YOU DON’T KNOW JACK, the multi-million selling interactive trivia franchise, has just launched on Facebook. This new design is the first in its category to fully leverage the connected nature and immediacy of social and mobile gaming platforms.

‘One of the things people really love about YOU DON’T KNOW JACK on PC and consoles is the fun of competing directly against their friends and family members sitting together in the living room. So our challenge was bringing that experience to the connected but asynchronous nature of the social and mobile gaming environments. A kind of ‘party-play’ atmosphere for people playing at work, school, or perhaps at home in their pajamas or knickers,’ said Harry Gottlieb, founder of Jellyvision Games and inventor of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK brings its well-known party-play style to Facebook in three important ways: First, by automatically matching a player against his or her Facebook friends who have already played that specific episode; second, by providing a direct option to challenge other Facebook friends at the end of an episode; and third, by offering multiple ways to share results, brag, and taunt friends through Facebook’s social channels, bringing the same type of banter experienced during a game of YDKJ on the couch into the Facebook gameplay experience.

‘As we worked on the new design, we kept looking for every way we could to recreate the experience of playing YOU DON’T KNOW JACK with your family and friends,’ said Steve Heinrich, Designer and Editorial Director, Jellyvision Games. ‘With this design we think we’ve accomplished a lot of that, even though we’ve never actually met your family and friends, probably.’

‘We also wanted to create a gameplay experience for YOU DON’T KNOW JACK that could really mesh with the larger social and mobile environment,’ said Mike Bilder, General Manager of Jellyvision Games. ‘So we optimized the game to tight, five-question episodes with an editorial schedule that allows us to release multiple episodes each week, often with very topical content. Plus, it ensures a constantly-updating app that will remain alive and fresh, not static and unchanging like many other games I’ve played at home in my knickers.’

With its editorial calendar, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK can produce content that engages players with questions related to many of the topics they are currently discussing on Facebook on their Timelines, bringing gameplay more tightly into the social media experience than any previous game.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK’s new design will be rolled out on iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android later this year, allowing players the opportunity to compete cross-platform. Cookie Masterson, the game’s most popular (and sassiest) host is back, as is the game’s core structure, with humor-infused questions that range from Shakespeare to Scooby-Doo. The game will be free-to-play with free games provided frequently. Users can also win free games through achievements, and multi-game packs are available for purchase. Players can access YOU DON’T KNOW JACK on all available platforms at www.ydkj.com.

‘Even with the new design and new features, players will be instantly familiar with YOU DON’T KNOW JACK on Facebook,’ said Allard Laban, Creative Director, Jellyvision Games. ‘Favorites like the DisOrDat, Gibberish Question, and Jack Attack are all there. And of course, Cookie Masterson is still our host, due to an apparently legally binding contract that he signed years ago in crayon.’

This new version of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK represents Jellyvision Games’ latest in a history of innovations within the interactive trivia space. When YOU DON’T KNOW JACK first launched in 1995, it was the first game to truly immerse the user into a fully interactive game show experience, making players feel like the game’s host was talking directly to them. The company also created Who Wants To Be A Millionaire for PC, which at the time was the fastest-selling PC game in history, and the TV game show Smush, which aired on the USA Network. To date, the YOU DON’T KNOW JACK franchise has sold more than 5 million units and generated $100 million in revenue with versions for CD-ROM, consoles, iOS and tabletop.