Cards Against Humanity has an enviable reputation. Retailers can’t keep it in stock. People rave about it. It’s modular, easy to learn, and quick to play. It’s also very, very naughty.
It’s that last aspect that gives me pause. I don’t mind adult content in games, but Cards Against Humanity encourages the players towards depraved thinking for the entire game.
Quite simply: each player has a hand of cards, each of which contain a noun or noun phrase. Play goes in rounds; in each round, one player chooses a sentence cards that contains a Mad Libs-style sentence, such as “I was so relieved when I saw _____ come through the door.” The other players pass forward a card from their hands; the chooser reads each of them out, chooses a winner, and that player gets a point. Play continues until one player amasses a pre-determined number of points.
That’s the entire game. The fun lies in the nouns, which range from the wacky to the obscene. Pair those with a sentence like “Reaching into my ______, I pulled out ______” and you can imagine how dirty the game can be.
It’s a fun beer-and-pretzels game, only to be played with those not easily offended.
I must say: after playing it for about an hour, I felt my mind training itself to see the dirtiest and most bizarre interpretation of any given sentence. The game rewards depraved thought in a subtle but significant way. I felt vaguely dirty after playing it.
Still, for an evening’s entertainment, it’s hardly going to damage you, and it can be an uproarious good time.