with an incorrect guess like they would on Jeopardy!, but not before the host wisecracks about it.

In most versions, the more difficult questions are worth more money. Two versions (The Ride and 5th Dementia) allow players to buzz in before the question to determine how much it is worth, making some hard questions worth very little, and vise-versa.

In multi-player games, players have the opportunity to "screw" their opponents by buzzing in, typing "S," and selecting one of his or her opponents. That player is then forced to give an answer within ten seconds. If the player who is "screwed" answers correctly, he or she wins the money while the player who "screwed" him or her loses money. Players are only allowed to "screw" once in each half of the game (they each receive a new "screw" in the second half of a 21-question game). The basic design has rarely changed, but is different in some games. For example, in the Ride, instead of just forcing an opponent to answer, players engage in 'FlackJack', where they launch multiple screws into the screen (partially or totally obscuring the question), then force another player to answer the question, even if it's unreadable. In a three-player game, it is possible to screw yourself by activating the screw and then hitting your own buzzer, to the general dismay of the host.

Some of the volumes have a feature called "Don't Be a Wimp", which is activated if one player has a very large lead. If a question is not answered under such circumstances, the host will deride the player, calling on the audience to shout "Don't be a wimp!", and the leader will be forced to answer the question.

Some "volumes" of the game incorporated a punishment/ easter egg doled out to any player(s) who buzzed in too early: the question and possible answers would disappear, leaving the player with ten seconds to enter the answer. For the Ride, this is replaced by a different punishment, the player is forced to pick from a list of four answers, all of which are wrong. The host will quip that you shouldn't have buzzed in so early. This "feature" of the game is difficult to trigger unless one actively makes the attempt; the player would need to buzz in the very instant the question appears on the screen. If the question is answered correctly, the host will call you a cheater, claim you know someone at Jellyvision, get freaked out, or some other variation, and money is given out as normal.

Hosts

There have been many different hosts of You Don't Know Jack over the years. The following is a list of hosts and the games they appear in.

• Nate Shapiro, voiced by Harry Gottlieb: Nate Shapiro, the first host of the You Don't Know Jack series is still quite popular today. He is voice-acted by Harry Gottlieb, the C.E.O of Jellyvision. However, in the real world, he doesn't like being in a cramped sound booth, so he's only hosted two games. He hosts the first YDKJ, the Netshow, the tabletop game, and hosts for part of YDKJ: The Ride.

• Guy Towers, voiced by Andy Poland: He appears in YDKJ Sports, YDKJ Sports: The NetShow, and part of the Ride. He also played 'Bob' the host of the teenage YDKJ spinoff 'HeadRush'.

• Buzz Lippman, voiced by Peter B. Spector: This host has appeared in two versions: Volume Two and The Ride, which he only plays a bit part. Peter appeared in the Bonnie Hunt feature film "Return to Me" as well as the CBS show "Turks" and 2 episodes of CBS "Early Edition." Peter has appeared in over 60 tv commercials and hundreds of v/o radio spots.

• Cookie Masterson, voiced by Tom Gottlieb - the brother of Harry Gottlieb (Nate): Cookie is one of the most well known of any of the hosts. He is also one of the most popular among YDKJ fans. He originally served as sign-in host, taking down players names and the like, in the opening "green room" segments of Volumes One and Two. He hosts in Movies, Volume Three, The Netshow, Playstation versions, part of the Ride, and Offline. He also was the announcer for the YDKJ TV show in 2001.

• Josh "Schmitty" Schmitstinstein, voiced by Phil Ridarelli: Josh Schmitstinstein, or "Schmitty", is the most recent of all the American CD-ROM hosts. He hosts in TV, part of The Ride, The Netshow, Louder!, Faster! Funnier! (a 2nd Offline game), 5th Dementia, Mock 2 (the 2nd PlayStation game), Television & 6: The Lost Gold

• Jack Cake, voiced by Paul Kaye. British fans will remember him as the host of the only UK version of YDKJ.

• Quizmaster Jack, host of the German volumes, voiced by Axel Malzacher (Vol. 1) and Kai Taschner. (Vol. 2, 3: 'Downward', PlayStation, & 4)

• Troy Stevens, played by Paul Reubens. The actor most famously known as 'Pee-Wee Herman' was the host of the YDKJ TV show in 2001.

Question types

The majority of You Don't Know Jack questions are multiple-choice, with four possible choices. Some questions are fill-in-the-blank, requiring a typed response.

Special questions are also played during the game. Each version of YDKJ has its own different types of special questions, but some of the most common are:

• Dis or Dat: One player plays, with a 30-second time limit. The player is given two or three categories and seven different subjects, and it is up to the player to determine which category the subject falls under. (For instance, a player would have to determine if Jay Leno was a daytime or a nighttime talk show host, or if orecchiette is a type of pasta or a parasite.)
• Gibberish Questions: Players are given a phrase that makes no sense, but that phrase rhymes with a more common phrase or title (eg: "Pre-empt Tires, Like Crack" could be the gibberish to "The Empire Strikes Back"). The first player to buzz in with the correct answer wins the money. Clues are given as time passes, but the amount of money the player can win decreases with the amount of time that elapses. (Being the only open-ended question of the first YDKJ installment, answering with 'fuck you' gets a very crude and funny response from the host.)
• Impossible Questions: Impossible questions, which appear in the later versions, are worth very large amounts of money, but as the name implies, are very, very difficult. One notable exception is an impossible question called "It's A Dog!" which asks "What has four legs and barks?". One who is far behind in the game, of course, can still guess the answer out of the four possible choices. There are also questions that are literally impossible, such as a fill in the blank asking "What number between one and nine am I thinking of?". An example of an almost impossible question is one which asks the players what the word 'pyrrhic' means.
• Anagram Questions: These follow the same ruleset of the Gibberish Questions, however, instead of trying to figure out a rhyme, you must rearrange the letters given to you into a saying, name, or other group (as in the famous example of "genuine class" being an anagram of "Alec Guinness").
• Fiber Optic Field Trip: These only exist in the early games. A random person is called from out of the phonebook and asked to come up with a trivia question. Values and enjoyment vary.
• Celebrity Collect Call: These exist in Volume 2 only. The host calls a celebrity who is asked to come up with a question. Celebrities include Tim Allen, Florence Henderson, and Vanessa Williams. The conversation between the host and the celebrity can last a very long time, a trait that makes this question unpopular with some.
• Pub Quiz: In the British edition, this replaces the Fiber Optic Field Trips/Celbrity Collect Calls. Instead of calling a random person in a city, here, you call a bartender in a random pub around the UK and ask them to host the question.
• Bug Out: Existing only in 5th Dementia, the goal is simple: Bugs will crawl and display a choice. When you see a choice that doesn't match the clue, buzz it. If you're right, your opponents pay you money. If you're wrong, you pay your opponents.
• Fill in the Blank: Instead of having four answers to choose from, you have to type the answer out.
• Wendithap'n: In this question type, you are given an event, followed by several more events which you have to decide when it happened in relation to the main event: Before, after, or if it never happened at all.
• Pissed About A Question: Jellyvision creates new questions about angry letters they've received from irritated players.
• Road Kill: In this fast-paced question type, you're given two clues. Then a series of words fly by. You have to buzz in when the word the connects the two is on the screen. Pay attention to all the answers for a chance at the bonus at the end.

(This was also called Coinkydink in YDKJ Mock 2, same type of question, just with a different name.)

• Jack BINGO: Here, you are given a five-letter word. Then you're given a series of clues. Your job is to buzz in when the first letter of the answer is lit up. If you collect all five letters, you get the bonus prize.
• The Three-Way Question: Clear your dirty mind! Here, you are given three words that have something in common. Then you're given a bunch of clues that only relate to one of words. Your job? To match up the clues to the proper words.
• Guest Host Question: Someone else hosts and gives a question.
• Super Audio Question: A sound will play, and you'll be asked questions about it.
• Whatshisname Question: In this question, the host is trying to remember a certain someone's name. They'll give you a bunch of clues and you have to buzz in and type in the name.
• Picture Question: In this question, you are shown a picture and then asked a question about it.

The Jack Attack

The last round of each game is known as the "Jack Attack," which is a word association question. A clue is given, and after that a word, phrase, or name that fits the category of that clue appears in the middle of the screen. After that a series of potential matches appears on the screen; each potential match appears for only a few seconds before disappearing.

Players win money if they buzz in when the correct match is displayed on the screen; the match must fit the clue that is given at the beginning of the Jack Attack. An incorrect guess at any time — even if that player already buzzed in for the same word — deducts money from the player's score.

For example, if the clue was "rhymes with queen", and the item to be matched was "lima", then the correct response might be "bean". On the other hand, while "Peru" also matches the word "lima", it does not satisfy the clue as it does not rhyme with the word "queen".

The winner of the game is crowned after the seventh Jack Attack word is matched, or the contestants dally for so long that the game gets bored.

Commercials

One of the unique features of the game takes place after it has ended. Before you start a new game, you can choose to listen to YDKJ staff performing parodies of various radio commercials. These spoofs became so popular that other games have picked up the design and added fake commercials to in-game radio stations and music in games such as Grand Theft Auto III . The commercials vary in absurdity, selling products such as scented suppositories ("Break wind without breaking the mood with new Flatuscents. Available in peach, butterscotch, pooppourri, seabreeze, and freshly sharpened pencil.") or foreign language cassettes to help you learn how to speak American ("Linguatape: go figure!").

They also featured phony news stories about everyday things. Examples: "Oxygen: Gas of Life? or Secret Military Death-Vapor?" or "People are falling unconscious for 8 hours every night. What is the "Sleeping disease"? Do you have it? Find out, Tonight."

Most YDKJ games feature recurring characters like "Chocky the Chipmunk" or "Xenora: Queen of Battle".

Easter Eggs and bloopers

The most famous Easter egg is included in every version of You Don't Know Jack except for the censored version. With a Gibberish Question, typing in "fuck you" will result in a backlash from the host. The third time this is done, the host declares he's ending the game. If you try to hit a key to restart, even more of a response is activated before the shutdown, getting more elaborate in each version. Also, in the Ride, typing "screw you" will work as well, with a shorter response.

A significant variation on this theme is in the 6th edition (Lost Gold), where if you play a three-player game, and all three players enter "fuck you" as responses to a gibberish question, the host becomes increasingly exasperated and may, instead of simply shutting the game down, launch "Gorilla Hunter", a minigame without much game to it as there are no gorillas to hunt. Terminating the minigame will shut down the game.

In some versions of the game, playing a two-player seven question game and then hitting the b key rapidly when the credits appear will trigger audio of bloopers between the normal advertisements.

Versions of the game

U.S. CD-ROMs

The original American version of You Don't Know Jack was released on CD-ROM in 1995. An expansion pack with more questions was released for it, but now the two are sold as one whole program, known as You Don't Know Jack XL. These sequels have been released:

• You Don't Know Jack Volume 2 (1996)
• You Don't Know Jack Volume 3 (1997)
• You Don't Know Jack Volume 4: The Ride (1998)
• You Don't Know Jack Special Edition was distributed by General Mills after redeeming a certain number of proofs of purchase for certain cereals and paying a shipping fee. It was exactly the same as the First YDKJ, but with the game logo saying "You Don't Know Jack Censored", with some questions and ads removed, bleeped audio, and no Gibberish Code.
• You Don't Know Jack: 5th Dementia (2000)
  • 5th Dementia is notable for being the only You Don't Know Jack game to allow players to play against each other over the Internet, although these servers are no longer in operation.
• You Don't Know Jack Volume 6: The Lost Gold (2003)

Three speciality versions have also been released:

• You Don't Know Jack: Sports (1996)
• You Don't Know Jack: Movies (1997)
• You Don't Know Jack: Television (1997)

Two versions were created with questions from their online game, which has since been discontinued:

• You Don't Know Jack: Offline (1999)
• You Don't Know Jack: Louder! Faster! Funnier! (2000)

Most all the CD-ROM versions of the game can be played on Windows and Mac systems. (However, You Don't Know Jack: 5th Dementia and You Don't Know Jack Volume 6: The Lost Gold are Windows only)

Jellyvision also developed a computer game called Headrush (1998), which was similar to YDKJ but was geared toward younger players; the majority of its questions were based on 1990s popular culture.

None of the computer YDKJ are sold in regular retail outlets anymore, but are available for sale from Jellyvision's official YDKJ website, and have been made compatible with Windows XP.

Foreign CD-ROMs

British, French, German, and Japanese versions of the game also exist, all originally based on the American Volume 2 engine. An expansion pack was originally planned for the British version, but never produced. This was apparently due to relatively poor sales, and the acquisition of BMG Interactive, the publisher by Take 2 Interactive.

The German versions were the most popular international version of YDKJ.

• 'Vol. 1' was just like the US Vol. 2.
• 'Vol. 2' was just like the US Vol. 3.
• 'Vol. 3: "Downwards" was just like the US Vol. 4: The Ride
• 'The German PlayStation' was just like the US 'PlayStation game'
• 'Vol. 4' was a mix of the questions and online play of 5th Dementia, but used the graphics of Vol. 6: The Lost Gold.

Online

Two free online versions of You Don't Know Jack: The Netshow, were made available, but abandoned due to server space, technical issues, and the fact that the game was free. This last reason was the official reason given by Jellyvision. The first online version was normal trivia, and the second was themed on sports trivia.

In late 2006 a new online version of the game was launched at http://youdontknowjack.com featuring daily Dis or Dat questions. On 5 March 2007, a new full episode of You Don't Know Jack appeared on the site.

Consoles

Two versions were made for PlayStation consoles in the United States: You Don't Know Jack (1999) and You Don't Know Jack: Mock 2 (2000).

Both of the PlayStation entries have been discontinued (the PlayStation had reached the end of its hardware cycle), but can still be found in used games stores.

Other Media

There was a tabletop version of the game, as well as two books: YDKJ The Book and YDKJ The TV Book. The two books featured many of the same questions from the games in a book format.

You Don't Know Jack was made into a TV game show in the summer of 2001, starring Paul Reubens as host "Troy Stevens." "Cookie", the former host of the games, was the shows announcer. The show, which aired on ABC, lasted only six episodes in prime time. MST3K creator Joel Hodgson was a writer for the short lived TV series.

Also in 2001, AMC hosted "You Don't Know Jack about MonsterFest". Clive Barker & Carmen Electra hosted classic monster movies while giving clues to the online game on amc's website. "Schmitty" hosted the game & Andy Poland was the sign-in host. Winners of the games with the highest score could win a 'i-pac handheld computer'

In 2002, "The M&Ms Global Color Vote" had a game called "You Don't Know Color" hosted by Billy West (who played the Red M&M in the TV commercials). It was the same format as the YDKJ about Monsterfest, but when you finished, you clicked on an M&M to vote for the color of your choice.

Miscellaneous

You Don't Know Jack was an adult version of their earlier game "That's a Fact, Jack" (produced when the company was still called Learn Television), which was a short lived series of CD-ROM games and books that was intended to teach children how to read. The game would give a title for a child to read, and then ask questions related to that title.

During the 2000 presidential election, Sierra On-Line president David Grenewetzki challenged the presidential candidates to play a political version of YDKJ. The game had been distributed to a few radio stations, and was described as a "litmus test" of the candidates political knowledge.

Tom Gottlieb was the host of a 'Blind Date' spin-off show called "The 5th Wheel" (2002-2003). It usually starts off with 2 guys and 2 girls who try to get together with each other. Then a 5th person joins the group, and they swap partners to learn more about them and if they would like to go out with each other. At the end, they all vote on who they would like to go out with and if two people voted for their choice, they would have won this 'Dating Game'. They also have a choice to vote for 'Nobody' if they didn't like any of the people.

Phil Ridarelli also voiced for Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Deception. He had many roles in that game, including Wen the Elder, Nightwolf, and Hotaru. He appears in the credits as Josh "Schmitty" Schmitstinstein.

The hosts of YDKJ have never shown their faces on-screen, and even upon reaching 'The Bottom' in YDKJ: The Ride, the hosts only reveal the bottom half of their faces.

There are also several YDKJ collections, which bundled different games into one box. These include:

• YDKJ XL (Vol. 1 + the Question Pack)
• YDKJ XXL (XL + Vol. 2)
• YDKJ HUGE: XXL (Vol. 1 + Vol. 2 + Vol. 3)
• YDKJ The Irreverent Collection (Vol. 1 + 2 + 3 + The Ride)
• YDKJ Jack Pack (Sports + TV + Movies)
• YDKJ JUMBO (Vol 1 + 2 + 3 + The Ride + Offline)
• YDKJ 2001 (Offine + Louder! Faster! Funnier!)
• YDKJ Snack Pack (Vol. 1 + TV + Movies + The Ride)
• YDKJ 5th Dementia Party Pack (2 copies of 5th Dementia)
• YDKJ Quiz Pack (the German Vol. 1 + 2)

External links

• Official You Don't Know Jack website
• Jellyvision's website
• You Don't Know Jack at MobyGames
• The official unofficial YDKJ message board.