Cards Against Humanity

I wanted this game, but it was sold out and 3rd party sellers were charging $70-$100 for what is usually a $25 dollar game. DON”T DO IT. You don’t have to go without! Go to the manufacturers website. There is a version on PDF you can print at home or take to a printer and have your own temporary or trial version for $10. I did this yesterday, and my friends and I played last night. It was great fun! I still plan to buy a full version when they are available again at normal pricing, but I couldn’t wait to try it out. You can also print a copy and give it as a gift with a little note saying the full version is coming. STILL it’ll cost you less than folding and buying from a reseller. This is a Creative Commons game, and IMHO ripping people off is against the whole idea of Creative Commons.

This is not just an apples to apples deck filled with anne frank cards. The basic structure of the game is the same as Apples to Apples, but there’s so much more to it. I’ve played wiith a bunch of distinct groups of people… a lot of whom start the game by ranting their hatred for apples to apples. But once we start everyone wants to play until they run out of cards. This includes the game I played with my family and my 80 year old grandmother (although explaining some of the cards to her was definitely awkward).

There’s a real art in how the question and answer cards fit together. It honestly feels like you’re all sitting around telling jokes. At a certain point the game comes alive and as you play various rounds the humor of the group you’re in seeps into the game. It feels creative. So yes the mechanic is basically ripped from apples, but they’ve taken it and truly made something new out of it. You and your friends will love this game.

I was one of the Kickstarter benefactors for this game, and I do not regret it one bit. This game has brought hours of entertainment to myself and guests and I have subsequently purchased additional copies as gifts for friends and family.
Basically, this is Apples-To-Apples’ sick twisted cousin who obviously has a lot more fun in life. I would recommend this game only be purchased for adults, as there are many cards which I doubt a parent would want to explain to their children.
Overall, I thoroughly recommend this game.

This is not a review about playing Cards Against Humanity, it’s a review of the fallout endured from playing Cards Against Humanity. Take it as a warning, if you will.

If you aren’t a horrible person already, you will soon be. You will play Cards Against Humanity, and as others have said, you will be shocked, appalled, and worst of all, you will learn and adapt. You’ll reach for your smartphone and search for terms you’ve drawn such as “The Übermensch”, “Heteronormativity”, and “The Three-Fifths Compromise”. You will commit these and many other newly-learned words to memory.

And that’s where it all comes crashing down.

At first, you might allow “front butt” to casually wander its way into a conversation here and there. As more of your subconscious fights to unleash the trauma, you’ll find yourself uttering “nipple blades” and “mouth herpes” in the most unacceptable of times. You’ll visit the Cards Against Humanity website and bomb them with suggestions for new cards like “Cutting the cheese at a funeral” and “Scissoring”.

Soon, you will meet up with new people to inflict Cards Against Humanity upon them and they’ll be hooked. You will receive random voicemails and texts, asking for another hit of that “8 oz. of sweet, Mexican black tar heroin”, and you will comply, because you’re just as hooked as they are. They’ll bring new friends in to freshen up the game…you will feel a rush as the look of shame crosses their innocent eyes as they win a round by playing “Amputees” against your “White People Like _____”.

“I was just throwing that card away!” they’ll proclaim, but you know the sad truth.

You will buy the expansion pack. You will host parties where you play through every card in both boxes. You’ll wonder where the time went. Your face will hurt from laughing so much. Your friends will buy their own sets, and the infection will be passed on.

A team of rescue workers will find you you weeks later in your closet, frazzled, emaciated, and stinking from “Soiling Yourself”, because you just couldn’t stop with playing Cards Against Humanity against yourself. The light of day will strike your eyes and you’ll gaze up at your saviors with pensive anticipation…

“Wanna play?”

As a Kickstarter supporter of this game, I got my copy in the mail a couple weeks ago. But as you can see from the “Verified Purchase” badge on this review, I bought a second copy here. Is there any higher praise in the modern world than giving someone money? I say that there is: giving someone more money.

You want me to say something about the game itself?

Cards Against Humanity has an absolutely universal ability. Play it with a group of friends long enough and everyone winds up offended at one point. It is also a great game to help you get to know people you thought you knew. “Wait, why do you think ‘Road Head’ is an acceptable answer to ‘________. Kid tested, mother approved.’?”

Let me preface this by saying that I am a big fan of Apples to Apples. However, my friends and I (who are college-aged) would always come up with horrible combinations, using seemingly innocuous words to form awful connections. We’d even take the blank cards provided and make up our own. Recently, however, a friend of mine obtained Cards Against Humanity, which I immediately ordered. I was not disappointing.

Cards Against Humanity has a similar setup to A2A, in that there are a set of community cards and a set of individual cards. The community cards have a phrase or fill-in-the-blank on them (such as “The TSA has recently banned _____ on airplanes”) and the individual cards have a noun or action on them (like “Shaquille O’Neil” or “White People” or worse that cannot be printed here). People playing have these white cards in their hands and play what they feel is the funniest/best fit for that question. Then a judge picks the card they feel is the best and the owner of that card wins the round.

Keep in mind, it is rare to play the game to actually win. The fun comes from the ridiculous combinations you can make. And the set does not disappoint. There were very few “duds” in the deck and many of the community cards were so out there that it was impossible to not come up with a good example.

The only real flaws I can think of are with the physical makeup of the deck itself. The weight of the cards is a bit flimsy, though nothing that would make you feel like it is cheap. The cards are also a bit small which may make holding them difficult.

My biggest complain, however, is that the front and back of each card resembles each other too closely. Often I would find myself flipping the cards over trying to find the right side because from afar they look the same. Putting a more discernible logo on the backs to tell the front from back would be a lot more helpful for organizational purposes.

Additionally, the material of this game is intended for adults only. The box clearly states 17+ and it means it. I wouldn’t play this game with anyone who isn’t in at least high school. Additionally, you’ll have to have a strong stomach and an evil sense of humor to enjoy this game. I wouldn’t play this with anyone too prudish.

With all of this said, this game is incredibly fun with the right group of people, and the physical card flaws are minor and frankly don’t warrant a star taken away. The game is just too damn fun and you will have a great time with the right group of people.

DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME WITH YOUR CHILDREN. This is not a game for kids. Period. Full stop. If you’re thinking of buying this for your kid, stop reading now and go get them Battleship or something.

However, if you’re an adult with a black sense of humor, this may be the game for you. Are you easily offended? Do you stomp off in a snit when someone makes a dirty joke? This is not your type of game. If you’re the sort of person who makes jokes a couple of days after a tragedy however, you have found game Nirvana.

My friends and I are terrible people. Therefore, we adore this game. I have never laughed so hard playing a game in my life. An example: “In M. Night Shymalan’s latest movie, a ____ turned out to be _____ all along.” Our winning answer? “In M. Night Shymalan’s latest movie, a windmill full of corpses turned out to be a disappointing birthday party all along.” Any card game that has a possible answer of “a windmill full of corpses” is a winner in my book.

I’m pretty sure that owning this game is the only reason I get invited to parties these days. Worth it.

If you don’t know anything about this game, here is the quick explanation. This is MadLibs for adults, period. The longer explanation is that this is a card game with the sole purpose of making the most offensive, comical and awful statements possible. Since I need to keep this review PG-13, I’ll tell you imagine the most horrible thing you could say regarding the mentally disabled, body parts and “stuff” into a sentence. The goal is to have the judge pick the best card combination and often times it can digress into long rounds involving intimate discussions about the validity of each choice. All and all this game is a lot of fun, though I should note one very important fact. Do not play this with extremely conservative, religious or those who are easily offended. There is definitely a leftish lean to the game as it often makes fun of people such as Glenn Beck, but then again that’s what makes it fun. I personally would have named the game “True Colors” cause you’ll see exactly what makes each person squirm or giggle. Trust me on this, buy it.

You can get a free copy at the company’s website until they restock again. Don’t reward these scumsucking resellers by buying for double what they paid when you can play for free until then.