Cards Against Humanity (NSFW...seriously.)

We've had a bad week. We've probably been having a bad two weeks now to be honest from a list of things. It'd probably be nice if they were all tied together (as in the drama is all from one area of our lives) but it isn't and that's that.

After going back and forth with one of my best guy friends (in real life) about how we need to get together and do something fun and silly and nerdy to get past this stuff and de-stress, he finally got an impromptu party together. So last night, I finally got to play Cards Against Humanity (TM).

All right, here's the disclaimer. This game is not at all safe for work and if you decide to click and read the above link, I am not responsible if you are offended by the random cards appearing on your screen or you spit coffee at your computer because you laughed too hard or I don't know what.  You've been warned.


Cards Against Humanity(TM) can roughly be explained as (this is a quote from My Guy and is edited): "Apples-to-Apples meets Mad Libs meets..." and I've added "20 Questions" and just said it can get offensive. Basically, the game has two sets of cards. One set is questions and fill in the blank while the other has nouns, places, situations, body humor, celebrities, pop culture, and almost any and everything. The game is best played in groups. I actually first discovered this game thanks to the wonderful Wil Wheaton who posted pictures of some awesome plays on his Twitter feed.

How we played: We played it last night with a group of about 9 then 7 people and it took roughly an hour to two. One person started the game by picking from the questions pile and everyone else put in their suggestions. The person judged which response they liked best or was a crowd pleaser and awarded the question card to the winner. We played until I pulled the "Make a Haiku" card (a recommended ending to the game) and we never did determine who was the worst person. We just all agreed we have to play that again.

Now, the website says that they are sold out (major bummer because I had full intentions of buying it). I found a copy for $50 and decided against it. The creators charge roughly $25 and I plan to get it when they publish more. I'm also getting the expansion packs directly from them. Yet, if I didn't buy it how did I get it?

Enter the beauty of the Creative Commons, my stash of card stock (at home), the printer, and a very determined Guy. He spent roughly 3 hours printing and cutting them so we wound up with these:

Creative Commons License allows us to print off the PDF, remix it (hence the white cards are gray, the black cards are pinkish), and print them to play ourselves.

Epically awesome. Yes, he's a keeper. I know that.

My thoughts: One of my thoughts after playing this is that some librarian is going to hear about this and think "Oh man! What a great idea for teens! Let's get that!" My assumption is based on the huge popularity of Apples-to-Apples in the library. Apples-to-Apples in the library is fine, but there is the mature way to play and the immature way (take a guess as to which way I learned first. Let's say, immature, which includes certain cards are seen as "trump cards" and they include gems like Helen Keller and Samuel L. Jackson, not to mention you also want to make the crowd laugh, not make sense).

Read this: DON'T. DO NOT put this in your library for teens. Don't. No. I don't care how mature your teens are, they have parents who get offended by stuff (and the rules tell you it is recommended for 17+). This game has really disgusting stuff and let's just say, if you heard the winning haiku last night, it'd be embarrassing (except for the crowd I was with). I'd say that if you are trying to reach the 20-something crowd, that might not be too problematic, but take a closer look at my layouts:

Oh man, these are still not great examples, although, my friends would get a kick out of "Step 1: Keanu Reeves. Step 2: Prancing. Step 3: Profit." Just go back to the website and watch the examples for a few minutes.

Done? Good. No? The filter got you? Yeah...they swear a bit on the site.

Now, my overall thoughts. My Guy thought I'd be offended by this game. He thought, somewhere, something would offend me. We played through all of the white cards (our gray cards). Nope. Not one bit. Twice in playing, I cracked up to the point of tears. There were many times players were reading the cards out loud and just started laughing. I think every one of us reached that point at some point.

I. Loved. It. CAH was exactly the humor I needed right now.

This is such a horrible, horrible game and I am apparently a horrible person (in a very dark humor kind of way). Not the worst in our group last night, but I was in the top 3. Either way, I absolutely cannot wait to play this again. I've played Apples-to-Apples. I've played Munchkin. I love those games, but honestly, this has got to be my new favorite party game. It is best played with those who have a similar humor because it could get very awkward, very quickly. This is a much more, grown up, adult version of Apples-to-Apples, Mad Libs, 20 Questions, and all those dark humor jokes.

Play it after a tough day at the library, but avoid bringing it into the library (unless you're playing with a crowd who knows what they are getting, don't mind a lot of swearing [how did your library like Go the F--- To Sleep?] but avoid the teen crowd).

You've been warned.