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Cards Against Humanity

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Cards Against Humanity
DesignersJosh Dillon, Daniel Dranove, Eli Halpern, Ben Hantoot, David Munk, David Pinsof, Max Temkin, Eliot Weinstein
PublisherCards Against Humanity LLC
Release dateMay 2011; 13 years ago (2011-05)
Players3–20+
Age range17+
Cards550+
DeckDedicated
Playing time25–90 minutes+
Websitewww.cardsagainsthumanity.com Edit this at Wikidata

Cards Against Humanity is a party game in which players complete fill-in-the-blank statements using typically offensive, risqué or politically incorrect words or phrases printed on playing cards. The game is available as a free download that players can print to create their own cards, and also available to purchase as a published hard copy. Its development originated from the successful Apples to Apples card game released years earlier and a Kickstarter campaign and received acclaim[citation needed] for its simple concept backed up by its satirical content. The game is available under a Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA.[1] Its title references the phrase "crimes against humanity", reflecting its politically incorrect content.[2]

As of 2016, Cards Against Humanity is available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Development

Cards Against Humanity was created by a group of Highland Park High School alumni as a party game for a New Year's Eve celebration. Heavily influenced by the popular Apples to Apples card game, it was initially named Hyper-Theticals and involved a group of players writing out the most abstract and, often, humorous response to the topic question. The name was later changed to Cards Against Humanity, with the answers pre-written on the white cards known today.[3] Co-creator Ben Hantoot cited experiences with various games such as Magic: The Gathering, Balderdash, and Charades as inspiration, also noting that Mad Libs was " the most direct influence" for the game[4]

The game was financed with a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The campaign started on December 1, 2010; it met its goal of $4,000 in two weeks.[5] The campaign ended on January 30, 2011 and raised over $15,000; just under 400% of its original goal. With this additional money raised towards the game, the creators added fifty more cards to the game itself.[6]

Gameplay

A black "question" card and a white "answer" card

The Cards Against Humanity website provides the rules of the game:

The basic rules are as follows:

To start the game, each player draws ten White Cards.

The person who most recently pooped (a form of primitive randomization) begins as the Card Czar and plays a Black Card, face up. The Card Czar reads the question (or fill-in-the-blank phrase) on the Black Card out loud.

The remaining players fill in the blank (or answer the question, depending on the exact contents of the black card) by silently passing one White Card, face down, to the Card Czar.

The Card Czar shuffles all of the answers and shares each card combination with the group. For full effect, the Card Czar should usually re-read the Black Card before presenting each answer. The Card Czar then picks the funniest play, and whoever submitted it gets one Awesome Point.

After the round, a new player becomes[how?] the Card Czar, and everyone draws back up to ten White Cards.[7]

The part of speech of a white card is a noun (which may be a gerund), including both single words and phrase constructions. Black cards are either fill-in-the-blank statements or questions. Both white and black cards break these rules on rare occasions.

The rules in Cards Against Humanity are flexible and can be altered with the many house rules (which are listed in the manual and website) that players can incorporate (e.g., winning cards are chosen democratically, ability to trade points for cards, points given by ranks, etc.). The game also incorporates rules for so-called "Pick 2's" and "Pick 3's"; black question cards that are answered with multiple white answer cards. The official rules include additional provisions for gambling previously won "Awesome Points" for the right to play additional white cards during a round.

Release and sales

A stack of Cards Against Humanity boxes at Fan Expo Canada 2013.

After six months of development, Cards Against Humanity officially released in May 2011. A month later, it became the number one game on Amazon.com.[8] Since its release, CAH has gradually become more popular and has seen a rise of sales throughout the years. The Chicago Sun-Times estimated that CAH earned at least $12 million in profit, and according to the company customers have downloaded the PDF file 1.5 million times in the year since they began tracking the numbers.[9] Despite co-creator Max Temkin stating in a 2014 interview that he did not want retail shoppers to 'cheapen our brand', the game and expansion packs are currently being sold in select Target retail locations, as of August 2016.

In October 2011, the game was exhibited as part of the "Big Games" area of the annual IndieCade games festival in Culver City, where the release of a first expansion was officially announced.[10] In November 2011, the expansion was released. It sold out in three days. The first expansion contained 100 new cards and 12 blank cards.[11]

Black Friday promotions

Since 2013, the creators of Cards Against Humanity have held satirical promotions on Black Friday. In 2013, an "anti-sale" was held in which the game's cost was raised by $5 USD. Despite its higher price, the game went on to maintain its best-selling status on Amazon and experienced a minor spike in sales during that period.[12]

In 2014, to "help you experience the ultimate savings on Cards Against Humanity", the game and its expansions were removed from the online store and replaced by "Bullshit"—boxes containing sterilized bull feces, sold at $6 USD each.[13] Over 30,000 boxes were sold.[14]

The 2016 Holiday Hole being dug

In 2015, the game's online store was replaced by an order form with an offer to "Give Cards Against Humanity $5" and receive nothing in return. The offer was justified by claiming that "the greatest Black Friday gift of all is buying nothing. We're offering that for the rock-bottom price of $5. How can you afford NOT to seize this incredible opportunity?", and that what the money would be used for would be announced "soon"[15] 11,248 customers spent $71,145 on the offer during the campaign. The money was ultimately divided equally among the Cards Against Humanity team members, who were asked to report back what they spent their money on. Many of them made donations to different charities.[16]

For 2016, the creators began to live stream the excavation of a "Holiday Hole", and stated that they would continue to dig the hole as long as they continue to receive donations. The creators have not stated any reason for the hole nor any planned use of the money, and explicitly ruled out charity in a FAQ by asking the reader, "why aren't YOU giving all this money to charity? It's your money." $100,573 was collected.[17][18]

Expansions and additional products

Cards Against Humanity comes as a base set, with six separate commercially available expansions, nine themed packs, and one additional accessory. There are also 3 international editions and 17 limited availability releases.

Pack Total cards White cards Black cards Pack Symbol Notes
New Blank New Blank
Base Game
Cards Against Humanity 550 460 — 90 — — The original game
Only available in the US
Canadian Edition 550 460 — 90 — Maple leaf Replaces some American-centric jokes with ones targeted toward Canadians.
Only available in Canada
UK Edition 550 460 — 90 — Bulldog Replaces some American-centric jokes with ones targeted toward British people.
Only available in the UK
Australian Edition 550 460 — 90 — Emu Replaces some American-centric jokes with ones targeted toward Australians.
Only available in Australia and New Zealand
Expansion Packs
First Expansion 112 80 8 20 4 1 No longer available (superseded by the Red Box)
Second Expansion 112 75 8 25 4 2
Third Expansion 112 75 8 25 4 3
Fourth Expansion 112 70 8 30 4 4 No longer available (superseded by the Blue Box)
Fifth Expansion 112 75 8 25 4 5
Sixth Expansion 112 75 8 25 4 6
Red Box 300 230 — 70 — Red diamond Contains the same cards as Expansions 1, 2 and 3 (without blank cards)
Blue Box 300 220 — 80 — Blue triangle Contains the same cards as Expansions 4, 5 and 6 (without blank cards)
Green Box 300 245 — 55 — Green circle
Smaller Themed Packs
The Bigger Blacker Box 51 21 40 — 10 — An empty storage case that can hold Cards Against Humanity and every expansion; also contains blank cards, the Box Expansion, 10 card dividers, foam filler, and a card hidden under the inside paper lining of the lid
No longer available (superseded by the New Bigger Blacker Box)
New Bigger Blacker Box 51 21 40 — 10 — Larger version of the previous Bigger Blacker Box
2012 Holiday Pack 30 23 — 7 — Snowflake Profits donated to the Wikimedia Foundation
2013 Holiday Pack 30 21 — 9 — Santa hat Profits donated to DonorsChoose.org
2014 Holiday Pack 30 24 — 6 — Bauble Profits donated to Sunlight Foundation
90s Nostalgia Pack 30 23 — 7 — 90 1990s themed
Canadian Conversion Kit 26 21 — 5 — Maple leaf Contained two instruction cards with suggestions on how to swap out American cards from the US base set with Canadian ones
No longer available (superseded by the Canadian Edition base set)
Design Pack 30 30 — — — Abstract symbol Fully illustrated by different graphic designers; profits donated to the Chicago Design Museum
Food Pack 30 24 — 6 — Crisscrossed knife and spoon Co-written with Lucky Peach magazine
Fantasy Pack 32 26 — 6 — Hitachi Magic Wand Profits donated to Pat Rothfuss’ Worldbuilders charity
Geek Pack 30 24 — 6 — D-pad Previously released at PAX East and PAX Prime in 2013 and 2014
Jew Pack 30 25 — 5 — Star of David Previously released in "Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah"
Post-Trump Pack 30 25 — 5 — Radioactive hazard symbol Previously released in the "Donald Trump Bug-Out Bag"
Science Pack 30 23 — 7 — Erlenmeyer flask Profits donated to the Science Ambassador Scholarship
Vote for Hillary Pack 15 12 — 3 — Check mark Hillary Clinton–themed; originally released as part of "America Votes with Cards Against Humanity" during the 2016 US presidential election
Vote for Trump Pack 15 12 — 3 — Check mark Donald Trump–themed; originally released as part of "America Votes with Cards Against Humanity" during the 2016 US presidential election
World Wide Web Pack 30 21 — 9 — @ Cards written with anonymous users of Reddit; profits donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Your Shitty Jokes 50 — 40 — 10 — Blank cards
Limited Release Expansions
Reject Pack 24 16 — 8 — Thumbs down Each co-creator picked three cards that were rejected from print
Reject Pack 2 34 24 — 10 — Thumbs down Given out for attending Concert Against Humanity at Gen Con 2015
House of Cards Against Humanity 25 16 — 9 — Upside-down American flag Based on House of Cards

10,000 copies (sold out in 45 minutes)

TableTop Expansion Pack 15 12 — 3 — A meeple A $20 contribution reward for the TableTop Indiegogo campaign. It also came with a white pin with the words "+20 to making TableTop" on it
PAX Prime 2012 Goof Pack 14 9 — 5 — — Given out to replace misprints in v1.2; also included new cards (since included in v1.3)
PAX East 2013 Promo Packs 10 8 — 2 — X Pack A
10 8 — 2 — X Pack B
10 8 — 2 — X Pack C
PAX Prime 2013 Promo Packs 44 37 — 7 — X Randomly given out booster packs
PAX East 2014 Promo Packs 27 22 — 5 — X Randomly inserted booster packs within packets of oatmeal
PAX East 2014 Panel Pack 10 8 — 2 — X Given out for attending the Cards Against Humanity panel
PAX Prime 2014 Panel Pack 10 5 — 5 — X Given out for attending the Cards Against Humanity panel
PAX Prime 2015 Food Pack Pre-release 30 24 — 6 — — Contained one different card from final release, given out inside a popsicle in three different flavors (cherry, coconut and mango). The packs were distributed from a re-purposed ice cream truck with Cards Against Humanity insignia (Cards Popsicle Humanity). Each of the three Food Pack parts were sold for $3.[19]
Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa Safe Opener Card
Being the crazy person who opened the safe.		 1 1 — — — A person opening a safe 12 copies found in the safe on Hawaii II Island
Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa Sloth Card 1 1 — — — — 250,000 copies found in the safe on Hawaii II Island
2015 Holiday Pack 30 25 — 5 — Star of David 150,000 copies sent to people signed up for "Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah"
The Retail Pack 5 3 — 2 — Paper Shopping Bag Special pack of cards only available through independent brick and mortar retailers approved to sell the game
Hanukkah LOL Pack 7 7 — — — — Only been printed 3 times
Fascism Pack 17 15 — 2 — Fascism skull A $30 contribution reward for the Secret Hitler Kickstarter campaign; in an exclusive foil pack
Trump Bug Out Pack 25 22 — 3 — Radioactive hazard symbol Packaged with the Donald Trump Bug-Out Bag
Retail Product Pack (Target) 20 19 — 1 — Money bag with dollar Sign Silver Pack Sold at Exclusive Target Stores (Includes $1 bill inside package)

In addition, with the help of the Cards Against Humanity team, the 2014 MIT Mystery Hunt held a Cards Against Wonderland event with MIT and Wonderland themed decks of 416 cards (346 white, 70 black). Some of the cards consisted of the Presidential family of 129 B.C committing incest (for the winsest) with aliens. A limited number of decks were printed for the event, but PDF versions of the cards were provided to all teams after the event ended.[20]

Philanthropy

In December 2012, Cards Against Humanity released a special holiday expansion pack. Proceeds were donated to the Wikimedia Foundation.[21] Individuals chose how much to pay for the pack. The average amount paid was $3.89 (with the majority of contributors paying $5) which resulted in an overall profit of $70,066.27.

In December 2013, the creators released a "12 Days of Holiday Bullshit" holiday promotion. Individuals paid $12 to receive 12 random presents for 12 days. On the tenth day, Cards Against Humanity donated $1 for every person who contributed to this deal, amassing $100,249.94 that was donated to several educational projects via DonorsChoose.[22]

Cards Against Humanity announced a science-themed expansion pack in 2015, which promised to donate the profits to scholarships for women going into STEM. The pack has raised over $500k for the scholarship.[23]

On July 28, 2015, Cards Against Humanity announced a design-themed expansion pack, featuring 30 cards that were created by famous designers riffing on the late comedian George Carlin’s legendary “seven dirty words.” All proceeds were donated to the Chicago Design Museum.[24]

On November 19, 2015, Cards Against Humanity announced a fantasy-themed expansion pack, written by various fantasy authors including Patrick Rothfuss. For the first two weeks of the sale of this pack all of the proceeds were promised to be donated to Worldbuilders, in support of Heifer International.[25] Worldbuilders is a charity organization started by Pat Rothfuss.

In December 2015, Cards Against Humanity launched their holiday gift campaign with "Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah" in which humorous gifts were sent out over the course of the Hanukkah holiday. The first three gifts were pairs of socks, with later gifts including a year-long membership to Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ,[26] as well as a week of paid vacation for their Chinese-based manufacturing plant staff.[27]

Reception

The game was praised as "Simple, yet well-executed" by the Chicago Tribune "Puzzler",[28] "pretty amazing" by The A.V. Club, and "the game your party deserves" by Thrillist.[29] However, in December 2015, the game received a rating of 6.48/10 in reviews on BoardGameGeek. The score earned it a ranking of 146 in party games.[30]

Reviews note the similarity between Cards Against Humanity and the 1999 family card game Apples to Apples. The A.V. Club interview calls the game "a sort of Apples To Apples for the crass and jaded."[3] Criticism for the game stems from its enjoyment primarily depending on the number of players participating as well as many reviewers' concern that its politically incorrect content may offend certain audiences.[31]

Criticism

In a letter of complaint to The New York Times Magazine, writer Dan Brooks argued that "Like America’s most successful brands, Cards Against Humanity positions itself against the masses, when in fact it is mass taste distilled. It is the product of a culture in which transgressing social norms has become an agreed-on social norm." He continued, saying "That may be because Cards Against Humanity isn’t really transgressive at all. It is a game of naughty giggling for people who think the phrase 'black people' is inherently funny." He concluded by saying "The awful thing is that it works. The reliability of Cards Against Humanity as an activity most people will enjoy only makes it more depressing to those of us immune to its charms. It is, in the end, a party game for horrible people. But who else is there to party with?"[32] Brooks' editorial received attention from media sources such as The A.V. Club and PJ Media.[33][34]

In mid 2014, a popular Tumblr post wherein the poster burns a Cards Against Humanity card featuring a transphobic joke spurred an apology from Max Temkin. "I regret writing this card, it was a mean, cheap joke. We took it out of the game a while ago", Temkin replied on his own Tumblr.[35] Cards Against Humanity occasionally releases new versions of the game where certain cards are removed and/or added in order to stay up to date.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Cards Against Humanity Creative Commons License". Cards Against Humanity. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  2. ^ "Cards Against Humanity buys remote Maine island, calls it 'Hawaii 2' - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram". The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.
  3. ^ a b "A Card Game For Assholes". Interview with The Onion AV Club. Archived from the original on 2012-06-24. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  4. ^ "Cards Against Humanity: An Offensive Interview". Dice Hate Me Interview. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  5. ^ Kimball, Diana. "Case Study: Cards Against Humanity". Kickstarter. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  6. ^ "Cards Against Humanity Page on Kickstarter". Kickstarter Page For Cards Against Humanity. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
  7. ^ "Cards Against Humanity Rules" (PDF). AdMagic Inc. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  8. ^ "Amazon Best Sellers , Toys and Games".
  9. ^ Megan Graham (May 16, 2014). "Eight nerds get rich off a game where Oprah sobs into a Lean Cuisine". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  10. ^ "IndieCade Big Games 2011". IndieCade Big Games 2011.
  11. ^ "Cards Against Humanity Expansion Sells Out in Three Days". Cards Against Humanity.
  12. ^ Carlson, Nicholas. "Look What Happened When This Games Company Offered An Absurd '$5 More' Black Friday Deal". Business Insider. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  13. ^ "Cards Against Humanity calls bull**** on Black Friday, sells cow feces". Ars Technica. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  14. ^ Landau, Joel (16 December 2014). "Cards Against Humanity sells 30,000 boxes of actual bull poop on Black Friday". New York Daily News. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  15. ^ "Cards Against Humanity Has Made Over $54K Selling Nothing On Black Friday". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  16. ^ Olanoff, Drew. "Here's What Cards Against Humanity Is Doing With The $71,145 They Made On Black Friday". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  17. ^ "Cards Against Humanity is making thousands of dollars digging a 'Holiday Hole' in the ground (update)". Polygon. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  18. ^ "Cards Against Humanity raises $100,000 to dig 'tremendous hole'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  19. ^ "Cards Against Humanity Releases Special Food-Themed Cards Inside Popsicles". Chicagoist.
  20. ^ "Cards Against Wonderland (Events)". mit.edu.
  21. ^ "Cards Against Humanity pay-what-you-want holiday pack". Cards Against Humanity. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
  22. ^ "Cards Against Humanity 2013 DonorsChoose.org Classroom Shopping Spree"]". Cards Against Humanity.
  23. ^ "Cards Against Humanity Scholarship For Women In STEM Raised Over $500K". The Mary Sue.
  24. ^ "Cards Against Humanity offers Carlin's 7 bad words for good cause". ChicagoTribune.com.
  25. ^ "Cards Against Humanity: Fantasy Pack". Patrick Rothfuss Blog.
  26. ^ "Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah Donation to WBEZ".
  27. ^ "Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah Factory Workers' Week Off".
  28. ^ "Cards Against Humanity". Chicago Tribune Puzzler review. Archived from the original on 2011-02-25. Retrieved June 13, 2011.[dead link] [dead link]
  29. ^ "Cards Against Humanity". Thrillist review. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
  30. ^ "Cards Against Humanity page on BoardGameGeek".
  31. ^ "Cards Against Humanity: A Party Game For Horrible People (UK Edition) Review". Games & Tea. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  32. ^ Brooks, Dan (October 7, 2016). "Letter of Complaint: Cards Against Humanity". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved October 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  33. ^ Adamczyk, Laura (October 7, 2016). "A writer rails against Cards Against Humanity". The A.V. Club. The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |website= (help)
  34. ^ O'Neil, Tyler (October 11, 2016). "'The New York Times' Really, REALLY Hates 'Cards Against Humanity'". PJ Media. PJ Media. Retrieved October 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |website= (help)
  35. ^ http://fusion.net/story/5979/cards-against-humanity-co-creator-sorry-for-transphobic-card/
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