Cards Against Humanity

Product overview

Cards Against Humanity: What to Know

The content is the product and the publisher is entirely upfront about it: the first line of the listing is that this is a party game for horrible people. The manufacturer recommended age is 17 and up, and that is a content rating rather than a complexity one. Nothing about the rules is difficult; the cards are deliberately offensive, and that is what you are buying. Anyone deciding whether this belongs at their gathering should take the publisher at its word rather than assume marketing hyperbole.

With that established, it scales better than anything else in this guide. Four to 20 or more players works because submissions are simultaneous: one player reads a black prompt card, everyone else submits a white card face down, and the reader picks a winner. Adding a tenth or fifteenth player adds no turn order and no waiting, which is why it became the default large-party game.

The box contains 500 white cards and 100 black cards, which the publisher frames as maximum replayability and which is genuinely a lot of combinations. This listing is version 2.0, with over 150 new cards since the previous version. There is also a booklet containing what the publisher calls sensible game rules plus preposterous alternate rules, and the alternate rules are worth reading because several of them substantially change the game.

Two honest points. The humour has dated noticeably since the game's peak, and a deck written years ago reads differently now, which is a reason the publisher keeps issuing new versions and expansions. And the format rewards shock over wit, which some groups find tiresome after a couple of rounds; if that describes your room, Wavelength at the top of this page is the game to buy instead.

Key Listed Features