Cards Against Humanity first came out in 2011, and it was an instant hit at parties throughout the United States and eventually all around the world. Over the years, the game has spawned dozens of expansions, imitations, online versions, and localized editions.
Part of the fun of Cards Against Humanity is how easy it is to play. Any group of people can pull out the box and start a game at any point during a party. It also allows for a lot of house rules and variations that can make the world's rudest card game safe to play for any audience.
The Basics
Cards Against Humanity needs at least three players to work, but there's no upper limit to the player count aside from how many white cards the game's owner has. To start things off, every player draws 10 white cards, and then one player becomes the Card Czar. The CAH rules suggest that the last person who pooped should be the first Card Czar, but it doesn't really matter who goes first. Choose by age, upcoming birthdays, who can hold their breath the longest, or any other metric.
The job of the Card Czar is to draw a black card and read it out loud to the rest of the players. Each card asks a question or has one or more blanks on it. Every player aside from the Card Czar will choose white cards from their hand to answer that question or fill in the blanks. These answers are placed on the table face down.
Once everyone has submitted a white card, the Card Czar will shuffle the answers and read them out loud to the group. The Card Czar will then choose whichever answer they like the most, and the person who played it gets a point. A good way to keep track is to give the black card to the player who won.
Some cards have "Pick 2" or "Pick 3" in the corner. This means players must choose two or three cards from their hand, and because the order is often important, they should place the first card on the bottom and the extra cards on top. The Card Czar should also be careful when shuffling to not mix everything up.
Once the round ends and someone wins, everyone draws back up to 10 cards and a new Card Czar starts the next round. The job of Card Czar can go clockwise, counterclockwise, or any other direction that works.
Something else players can do is gamble. A player can wager a point to give two answers in a round, and if they win they can keep their point. If they lose, the winner gets their point.
Cards Against Humanity has no end goal. Players can keep going until everyone has been Card Czar a certain number of times, until one player gets a certain number of points or completes certain challenges, or until everyone gets bored and decides to do something else.
House Rules and Variations
Along with the basics, players can add their own house rules to change things up and make the game more exciting or more accessible. The instructions that come with the basic card set include a few suggestions:
- Rando Cardrissian: After everyone chooses their answers, add a random white card from the deck and shuffle it in.
- Never Have I Ever: If a player doesn't understand a card, they can discard it and redraw. However, they must let everyone know that they don't understand when they discard.
- Wheaton's Law: The Card Czar draws two black cards, chooses one, and places the second one at the bottom of the deck.
- Rebooting the Universe: At any time, a player can trade in a point to discard as many white cards as the likey and draw back up to 10.
- Packing Heat: On Draw 2 rounds, everyone can draw an extra card before choosing an answer.
- Meritocracy: Whoever wins a round becomes the next Card Czar.
Cards Against Humanity also has a number of expansion packs that focus on themes like fantasy works, science fiction, geek culture, nostalgia, and so on. These expansions include both white and black cards, so players can add them to the base deck or combine them with each other. They also have a family edition that's a little less rude than normal, so that families with younger kids can play together.
On the other hand, if everyone playing is an adult, there are a few drinking game versions. The basic rule is that anyone who loses a round takes a sip. During a Draw 2 round, the Card Czar shuffles all the cards together and chooses any two cards to make the funniest answer. Everyone whose cards aren't chosen takes a drink. If players want to go slower or use stronger alcohol, then instead the winner of a round can choose one other player to take a drink.