Jukebox: The Karaoke Musical Tabletop Roleplaying Game

Be Dramatic. Belt out your karaoke favorites. You’re the star in Jukebox.

Jukebox: The Karaoke Musical Tabletop Roleplaying Game is a rules-lite, no-game-master required, roleplaying game for 3 to 4 players. Over three acts and four hours, you and your friends sing karaoke and create a musical story full of drama, passion, and spectacular showstoppers!

If you’re looking for a game where you roleplay stories like Wicked or Hamilton — or where you create the “musical episode” of your Dungeons and Dragons campaign — then Jukebox is for you!

Jukebox features the following:

• Easy setup: All you need to play Jukebox are index cards, pencils, playing cards, and a computer or TV with an internet connection.
• A playbill for your musical: Print and create a playbill keepsake during play to remember your cast and musical numbers.
• Quick start playsets: For faster play, Jukebox includes 16 quick start playsets written by a variety of contributing game designers. These playsets provide plot hooks, a karaoke playlist, and character prompts to help jump right into genre-specific stories. A complete list of playsets is below.
• New player friendly rules: Jukebox is designed with new gamers and the karaoke-shy in mind. The rules are simple enough that they fit on a single page.

This is for a pdf copy of Jukebox version 2.0, which includes all the game materials you need to play:

• The 46-page full color Jukebox rulebook pdf
• The printable blank playbill for recording your musical numbers
• Four core playset printable playbills and twelve contributor printable playset playbills
• A printer and screen reader-friendly version of the rulebook.

If you're looking to order a print copy, you can do so here.

Press and Praise for Jukebox

Best Tabletop Roleplaying Games We Played in 2024 - Polygon

20 best upcoming TTRPGs you NEED to play in 2024 - Dicebreaker

Upcoming RPGs 2024: 14 roleplaying games you should play this year - Dicebreaker

The Renaissance Gamer interview with Lyla Fujiwara - The Rat Hole Reviews

Announcing the Q4 Recipients of the Luminary Grant - Hit Point Press

Quotes from playtesters: 

 "This game was an absolute blast! I'm ready to play again immediately!"

"Jukebox is perfect for when you and your musical theater friends want to do karaoke without annoying a bar full of strangers. It's also perfect for anyone who wants an excuse to sing silly songs and tell stories with their friends!!! The TTRPG space has been needing a game like this."

"I was so lucky I got to play [Jukebox] at Big Bad Con 2022. When someone asks me about my highlight games at the con, this is the first thing I talk about. It was a stellar experience I plan to take to friends new and old."

"We did a musical about a ballet school and one of our characters got dragged to hell…Everyone in our group had a really fun time and said they'd love to play it again."

"We ended up doing a heist with a lot of Steely Dan songs in it. The mechanics for introducing complications really helped move the action forward. It had a very cinematic feel of cutting between different groupings of the characters doing different heist things. Everyone had a really good time!"

Contributor Playsets

Jukebox includes  12 contributor playsets from talented game designers:

• Fabula Ex Fata: A folk, acoustic Greek tragedy playset by Basil Wright
• Light Up the Sky: A Bollywood, indie rock teen comedy playset by Charu Chandni Patel
• Lost in Paradise: A reggae, alternative, island mystery playset by Brooke Whitney
• Romance of the Street Kingdoms: A Wu-Tang Clan Wǔxiá playset by James Mendez Hodes
• Friends… FOREVER? A pop-punk, emo campy horror playset by Danny Quach
• One Last Job: A pop, indie heist playset by Devan Wardrop-Saxton
• Punk Not Dead:  A punk zombie playset by Armanda
• Hearts Take Flight: A Motown, funk, R&B teen superhero playset by Jeremy Harper
• Swamp Goblins: A country, blues, backwater monsters fight eco-terrorism playset by Aaron King
• Spirit and Proof: A 1920's jazz, showtunes, hip hop speakeasy murder mystery playset by C. J. Linton 
• Shop (In The Name of Love): A soul music, love song hallmark movie playset by Erin Roberts
• Revenge Is Best Served Sung: A breakup bangers, protest songs, and tragic musicals revenge playset by Ezakur

Learn more about the Jukebox playset designers:

Gameplay

All you need to play Jukebox are:

• A few pencils
• Index cards
• A deck of playing cards
• A computer or TV with a sound system and a connection to the internet (or a karaoke machine)

Jukebox takes inspiration from story games like Follow, Downfall, Fiasco, and Ribbon Drive, but adds a karaoke singing mechanic. A summary of play is below.

During the Opening Number everyone sings a group karaoke song together, then collaboratively builds the world and picks a group goal the characters seek to achieve.

In Act One each player introduces their characters by singing a character solo. This conveys who they are and what they want, while also hinting at some drama they must resolve – a personal flaw, an old enemy, a sticky situation – before the end of the story.

In Act Two the plot progresses in story scenes. Players ask questions about what happens next and draw songs from their karaoke set lists to see where the story goes.

In Act Three characters determine whether they successfully resolve their drama or succumb to it. Their success is determined by the luck of the draw but is swayed by earlier events in the story.

In the Finale, all characters sing a last song together. Then, depending on chance, what the players wish for their characters, and how successfully the group resolved their challenges, you find out the ending.

Watch a full read-through and reaction video for Jukebox!

The Team

Game Designer and Layout: Lyla McBeath Fujiwara 
Cover and Interior Artist: Chiara Adele Papalia 
Design Consultant: Jenn Martin
Developmental Editor: Jacky Leung 
Copy Editing: Karen Twelves  
Additional Layout and Design: Johnny Isorena and Sinta Posadas

Playset Designers: Aaron King, Armanda, Basil Wright, Brooke Whitney, Charu Chandni Patel, C.J. Linton, Danny Quach, Devan Wardrop-Saxton, Erin Roberts, Ezakur, James Mendez Hodes and Jeremy Harper.