Cards Against Humanity is a judging card game created by eight Parkland High School alumni. The target audience is adults, as given the contents, it might not be the most suitable game for minors. Having played this game many times in my life, I consider this to be a very funny game at parties with friends you’re very comfortable with. Also, however, this game is a fun way to socialise with the people that you just met as well, provided that it is a casual enough occasion. This really makes the players put their guards down, because there is literally no way to play it shy, because of the way that the cards are written.
The basic mechanism of this game is you can earn scores by submitting white cards that would complete the sentence started by the Card Czar using a black card in the funniest way. The white cards are random or inappropriate nouns or gerunds. The black cards also usually contain an element that could take a wild direction. You submit the white cards to the Card Czar, who will then read all the submitted answers, along with the prompt on the black cards originally. The Card Czar will decide who takes the ‘Awesome Point’ based on their preference of which card completed the sentence in the funniest way based on their sense of humour. There are ways this mechanism can be modified, based on democratic votes and discussion. I personally found the original to be the most fun, as I think it balances out the fact that some people are more extraverted and outgoing than others, but there is a fun in discovering the weird senses of humour the quiet people have.
Based on the MDA framework, I believe that the fun type in this game is mostly submission and challenge. When I first discovered this game, I was immediately reminded of the Freudian psychoanalysis on how children are fascinated by discussion of poop, as the first Card Czar is decided by the person that pooped the most recently. The mechanism is simple and casual, and rarely do players see someone that is too serious about winning the round unless there are prizes involved. That said, there is a challenge in getting out the weirdest and the most inappropriate completion of the sentence submitted that will make people exclaim. This is immensely successful as the ‘Against Humanity’ nature of this game really maximises the submission this game intended to create. I felt a similar kind of fun playing Drawing without Dignity. I personally found Cards Against Humanity to be easier, as you get prompts, you are forced to take part, as opposed to drawing against dignity, in which you have to guess and draw, which requires more creativity, and you could choose to play in a more reserved manner. Precisely for that reason, however, drawing without dignity has its own appeal in that you see some wildly creative drawings and wildly creative and messed up answer shouted really loudly.
