CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

OBJECTIVE OF CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY: Earn the most black cards or Awesome Points.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3+ players

MATERIALS: Cards Against Humanity deck

TYPE OF GAME: Card game

AUDIENCE: Adults

OVERVIEW OF CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

This post contains partner links to various products.

Cards Against Humanity

A party game for horrible people.
Comes with 500 white cards and 100 black cards for eternal replayability.
Includes a booklet of sensible game rules and preposterous alternate rules.

Cards Against Humanity is a card game that involves filling in the blank on a black card with inappropriate, politically incorrect, or downright offensive white cards in order to make the funniest statement. The game is modeled after the popular but family-friendly game, Apples to Apples. For players who own the hard copy game, you can buy many expansion packs to increase the number of cards and possibilities or better accommodate large groups of people.

In this article, we will cover the rules of Cards Against Humanity so that you can get started offending all of your friends and family!

SETUP FOR CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

While you can play Cards Against Humanity with as few or as many players as you want, the more people play, the merrier, we say!

To start, separate the black cards and the white cards if they aren’t already. Then, each active player draws 10 white cards from the box. Each player can only look at their own set of 10 white cards. All other cards that haven’t been distributed must remain face down in a pile or in the box.

HOW TO PLAY CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

Choose a player to start the game as the Card Czar. There are many methods of choosing the first player to become the Card Czar, such as:

The last player to have pooped
The youngest player
The player who can hold their breath the longest
The player who can chug their beer the fastest
The player with the next birthday

Once chosen, the Card Czar picks and plays a black card by reading it aloud to all the other players. The black cards are fill-in-the-blank. Active players who are not the Card Czar choose a white card from their hand that they think best completes the phrase or sentence(s).

These cards are passed to the Card Czar, face-down, for consideration. The Card Czar shuffles and reads the responses aloud to the group. For the full effect, the Card Czar must re-read the black card and substitute the blank with each white card, one by one. Whichever the Czar thinks is the funniest wins the round.

Whoever played the white card takes the black card and keeps it as their Awesome Point. After the round is finished, the player on the left of the current Card Czar becomes the next Czar, and the rules repeat.

Keep in mind: Players must replace their cards in order to maintain a hand of 10 cards.

PICKING TWO

Some black cards have two blanks to fill and ask for two (or even three!) cards. Players should pass these, in order, to the Czar for consideration. Be sure to not let them out of order, or you may lose when you may have had the potential to win an Awesome Point! To ensure anonymity while passing them back to the Card Czar, have the Czar turn around while each player places their cards in front of the Czar.

GAMBLING

If you believe you have more than one white card in your hand that could win you an Awesome Point, you can gamble it. To do so, play both of the white cards. If you win the round with either card, you win the bet. But god forbid you lose the round, the winner of that round wins the round’s Awesome Point as well as the Awesome Point you wagered! So, make sure you’re super confident in your ability to win that round before you lose a point to another player.

HOUSE RULES

Cards Against Humanity is a pretty simple and straightforward game, but every now and then, you’re going to want to shake it up a bit. Here are some house rules you can add to add a little extra to keep the game even more interesting and hilarious (if that’s even possible)!

HAPPY ENDING

If you want to finish the game, grab the black card that says, “Make a Haiku.” This is the “official” closing ceremony of a Cards Against Humanity game. Don’t worry; haikus do not need to follow the 5-7-5 format but should be read dramatically!

REBOOTING THE UNIVERSE

At any point in the game, players can choose to trade in one of their Awesome Points in order to exchange up to 10 white cards from the deck.

PACKING HEAT

Before playing a Pick 2 card, all players (but the Card Czar) should draw an extra white card in order to have more options available.

RANDO CARDRISSIAN

During every round, pick a random white card from the box and throw it into play. These cards belong to the imaginary player Rando Cardrissian. If Sir Cardrissian wins the game, each player must hang their head in shame that they were unable to be funnier than the chaos of the universe that is chance. And yes, Rando Cardrissian has probably won more games than any other player in the world! So, good luck beating him. You’re going to need it.

GOD IS DEAD

In this version, play without a Card Czar. In each round, each player picks which card they think is funniest, and they are put to a communal vote. The card with the most number of votes wins the Awesome Point.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

In true Darwin style, players eliminate 1 white card at a time when judging the round. The last card standing is the winner of the round.

SERIOUS BUSINESS

Each round, instead of awarding a single person a single Awesome Point, the Czar ranks their top three favorite responses. #1 earns 3 Awesome points, #2 earns 2 Awesome Points, and #3 earns 1 Awesome Point. Keep a running tally of each player’s score. The player with the highest number of Awesome Points at the end of the game is the winner.

NEVER HAVE I EVER

If a player must shed a white card due to ignorance of its content, they must announce it to the whole group and be shamed for their lack of knowledge. Humiliation is absolutely encouraged!

DRINKING GAME

Want to get the party started with a drinking game? While you can always play Cards Against Humanity with a drink in your hand, turn it into a proper drinking game by adding a couple of simple rules:

Any player who loses a round (doesn’t win the Awesome Point) has to take a sip.
The winner of the round can choose a player to take a sip.
In a Draw 2/3 round, the Card Czar shuffles all the cards and chooses any two cards to make the best answer. Any player whose card didn’t get chosen takes a sip.

END OF CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

Basically, you can play Cards Against Humanity for as long as you want. Since it’s a casual game, just stop when you’re sick of it! If you want to have a more defined end point of this card game, end the game when a player wins a predetermined number of Awesome Points. But at whatever point you stop, the winner is clear: Whoever has the most Awesome Points!

Alternatively, if you play the Happy Ending rule, when you are ready to end the game, play the “Make a Haiku” black card. All players must try to make a haiku with their cards. Pretty dramatic, right?