For this critical play, I am going to analyze Cards Against Humanity. Cards Against Humanity was first made at a New Year’s Eve party, and later put on Kickstarter in 2010. The game is played using a custom deck of cards comprised of prompt cards and answer cards, and takes 30-90 minutes for a typical game, but can be played for any duration as there is no final goal to win. At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt 5 answer cards. Players take turns drawing a prompt card which has a sentence with a blank meant to be answered by the answer cards. Other players place the answer card they best feel matches the prompt card, and the player who drew the prompt card picks a winning answer card without knowing who played which card.
The audience of Cards Against Humanity is published as 17+. Most cards contain non-PG prompts and answers, and the dynamic of being able to combine any answer card with any prompt card can lead to heinous sentences. While this game can be played with any group of 4-20+ players, the crude-nature of the cards make it best played by a comfortable audience, not as an ice breaker. Humor is a fundamental mechanic to Cards Against Humanity. Furthermore, there is a dynamic in Cards Against Humanity created between each player attempting the play an answer card, and the player who will pick a winner. In most cases, it isn’t the “funniest” card which wins, it is the answer-prompt duo which the guesser finds the funniest. This leads to a subtle nuance of Cards Against Humanity where the best audience of players requires each player knowing each other player well enough to determine which answer card the guesser will find the funniest.
Cards Against Humanity provides primarily fellowship fun. The game brings players together, is a talkative social game latent with humor, and is full of laughter. Furthermore, there are features to Cards Against Humanity which provide expressive fun as well. There is an element of creativity involved for both the player playing an answer card for a specific prompt, and the guesser interpreting those two cards together. Each may interpret the answer-prompt differently, but the player who players the answer must takes this into account. Similar games are Apples to Apples, and variations to the prompt-answer dynamic such as the game Select designed in 247G! However, non quite have the vulgar language present in Cards Against Humanity. Furthermore, Cards Against Humanity has several expansion packs which have mods to make it both more extreme, and also more mellow for a family-safe paying environment.
