OBJECTIVE OF HORRIBLE THERAPIST: Build a three-panel “therapy” comic (Question + Answer + Treatment) and score points by having your Treatment chosen as the best or funniest card.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 to 8 players
MATERIALS OF HORRIBLE THERAPIST: 70 Question Cards, 125 Answer Cards, 175 Treatment Cards, instructions
TYPE OF GAME: Card game
AUDIENCE: 17+
OVERVIEW OF HORRIBLE THERAPIST
Horrible Therapist is a super fun party card game where you create dark, ridiculous therapy comics in three small parts. Each round, one player acts as the Therapist and sets up the first two panels by revealing a Question and choosing an Answer. Then, everyone else picks their favorite ending from their hand of cards. Basically, you play it similarly to Cards Against Humanity, but with a fun twist. You’ll really get to know everyone’s twisted humor after this game!
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SETUP FOR HORRIBLE THERAPIST
Separate the decks into Question, Answer, and Treatment cards. Shuffle each deck and place them face down in the center of the table. Then, have each player draw 5 Treatment cards into their hand. Make sure to keep your hand hidden from the other players!
Choose a player to be the first Therapist. You can use any method to choose this first player, including the next birthday, youngest player, or the last player to poop.
HOW TO PLAY HORRIBLE THERAPIST
Want to know how to play Horrible Therapist, the super fun card game made by the same people who created Exploding Kittens? Here are the Horrible Therapist game rules to know.
STARTING THE ROUND
The chosen Therapist for the round starts the game. As the Therapist, you can set your Treatment hand aside as you won’t need it for this round – just like in games like Cards Against Humanity.
Then, play as follows:
- Flip over the top Question card and place it face up on the table. This is panel one.
- Draw 3 Answer cards and look at them, keeping them hidden from the other players.
- Choose 1 Answer card to place face up next to the Question. This is panel two.
- Remove the 2 unused Answer cards from play for the rest of the game (set them back in the box or a separate discard area that won’t be reshuffled in).
SUBMITTING A TREATMENT
Now that the Therapist has laid down the first two panels. It’s time for everyone else to submit their favorite card for the third panel. Each non-Therapist player chooses 1 Treatment card from their hand that they think completes the comic best.
Pass all the Treatment cards to the Therapist face down.
THE REVEAL
The Therapist shuffles all submitted face-down Treatment cards together so that no one knows which card is whose. Anonymity is key for the game to be played fairly!
Once shuffled, the Therapist reveals the Treatment cards one at a time, reading each Treatment out loud and placing it face up as panel three next to the Question and Answer.
PICKING A WINNER
After all Treatments are revealed, the Therapist picks the Treatment they think is funniest or the best fit for the comic.
The player who submitted the chosen Treatment wins the round and earns 1 point.
SCORING
The round winner keeps the winning Treatment card in front of them to show they have 1 point. No need for annoying score-taking on a piece of paper or phone here!
REFILLING HANDS
After each round, all players refill their hand back up to 5 Treatment cards (draw from the Treatment deck as needed).
NEXT THERAPIST
Pass the Therapist role to the next player (usually clockwise) and start a new round.
BLANK SPACES
Some cards you come across might have blank spaces. If you come across one of these, grab a pen and fill it in with whatever you want!
END OF GAME
The game ends as soon as a player reaches 3 points. Congratulations! That player wins Horrible Therapist!
EXPANSIONS
Do you love playing Horrible Therapist? Why not get this version as well?
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FAQ
How Explicit Is the Horrible Therapist Game?
Horrible Therapist is designed for adults and is rated 17+, so you can expect mature, dark, and often crude humor. The “explicitness” depends a lot on the group, since players choose which cards to play. You’ll really get to know everyone’s darkest sense of humor with this game. That’s guaranteed.
Can You Play Horrible Therapist with Two Players?
Not really. Horrible Therapist is built for 3 to 8 players, since the Therapist needs multiple Treatment submissions to choose from each round. With only two players, this game just wouldn’t work.
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