So for this Gaming Spotlight I’m going to review something a bit different, a card game. Cards Against Humanity was created by a group of friends for a New Years Eve Celebration, and then developed further for wider release later. Funds were created using Kickstarter, a company that offers media creatives a way to fund/develop their projects through peer pledges. Cards Against Humanity is a game designed to be played by you and your friends (ideally 4 – 20+ players), and reveals how well you know your compadre’s sense of humour. Now a slight warning is needed with this game as some of the cards are quite…. shall we say adult in nature, giving it a suggested age rating of 17+. The game originally was released solely for USA release, but recently due to popular demand a UK version has been unveiled (this is the version I purchased).
Best. Game. EVER!
Will Wheaton
Gameplay
So down to the nitty-gritty. How is the game played? Inside the box are two sets of cards, one Black and one White. The Black Cards contain either a question or a fill-in-the-blank style statement, the White Cards have the corresponding answers. At the start of the game each player draws ten White Cards that only they may see for the time being. Now bear with me, as this is what it says in the actual instructions:
“The player who recently pooed first begins as the Card Tsar and plays a Black Card”
That’s right boys and girls, this simple statement gives the idea of the tone this game will have, but I’m sure you can find other ways to decide who begins the game. Moving on, the Card Tsar then reads out the text on the Black Card, the other players must then answer/fill in the blanks by passing the Card Tsar one of their White Cards face down. These answers are then shuffled by the Card Tsar, once this is done he/she must then read out each card combination with the whole group, preferably premising it with the text on the Black Card each time. I hope you followed that all the way through, it’s a lot simpler than it sounds trust me!
Scoring
Whichever combination the Card Tsar finds the most humorous is the winner and wins one Awesome Point, I usually measure this by awarding them the Black Card of that round. A new Card Tsar is then chosen and all players draw back up to ten cards. So where does the game end? That’s up to you to decide! Believe it or not this game is actually designed for the players to make up their own rules and to remix the game to how the see fit. So you could decide that the first player to get 10 Awesome Points is crowned the Court Jester and wins the round, or maybe your cruel streak creeps into the game and those who are not victorious must carry out a forfeit while the winner looks on smugly. The choice is yours!
Final Thoughts
Personally I think the game is a great way to spend an hour or so with your friends, trying to make each other laugh and in some cases shocked. Admittedly if you are sensitive towards politically incorrect jokes, this game is probably not for you. I love that it has been created by a group of mates and then developed through peer-to-peer support schemes. The fact that the designers also factored in the choice for players to remix and change the game to how they see fit is frankly awesome. So if you’re in the market for a new card game, specifically one that will make you chuckle and show off your naughty side, I suggest Cards Against Humanity!
Thanks for taking the time to read through this Gaming Spotlight, I’m going to try and post a bit more regularly as I’ve been a bit all over the place lately. If you have any suggestions of games I might like or in fact anything to do with blogging (I’m still a newbie) then please feel free to comment.
Alright catch you later,
Iain
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