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''Cards Against Humanity'' is an adult card-based
party game Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.Frankel, Lillia ...
in which players complete fill-in-the-blank statements, using words or phrases typically deemed offensive, risqué, or
politically incorrect "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...
, printed on
playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a Pap ...
. It has been compared to the card game ''
Apples to Apples ''Apples to Apples'' is a card-based party game originally published by Out of the Box Publishing Inc., and now by Mattel. Players start with a hand of seven "red apple" cards, which feature nouns. A player is selected to be the first judge, an ...
'' (1999). The game originated with a
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign in 2011. The game's title refers to the phrase "
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
", reflecting its politically incorrect content.


Development

''Cards Against Humanity'' was created by a group of eight Highland Park High School alumni. Heavily influenced by the popular ''
Apples to Apples ''Apples to Apples'' is a card-based party game originally published by Out of the Box Publishing Inc., and now by Mattel. Players start with a hand of seven "red apple" cards, which feature nouns. A player is selected to be the first judge, an ...
'' card game, it was initially named ''Cardenfreude'' (a pun on ''
Schadenfreude Schadenfreude (; ; "harm-joy") is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, suffering, or humiliation of another. It is a loanword from German. 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. Co-creator Ben Hantoot cited experiences with various games such as '' Magic: The Gathering'', '' Balderdash'', and
Charades Charades (, ). is a parlor game, parlor or party game, party word game, word guessing game. Originally, the game was a dramatic form of literary charades: a single person would act out each syllable of a word or phrase in order, followed by the wh ...
as inspiration, also noting that '' Mad Libs'' was "the most direct influence" for the game. The game was financed with a
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
crowdfunding campaign and influenced by a previous crowd-funded campaign for a book on the design of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. The campaign started on December 1, 2010; it met its goal of US$4,000 () in two weeks. The campaign ended on January 30, 2011, and raised over $15,000 (), just over 400% of its original goal. With this additional money raised towards the game, the creators added fifty more cards to the game itself.


Gameplay

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 primitive form of
randomization Randomization is a statistical process in which a random mechanism is employed to select a sample from a population or assign subjects to different groups.Oxford English Dictionary "randomization" The process is crucial in ensuring the random alloc ...
) 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 ten white cards. The
part of speech In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech ( abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are ...
of a white card is a
noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...
or
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ger) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, it is one that functions as a noun. The name is derived from Late Latin ''gerundium,'' meaning "which is ...
, 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 objective being simply to have fun. However, a popular way to win for most players is whoever has the most black cards or points at the end of the game (black cards are obtained by whoever is funniest at the end of a round). Another way to end off the session of Cards Against Humanity is to end off with the Haiku card since it can help get rid of all of your "bad" white cards. The rules in ''Cards Against Humanity'' are flexible and can be altered with the many
house rule House rules are unofficial modifications to official game rules adopted by individual groups of players. House rules may include the removal or alteration of existing rules, or the addition of new rules. Such modifications are common in board ...
s (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.


Release and sales

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 Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
. Since its release, it has gradually become more popular and has seen a rise of sales throughout the years. The ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' 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. 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. In November 2011, the expansion was released. It sold out in three days. The first expansion contained 100 new cards and 12 blank cards. 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. 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 Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...
, sold at $6 each. Over 30,000 boxes were sold. 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". 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. For 2016, the creators began to live stream the excavation of a "Holiday Hole", located in
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, 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 A frequently asked questions (FAQ) list is often used in articles, websites, email lists, and online forums where common questions tend to recur, for example through posts or queries by new users related to common knowledge gaps. The purpose of a ...
by asking the reader, "why aren't YOU giving all this money to charity? It's your money." $100,573 was collected. Later in the week, the hole was filled back in and reseeded. Prior to Black Friday in 2017, a brand of
potato chip Potato chips (North American English and Australian English; often just chip) or crisp (British English and Hiberno-English) are thin slices of potato (or a thin deposit of potato paste) that has been deep frying, deep fried, baking, baked, ...
s known as "Original Prongles" (a parody of
Pringles Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based chips invented by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips". It is technically considered an Extruded food, extruded snack because of the manufac ...
) 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 A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...
, 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 Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, 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™!" In 2018, the creators held a "99 Percent Off Sale", selling random items (such as a used 2015
Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the ...
, 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." In 2019, the creators held a "Black Friday A.I. Challenge", pitting the company's writers against a machine learning algorithm, producing two themed card packs: the Human Pack and the A.I. Pack. If the Human Pack sold more, the writers would get a $5,000 bonus and if the A.I. won, the writers would be fired. The Human Pack ultimately sold over $1,000 more than the A.I. Pack. For 2020, in lieu of doing a prank, ''Cards Against Humanity'' donated the $250,000 set aside for a Black Friday promotion to five charities: the
Equal Justice Initiative The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a non-profit organization, based in Montgomery, Alabama, that provides legal representation to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective representation, and ot ...
, the New Georgia Project, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Brave Space Alliance, and the Laughing At My Nightmare COVID-19 Relief Fund. In 2021, the creators held a "''Cards Against Humanity'' Pays You $5 Sale", in which the creators would pay $5 and up to site visitors for doing various tasks, ranging from asking Hellmann's to bring back "Clam-O-Naise", to donating teeth, to helping the creators figure out what program they saw Patrick Fischler in ('' Nash Bridges''). Some tasks, like getting the
COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...
that day, would reward $100, while other tasks, like guessing how many jelly beans have been put inside a 1993 Cadillac Allanté, would reward $10,000 to one person. In 2022, ''Cards Against Humanity'' launched a new storage box, known as "Bōks", by kicking off a 200% off sale at 3:00 P.M. EST on Black Friday. To receive a discount code, a user would have to solve multiple increasingly complex CAPTCHAs, including identifying tanks (military tanks, fish tanks, ''
Shark Tank ''Shark Tank'' is an American business Reality television#Investments, reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on American Broadcasting Company, ABC.Hibberd, James (May 10, 2012)Dancing,' 'Bachelor,' and a bigger 'Shark Tank ...
'', tank tops, etc.), identifying "assholes" (including actual animal anuses as well as public figures like
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
), and answering who rightfully won the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. With each individual code given out, the discount would decrease by .01%. Other items, including an "Ultimate Expansion" version of Bōks filled with almost 2,000 cards and a miniature version of the base game, were released. In 2023, the company launched Yowza!, a parody of Twitter/X advertising itself as a social network with "no hate, lies, or crypto enthusiasts." No matter what the user types or attempts to upload, the only thing that comes out is the word "yowza". The site rewarded the first 10,000 people to refer another user $4.20. The 2,500 users with the most referrals by the end of Black Friday won a free copy of the board game ''Head Trip'', while the top 420 would win $69, and the user with the most referrals, @spark, won $69,420. The site offers Yowza Black, a paid service that allows a user to post "awooga", and a store to buy followers, likes, ringtones, the ability to say "shazam", and more. In 2024, the creators sold "Diamond Potato", a potato decorated with real VVS-clarity lab-grown diamonds valued at over $1,000, for $69.99. Thousands of diamond potatoes were offered, selling out in less than 30 minutes.


Expansions and additional products

The base set of ''Cards Against Humanity'' came initially with 550 cards, though this has increased to 600 as of version 2.0's release in 2017. Six 100-card expansions were made over the years, before being repackaged into two 300-card expansions, known as the "Red Box" and "Blue Box", in 2016. More 300-card boxes have been released since then, such as the "Green Box", "Absurd Box", and "Everything Box". Various themed card packs, usually with around 30 cards, have also been released, with some as limited time releases. Various international versions have released, as well. A storage box, known as "The Bigger, Blacker Box", was released in 2013. As more cards came in, the company released an even larger box in 2016, along with a 69-inch () box, entitled "Please do not buy this product.", that was hidden on the store page. The original storage box contained a special card hidden inside the packaging, entitled "The biggest, blackest dick.", with silver letters. The expanded release contained more hidden cards, along with unique algorithmically generated cards. Both products were discontinued by 2021, with "Bōks" replacing them in 2022. On July 28, 2015, ''Cards Against Humanity'' announced a design-themed
expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...
, featuring 30 cards that were created by famous designers riffing on comedian
George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercultur ...
's "
seven dirty words The seven dirty words are seven English language profanity words that American comedian George Carlin first listed in his 1972 "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" monologue. The words, in the order Carlin listed them, are: " shit", " ...
". All proceeds were donated to the Chicago Design Museum. In July 2017, a special edition of the base game, ''Cards Against Humanity For Her'', was unveiled, in support of
EMILY's List EMILYs List is a left-leaning American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "E ...
—a PAC that aims to help elect female
pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...
Democratic candidates to office. As a satire of the " pink tax", it is exactly the same as the normal base set, except it has a pink-colored box and is US$5 more expensive. In 2020, ''Cards Against Humanity'' announced a new version of the game for families: ''Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition''. Initially released as a free printable version in April 2020, the game eventually released as a 600 card base set later in the year. The game was developed in consultation with child development experts and psychologists, and was intended for ages 8 and up. Expansions have been released for the ''Family Edition'', including a 300 card "Glow in the Dark Box" and a 30 card "Written By Kids Pack". In 2022, ''Cards Against Humanity'' announced the release of "Clam-O-Naise", a clam-flavored mayonnaise sold only at Target, referencing one of the campaigns from their 2021 Black Friday prank. A 30-card "Clam Pack" was packaged inside the mayo, along with a code to redeem unique prizes, including Clam-O-Naise merch, vacations, and a Toyota Clamry.


Political involvement and the Nuisance Committee

In August 2016, ''Cards Against Humanity'' released two "America Votes" packs for the two presidential candidates: ''Vote for Hillary Pack'' and ''Vote for
Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
Pack''. Each pack contains 15 cards of jokes about the candidate. Designer Max Temkin said that the proceeds for both packs would go to the Clinton campaign regardless. The group began posting billboards under a
political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
(PAC) called the Nuisance Committee. Temkin named the PAC in honor of his grandfather, a Jewish
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
who formed a "nuisance committee" to try to annoy their Nazi captors without getting killed. In September, the group advertised on a billboard in Chicago with the words: "If Trump is so rich, how come he didn't buy this billboard?" In October 2016, the Nuisance Committee posted a billboard in
Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...
which was printed in Arabic text on a black background, reading "Donald Trump can't read this, but he is scared of it". An ''
Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...
''-themed anti-Trump billboard was also posted in
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. In the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections, the Nuisance Committee posted billboards against incumbent Illinois representative
Peter Roskam Peter James Roskam (born September 13, 1961) is an American politician and lobbyist who is the former United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for , serving six terms from 2007 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party ...
. The company also released a ''Midterm Pack'' in support of Run for Something; the pack cost $5, but could be received for free if the customer provided the address of a registered voter in one of six swing districts (who would also receive a copy of the pack for free). In mid-November 2017, the creators announced a campaign, ''Cards Against Humanity Saves America'', in protest of the Trump administration and Donald Trump's proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall, arguing: " rump isa preposterous
golem A golem ( ; ) is an animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century ...
who is afraid of anything. He is so afraid that he wants to build a $20 billion wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing." It was revealed that the creators had purchased vacant land along the wall and "retained a law firm specializing in
eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...
to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built". It was also announced that those who made a $15 donation for the campaign would receive six "surprises" throughout December, including additional cards and a map of the aforementioned land plot. One of the surprises was the redistribution of the money paid, including 10,000 refunds, and issuing $1,000 checks to 100 donors they determined to be the most in need. In August 2022, it was announced that revenue from all purchases of the game and its expansions by residents of U.S. states that have or are "likely" to restrict
abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...
would be donated to the National Network of Abortion Funds. In September 2024, ''Cards Against Humanity'' announced a lawsuit against
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...
, alleging that the company had left equipment and materials on the plot of land ''Cards Against Humanity'' purchased in 2017 along the U.S.-Mexico border. ''Cards Against Humanity'' alleged that SpaceX never asked for permission to use the site, and is seeking $15 million in damages for the alleged unlawful use of the land. If the lawsuit succeeds, ''Cards Against Humanity'' has pledged to give back all of the net proceeds to each of their 150,000 original subscribers.


Reception

The game was praised as "Simple, yet well-executed" by the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' "Puzzler", "pretty amazing" by ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'', and "the game your party deserves" by
Thrillist ''Thrillist'' is an online media website covering travel. ''Thrillist'' was founded in 2004 by Ben Lerer and Adam Rich. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands ''The Dodo'', NowThis News, and Seeker to form the digital media ...
. However, in December 2015, the game received a rating of 6.48/10 in reviews on ''
BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition t ...
.'' The score earned it a ranking of 146 in party games. Reviews note the similarity between ''Cards Against Humanity'' and the 1999 family card game ''
Apples to Apples ''Apples to Apples'' is a card-based party game originally published by Out of the Box Publishing Inc., and now by Mattel. Players start with a hand of seven "red apple" cards, which feature nouns. A player is selected to be the first judge, an ...
''. ''The A.V. Club'' interview calls the game "a sort of ''Apples to Apples'' for the crass and jaded." 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. In a letter of complaint to ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...
'', writer Dan Brooks argued: Brooks' editorial received attention from media sources such as ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' and PJ Media.


Criticism

In 2014, a 19-year-old transgender man from Boston posted a photo of a burning game card, featuring the text "Passable transvestites." After the post quickly spread, game creator Max Temkin apologized: "I regret writing this card, it was a mean cheap joke. We took it out a while ago." 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 cards mentioning white people were racially charged compared to 60 percent of cards mentioning black or Hispanic people, 80 percent of cards mentioning Asian people, and 100 percent of cards mentioning Native American people. Cards were coded as "racially charged" if they spoke to a historical or contemporary oppressive event or stereotype; some examples of actual cards from the deck included: "The
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...
;" "The hard working Mexican;" and "Helplessly giggling at the mention of Hutus and Tutsis." The game has also been criticized for its use of
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...
,
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, and
child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...
for humor. Cards such as "
Child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...
," "This year's
mass shooting A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...
," and "Holding down a child and farting all over him" remain in the original deck of the game. 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. In 2020, designer and co-founder Max Temkin left the company after accusations surfaced on social media accusing him of creating a sexist and racist work culture at ''Cards Against Humanity''. Other co-founders confirmed that this behavior had been present, and complained about for several years, and resulted in the reduction of Temkin's managerial duties over time. In an apology, the company stated:


See also

* ''
Apples to Apples ''Apples to Apples'' is a card-based party game originally published by Out of the Box Publishing Inc., and now by Mattel. Players start with a hand of seven "red apple" cards, which feature nouns. A player is selected to be the first judge, an ...
'' – similar game that influenced ''Cards Against Humanity'' and other card comparison titles * '' Dixit'' * Hawaii 2 – an island in
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
bought by ''Cards Against Humanity LLC'' in 2014 * '' Joking Hazard'' * * '' What Do You Meme?''


Notes


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{Official website
Cards Against Humanity
episode of TableTop with
Aisha Tyler Aisha Tyler (born September 18, 1970) is an American actress and talk show host. She is known for playing Andrea Marino in the first season of ''Ghost Whisperer'', Dr. Tara Lewis in ''Criminal Minds'' since 2015, Mother Nature in the final two ...
, Laina Morris, Ali Spagnola and
Wil Wheaton Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', Gordie Lachance in the film ''Stand by Me (film), Stand by Me'', ...
Card games introduced in 2011 Creative Commons-licensed games Dedicated deck card games Kickstarter-funded tabletop games Party games Political correctness