Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity was created by a group of eight Highland Park High School alumni, including Ben Hantoot and Max Temkin.[3] Heavily influenced by the popular Apples to Apples card game, it was initially named Cardenfreude[4] (a pun on Schadenfreude) 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.[5] 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.[6]

The game was financed with a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and influenced by a previous crowd-funded campaign for a book on the design of the Obama campaign.[7] The campaign started on December 1, 2010; it met its goal of $4,000 in two weeks.[8] 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.[9]

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

To start the game, each player draws ten white cards.

According to the rule book provided with the game, the person who most recently defecated (a form of primitive randomization) begins as the "Card Czar" (or "Card Tsar") and plays a black card, face up. The Card Czar then reads the question or fill-in-the-blanks phrase on the black card out loud.

The other players answer the question or fill in the blanks by each passing one white card (or however many required by the black 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 the Card Czar, and everyone draws back up to 10 white cards.[10]

The part of speech of a white card is a noun or 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 do not state how to win the game—the object being simply to have fun.

The rules in Cards Against Humanity are flexible and can be altered with the many house rules (which are listed in the rules) that players can incorporate (e.g. winning cards are chosen democratically, ability to trade points for cards, points given by ranks, etc.). The official rules include additional provisions for gambling previously won "Awesome Points" for the right to play additional white cards during a round.

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

After six months of development, Cards Against Humanity was officially released in May 2011. A month later, it became the number one game on Amazon.com.[11] 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.[12]

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 announced.[13] In November 2011, the expansion was released. It sold out in three days. The first expansion contained 100 new cards and 12 blank cards.[14]

The base game cards are licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 license and can be downloaded at their website.

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. Despite its higher price, the game maintained its best-selling status on Amazon and experienced a minor spike in sales during that period.[15]

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 each.[16] Over 30,000 boxes were sold.[17]

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".[18] 11,248 customers spent $71,145 on the offer during the campaign. The money was 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 charities.[19]

For 2016, the creators began to live stream the excavation of a "Holiday Hole", located in Oregon, Illinois, and stated that they would continue to dig the hole as long as they continue to receive donations. The creators did not state 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.[20][21] Later in the week, the hole was filled back in and reseeded.[22]

Prior to Black Friday in 2017, a brand of potato chips known as '"Original Prongles" (a parody of Pringles) were spotted in multiple Target stores, with packaging featuring a pig mascot and the slogan "Once You Pop... That's Great!". On Black Friday, the Cards Against Humanity website was redirected to OriginalProngles.com, which announced that the creators of Cards Against Humanity had exited the gaming industry in favor of snack food, with a commitment to "bold flavors and bold thinking". In a FoxNews.com interview, Max Temkin and Josh Dillon (who referred to themselves as Prongles' "chief flavor officers") stated that Prongles and its pig mascot were inspired by US president Donald Trump, adding that "if you love President Donald J. Trump, we guarantee you will love the tangy onion and thick cream flavors of Original Prongles. That's why we promise to Make America CRUNCH Again™! [sic]"[23][24][25]

In 2018, the creators held a "99 Percent Off Sale", selling random items (such as a used 2015 Ford Fiesta, medieval weapons, and even cash) for 99% off, with a new item every 10 minutes. The creators stated that the promotion was "100% real and possibly a very bad idea."[26][27]

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 three international editions and twenty limited availability releases.

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

In July 2017, a special edition of the base game, Cards Against Humanity For Her, was unveiled, in support of EMILY's List—a U.S. political action committee that aims to help elect female pro-choice Democratic candidates to office. As a satire of the "pink tax", it is exactly the same, except $5 more expensive and with a pink-colored box.[29]

Pack symbol	Pack	Release date	Total cards	White cards		Black cards		Notes
				New	Blank	New	Blank
Base game
	Cards Against Humanity 1.0		550	460	—	90	—	The original game. No longer available (superseded by the 2.0 version).
	Cards Against Humanity 2.0		600	500	—	100	—	Base set's newer version, expanded to 600 cards (50 more than before). It also has over 150 new cards that replace outdated jokes.
	Canadian Edition		550	460	—	90	—	Replaces some American-centric jokes with ones targeted toward Canadians. Only available in Canada.
(Bulldog)	UK Edition		550	460	—	90	—	Replaces some American-centric jokes with ones targeted toward British people. Only available in the UK.
(Emu)	Australian Edition		550	460	—	90	—	Replaces some American-centric jokes with ones targeted toward Australians. Only available in Australia and New Zealand.
Expansion packs
1	First Expansion		112	80	8	20	4	No longer available (superseded by the Red Box)
2	Second Expansion		112	75	8	25	4
3	Third Expansion		112	75	8	25	4
4	Fourth Expansion		112	70	8	30	4	No longer available (superseded by the Blue Box)
5	Fifth Expansion		112	75	8	25	4
6	Sixth Expansion		112	75	8	25	4
⬟ (with Black Waves)	Absurd Box	November 2018	300	255	—	45	—
♦	Red Box	November 2016	300	230	—	70	—	Contains the same cards as Expansions 1, 2 and 3 (without blank cards)
▲	Blue Box	November 2016	300	220	—	80	—	Contains the same cards as Expansions 4, 5 and 6 (without blank cards)
●	Green Box	November 2016	300	245	—	55	—
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	November 2016	53	23	40	—	10	Larger version of the previous Bigger Blacker Box; contains everything in the Bigger Blacker Box except foam blocks and dividers, also contains a procedurally generated card and a card hidden under the inside paper lining of the bottom as well as within the top cover.
(Buttocks)	Ass Pack	November 2019	30	27	—	3	—	Includes cards written by Sir Mix-a-Lot.
00s	2000s Nostalgia Pack	November 2019	30	25	—	5	—	2000s themed.
	A.I. Pack	December 2019	30	30	—	—	—	Black Friday A.I. vs Human Pack edition. A.I. written cards.
Vitruvian Man	Human Pack	December 2019	30	28	—	2	—	Black Friday A.I. vs Human Pack edition. Cards written by the CAH writers.
(Three blood drops)	Period Pack	July 2017	30	24	—	6	—	Comes with a few surprises for your special time.
(Pride flag)	Pride Pack	July 2018	30	25	—	5	—	profits donated to Howard Brown Health.
(Masks)	Theatre Pack		30	25	—	5	—
(Star)	Saves America Pack		30	23	—	7	—
(Plastic cup)	College Pack		30	24	—	6	—	Comes with an 18" x 24" poster
(Sperm)	Dad Pack	June 2018	30	24	—	6	—	Released for Fathers Day 2018. The pack comes in a choice of 9 fake DVD cases.
(Crisscrossed knife and spoon)	Food Pack		30	24	—	6	—	Co-written with Lucky Peach magazine
(Marijuana leaf)	Weed Pack	July 2017	30	25	—	5	—	Profits donated to the Marijuana Policy Project
(Hitachi Magic Wand)	Fantasy Pack		32	26	—	6	—	Profits donated to Pat Rothfuss’ Worldbuilders charity
90	90s Nostalgia Pack		30	23	—	7	—	1990s themed
@	World Wide Web Pack		30	21	—	9	—	Cards written with anonymous users of Reddit; profits donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
(Star of David)	Jew Pack	2015	30	25	—	5	—	Originally released as the 2015 Holiday Pack, with 150,000 copies sent to people signed up for "Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah"
(D-pad)	Geek Pack		30	24	—	6	—	Previously released at PAX East and PAX Prime in 2013 and 2014
(Rocket)	Sci-Fi Pack	December 2016	30	23	—	7	—	Profits donated to Worldbuilders
(Abstract symbol)	Design Pack		30	30	—	—	—	Fully illustrated by different graphic designers; profits donated to the Chicago Design Museum
	Science Pack		30	23	—	7	—	Profits donated to the Science Ambassador Scholarship
(Snowflake)	2012 Holiday Pack	2012	30	23	—	7	—	Profits donated to the Wikimedia Foundation
(Santa hat)	2013 Holiday Pack	2013	30	21	—	9	—	Profits donated to DonorsChoose.org
(Bauble)	2014 Holiday Pack	2014	30	24	—	6	—	Profits donated to Sunlight Foundation
	Your Shitty Jokes	November 2016	50	—	40	—	10	Blank cards, also sold as Your Dumb Jokes in retail stores[30]
	Vote for Hillary Pack	August 2016	15	12	—	3	—	Hillary Clinton–themed; originally released as part of "America Votes with Cards Against Humanity" during the 2016 US presidential election.[31] No longer available.
	Vote for Trump Pack	August 2016	15	12	—	3	—	Donald Trump–themed; originally released as part of "America Votes with Cards Against Humanity" during the 2016 US presidential election[31] No longer available
(Radiation symbol)	Post Trump Pack		25	22	—	3	—	No longer available
	Canadian Conversion Kit		26	21	—	5	—	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).
(Smiling sun)	A Few New Cards We Crammed Into This Bundle		10	7	—	3	—	Part of the Hidden Gems Bundle (Amazon exclusive).
(Christmas gift)	Seasons Greetings Pack		30	23	—	7	—	Part of the Hidden Gems Bundle (Amazon exclusive). Features 18 cards originally released in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Holiday Packs, plus 12 new Christmas themed cards.
Limited release packs
	Reject Pack		24	16	—	8	—	Each co-creator picked three cards that were rejected from print.
	Reject Pack 2		34	24	—	10	—	Given out for attending Concert Against Humanity at Gen Con 2015
	House of Cards Against Humanity		25	16	—	9	—	Based on House of Cards 10,000 copies (sold out in 45 minutes)
(A meeple)	TableTop Expansion Pack		15	12	—	3	—	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	—	Pack A
			10	8	—	2	—	Pack B
			10	8	—	2	—	Pack C
	PAX Prime 2013 Promo Packs		44	37	—	7	—	Randomly given out booster packs
	PAX East 2014 Promo Packs		27	22	—	5	—	Randomly inserted booster packs within packets of oatmeal
	PAX East 2014 Panel Pack		10	8	—	2	—	Given out for attending the Cards Against Humanity panel
	PAX Prime 2014 Panel Pack		10	5	—	5	—	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.[32]
(A person opening a safe)	Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa Safe Opener Card Being the crazy person who opened the safe.		1	1	—	—	—	12 copies found in the safe on Hawaii 2 island
	Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa Sloth Card		1	1	—	—	—	250,000 copies found in the safe on Hawaii 2 island
(Paper shopping bag)	The Retail Pack		5	3	—	2	—	Special pack of cards only available through independent brick and mortar retailers approved to sell the game
	Hanukkah LOL Pack		7	7	—	—	—	Only printed 3 times
	Fascism Pack		17	15	—	2	—	A $30 contribution reward for the Secret Hitler Kickstarter campaign; in an exclusive foil pack
(Capitol Dome)	Midterm Pack	September 2018	18	16	—	2	—	Pack encouraging people to vote Democratic. Profits donated to Run for Something.
(Radiation symbol)	Trump Bug Out Pack		25	22	—	3	—	Packaged with the Donald Trump Bug-Out Bag
	Retail Product Pack		20	19	—	1	—	Silver Pack sold at exclusive Target Stores (includes $1 bill inside package)
	Please Do Not Buy This Product		1	1	—	—	—	69-inch box containing a single, metallic foil card.
	Mass Effect Pack		14	10	—	4	—	Cards based on the video game series Mass Effect
(Eye with a solid black cornea)	Hidden Compartment Pack	July 2017	15	15	—	—	—	Special pack of cards only available through Target's in-store display of CAH and Exploding Kittens demo

The game was praised as "Simple, yet well-executed" by the Chicago Tribune "Puzzler",[42] "pretty amazing" by The A.V. Club, and "the game your party deserves" by Thrillist.[43] 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.[44]

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."[5] Criticism of 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.[45]

In a letter of complaint to The New York Times Magazine, writer Dan Brooks argued:

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 ... 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 ... 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?[46]

Brooks' editorial received attention from media sources such as The A.V. Club and PJ Media.[47]

In 2014 a 19-year-old transgender man from Boston posted a picture burning the card, "Passable transvestites."[48] After the post quickly spread, game creator Max Temkin apologized, saying "I regret writing this card, it was a mean cheap joke. We took it out a while ago".[49]

A 2016 analysis of the game showed a strong racial bias in the cards. One-fifth of the original card deck included answers involving race. Of those cards, only 11 percent of white cards were racially charged compared to 60 percent of black cards, 60 percent of Hispanic cards, 80 percent of Asian cards, and 100 percent of Native American cards. Cards were coded as "racially charged" if they spoke to a historical or contemporary oppressive event or stereotype, for example, “The Trail of Tears,” “The hard working Mexican," or "Helplessly giggling at the mention of Hutus and Tutsis," all of which are actual cards from the deck.[50]

The game has also been criticized for its use of misogyny, rape, and child abuse for humor.[51] Cards such as "Child abuse," "This year's mass shooting," and "Holding down a child and farting all over him" remain in the original deck of the game.[52] Jokes involving rape were pointed out early in the game's history and were subsequently removed, but "Surprise sex!," "Copping a feel," and "Coathanger abortions" remain in the game.[53]

• Apples to Apples – similar game that influenced Cards Against Humanity and other card comparison titles
• Dixit
• Joking Hazard
• Under the Gun Theater § Past productions

• Official website