Party video game

This article is about the genre of video games. For parties within role-playing games, see party (role-playing games).

A party video game is a genre of video game that stems from in-person party games, involving player-to-player interaction as the central gameplay element. These games are often defined by simple controls which can be easily picked up and understood by players of any skill level.

Party video games generally consist of short-term experiences which may be played in succession, and are sometimes characterized in the form of minigames. These experiences may be played singularly or in a group, and usually feature several players competing simultaneously.^[1]

History

The first party video game is thought to be Olympic Decathlon, releasing in 1980.^[2]

In 1983, Party Mix was released for the Atari, and consisted of an anthology of five multiplayer games, which began the format of party video games releasing as a series of individually-selectable minigames.^[3]

In 1995, You Don't Know Jack was released, the first of the You Don't Know Jack franchise and the precursor to the Jackbox Party Pack collection in 2014.^[4]

In 1998, Mario Party was released on the Nintendo 64.^[5] Its launch eventually brought about the rest of the Mario Party franchise, in wake of the game's success across markets. Mario Party 2 was released in 1999, and Mario Party 3 was released in 2000.

The launch of the Wii in 2006 led to the creation of Wii Play, a minigame collection that was bundled with certain copies of the Wii console.^[6]

See also

• List of party video games

References

1. Oddo, Marco Vito (18 July 2021). "Video Game Slang Explained". Collider. Valnet Publishing Group. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
2. Williams, Gregg (December 1981). "New Games New Directions". BYTE. pp. 6–10. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
3. Weiss, Brett (December 20, 2011). Classic Home Video Games, 1972-1984: A Complete Reference Guide. McFarland & Company. p. 88. ISBN 9780786487554. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
4. Sinclair, Brendan (June 5, 2013). "Jellyvision changes name to Jackbox Games". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
5. "Mario Party US-Bound". IGN. December 1, 1998. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
6. Harris, Craig (September 15, 2006). "Hands-On Wii Play". IGN. Archived from the original on October 15, 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2024.