Cards Against Humanity
December 17, 2012 11:27 AM   Subscribe

Cards Against Humanity is a card game for horrible people. Often described as an x-rated version of the more widely available Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity has picked up a following since a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011. For months, the game was out of print (but no worries as you could always roll your own since 2009), but luckily a new printing was made available in time for the holidays. As part of the celebration, the Cards Against Humanity folks also released a bonus holiday pack following the "pay what you want" model. But would admittedly horrible people be willing to pay for something that was free? Let's find out.

(Cards previously on Metafilter, provided you want to argue about hipsters and PBR. HOW WERE WE SO INNOCENT)
posted by robocop is bleeding (104 comments total) 55 users marked this as a favorite
 
I have never loved a card game as much as I love Cards Against Humanity. It provided the first time that I've ever genuinely enjoyed a New Year's Eve party.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:30 AM on December 17, 2012 [5 favorites]


Did they only graduate college because they knew the exact volume of a dose of boar sperm? I hope so.
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:30 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


Not to be a buzzkill, but some of the examples that flash on the screen are pretty racist and misogynist and employ violent sexual imagery...

Perhaps I'm just being too PC or something, and have no sense of humor. As a unicorn chaser, here's what I think is funny.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:31 AM on December 17, 2012


I am confused as to why they donated the full sum of their profits instead of re-investing them in their company to make more card games but I am not about to look Wikipedia's gift horse in the mouth.
posted by griphus at 11:32 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


Also, can someone confirm that this game is just Apples to Apples on easy mode? Wherein in the original, you really had to be quick-witted and funny to make something genuinely and hilariously offensive, this seems to concentrate on just piling it up. I hope someone I know gets it just so I can find out firsthand whether this is just Not For Me.
posted by griphus at 11:34 AM on December 17, 2012 [9 favorites]


Well, you have to be quick-witted to produce something clever, as opposed to just something offensive. Within a few minutes of play you start to realize there's a fine but very definite line between those two things.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:35 AM on December 17, 2012 [14 favorites]


I love CAH, but yes, it can be racist, misogynistic, etc, though a lot of that will depend on who you are playing with and whether their goal is only to be as offensive as possible, or whether it's to create clever answers (which are also probably somewhat offensive).

But no, it is not a game for people with delicate sensibilities.
posted by modernnomad at 11:37 AM on December 17, 2012


mmmm, fresh boar sperm.....
posted by growabrain at 11:40 AM on December 17, 2012


Hmmmm. Some family members sent this to me for the holidays. What does that say about what they think about me?
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:40 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


A 50ft statue to commemorate shapeshifters. Yes.
posted by DU at 11:41 AM on December 17, 2012


Kadin is right - offensive is a given (and keeps things fun), but the people who consistently win aren't just offensive but INSPIRED as if by profane revelation. It's a joy when you play with the right people. (And if you get a chance to play with the creators of the game, who are super nice and cool folks, I highly recommend it.)
posted by naju at 11:41 AM on December 17, 2012 [5 favorites]


They're making horrible people everywhere look bad with this stunt. We have a reputation to maintain, and these selfless acts of generosity make the rest of us have to work harder.

Bah, humbug!
posted by lekvar at 11:42 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


...and whether their goal is only to be as offensive as possible...

Yes, thank you, that schism is the distaste I couldn't articulate. My problem is less with the concept and more with that aspect of the fanbase, and I am wondering how unavoidable it is, really.
posted by griphus at 11:42 AM on December 17, 2012


Wait wait wait. I bought one of the holiday packs. Does this mean I no longer have to feel guilty dismissing the donation popup on Wikipedia? Because hey, I just sent them some money. Indirectly.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:42 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


I like the idea of CAH, but I find two problems in the actual practice of CAH:

1) My everyday conversation with my friends is easily that funny and obscene.

2) I tend to dive on the most absurd answer, which rarely wins me anything.
posted by poe at 11:43 AM on December 17, 2012


Oh, any card game can be offensive. Like the time I reversed "Reverse Racism" back into regular racism in an epic game of 1000 Blank White Cards.
posted by yellowbinder at 11:43 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


The main reason I enjoy CAH more than A2A is because a lazy or "I got nothing" CAH response is still at least marginally entertaining, whereas for A2A it's just chaff. The baseline for entertainment, over an entire game, works out much higher, even before you reach the heights of "profane revelation" (which is a completely perfect description).
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:43 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's easy to be offensive playing a card like "a black dick", but on the other hand, you have the option for things like having the card "_____ is just a step on the slippery slope to _______" and playing "cannibalism is just a step on the slippery slope to showing up at an orgy for the food" (I did not play those cards, but I laughed so hard I could not breathe for a few moments when someone did.)
posted by rmd1023 at 11:43 AM on December 17, 2012 [17 favorites]


I've only ever played this with my daughter and her friends, and their default for humor is appalling. So I think it's hilarious, but not something I would ever play with people I didn't know really well.
posted by Space Kitty at 11:45 AM on December 17, 2012 [2 favorites]


It is offensive. It is also very, very funny. I found it was not about winning, but rather about creating an answer that I though was amusing - if someone else at the table did as well, that was a bonus.
posted by never used baby shoes at 11:46 AM on December 17, 2012


FYI, you can try it in their lab. Warning: Incoherent sounds at the end of each round.
posted by limeonaire at 11:48 AM on December 17, 2012


I found it was not about winning, but rather about creating an answer that I thought was amusing - if someone else at the table did as well, that was a bonus.

That's how I tend to play Apples to Apples, which is why when the clue was "Helen Keller" I really had no choice but to play "touchy-feely."
posted by nickmark at 11:49 AM on December 17, 2012 [9 favorites]


In the game we played last night the winning play was

Black Card (fill in the blanks, use 2 cards): "Lifetime presents ______, the story of _____"
Winning Play: ...Rush Limbaugh... ...a sperm whale...

It's an awesome game.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:50 AM on December 17, 2012


CAH is a great party game if you have the right people for it. It's not a game that I can play a lot because the cards lose their shock value after the first few times but it is great introducing it to new people and reveling in their looks of shock and disbelief.

Absolutely worth the $40 for the base set and both expansions.
posted by Diskeater at 11:50 AM on December 17, 2012


CAH seemed vaguely amusing at first but I got burnt out on it after it was flogged endlessly by the Giant Bomb guys. I like a lot of GB's tighter associations with people (Harmonix, Double Fine, etc) but CAH was just overexposed.
posted by kmz at 11:50 AM on December 17, 2012


CAH is fun but suffers from the same flaw as Apples to Apples: namely, that your sense of humor is irrelevant; only what the judge thinks matters. I can see how it would be great with a regular group of folks, maybe once a month or something, but with a group of random people at someone else's party it can be frustrating when someone doesn't get what you're going for and it just becomes a game of guessing what you think they want to hear (like politics!).
posted by adamdschneider at 11:50 AM on December 17, 2012


Oh, and does anyone think 47 lb card stock will be heavy enough if I want to print my own? It's that or go to kinkos....
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:50 AM on December 17, 2012


CAH is fun but suffers from the same flaw as Apples to Apples: namely, that your sense of humor is irrelevant; only what the judge thinks matters.

If you're playing either of these to win, you've already lost.
posted by Etrigan at 11:53 AM on December 17, 2012 [29 favorites]


I've always looked at the CAH/A2A split along the lines of Henry Hill's "Friday nights are for girlfriends, Saturday nights are for wives" line. Cards is a racier, willing to do more, while Apples is a safe bet. You need to be careful who you introduce Cards to as they might take offense.

I like Cards because it guides responses towards entertainment. Playing Apples with my family over the holidays is a fun way to bond, but my Dad always drives me nuts looking for the most literal answer, slowly pondering out who was more attractive, Helen Keller or Eleanor Roosevelt, demanding we call up pictures of each on our smartphones. The other options on the table were cast off, as they were not people. Choked the game of life.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:54 AM on December 17, 2012 [4 favorites]


poe: You're just not playing it with the right people.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:54 AM on December 17, 2012


...my Dad always drives me nuts looking for the most literal answer, slowly pondering out who was more attractive, Helen Keller or Eleanor Roosevelt, demanding we call up pictures of each on our smartphones.

I would like nothing more than to play A2A with your family one day, robocop.
posted by griphus at 11:55 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


I totally agree that it really depends on the people playing - it can easily end up as whoever has the most outrageous card wins no matter what the question, which is no fun.

That said, this is my favorite card.
posted by troika at 11:56 AM on December 17, 2012 [3 favorites]


I played this a couple of weekends back and enjoyed myself pretty immensely; I'd agree that while there *is* scope to produce terrible sentences, these are judged harshly by a good crowd and it's the really inspired ones that get the glory.

Having checked the let's find out link, I am very, very impressed that they had the guts to take a "pay what you like" gamble on a physical product, and even more impressed that they ran a profit on it.
posted by ominous_paws at 11:57 AM on December 17, 2012


Also, can someone confirm that this game is just Apples to Apples on easy mode? Wherein in the original, you really had to be quick-witted and funny to make something genuinely and hilariously offensive, this seems to concentrate on just piling it up.

It's not, really. Structurally the core games are obviously nearly twins, but the actual feel of gameplay is different.

There's a lot of intentionally offensive content on some of the cards. But by far most of the cards are actually not inherently offensive, and I'd argue that the cards that are most elaborately over the top make for great marketing and first-blush laughter but also have the least utility in the game over the long run. I am considering pulling every card that mentions Glenn Beck out of my set, not because I don't think elaborate hell scenarios for Glenn are worth a chuckle but because they are almost never the cards I want to use.

Set aside the nutso stuff like "masturbating into a pool of children's tears" and you're left with juxtapositional fodder that really only comes alive when people think about what they play and manage to skirt the edges of expectation. In that way it's very like Apples to Apples, except that the failures tend to be a bit funnier and the successes lead to the entire table roaring and me falling off my chair again.

I like Apples to Apples a lot and it's great for a game to play in mixed company. But if everyone is okay with things going blue, Cards Against Humanity manages to hit the nail on the had much more consistently and much more potently. My biggest complaint about it is that the several hundred cards I have aren't quite enough because I've played the damn game so often that I've memorized the contents. It's a killer, killer party game, not because the shocker cards but because people in a group taking turns putting funny/terrible sentences together is an infectious time.
posted by cortex at 11:57 AM on December 17, 2012 [5 favorites]


namely, that your sense of humor is irrelevant; only what the judge thinks matters.

Well sure, but constraints breed creativity. It just isn't hard to come up with hilariously offensive sentences in CAH. What makes the game interesting, and not just crudely funny, is the way you have to suss out your fellow players' senses of humor and use that knowledge to shape your answers. A good player doesn't just come up with something funny, they come up with something funny that will specifically appeal to the player who is judge for the current round, and that means you have to really pay attention to what makes your friends laugh.
posted by Mars Saxman at 11:57 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's Helen Keller, right?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:59 AM on December 17, 2012


If you're playing either of these to win, you've already lost.

Well, this:

my Dad always drives me nuts looking for the most literal answer, slowly pondering out who was more attractive, Helen Keller or Eleanor Roosevelt, demanding we call up pictures of each on our smartphones.

and this:

it can easily end up as whoever has the most outrageous card wins no matter what the question, which is no fun

are really more along the lines of what I was thinking.
posted by adamdschneider at 12:00 PM on December 17, 2012


I love Apples to Apples. I play with my mom and/or my little niece. I actually wish that I had Apples to Apples Junior instead of the regular, because I like how it doesn't have so many topical cards but more timeless nouns.

I also played CAH for the first time last night. It was very fun, and very funny. I would also NEVER play with my mom or my niece.

different games for different occasions.
posted by jb at 12:00 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


"masturbating into a pool of children's tears"

I decided last night that the cum-guzzling pac man is more offensive than this one - it's just tears, after all, and not a pool full of children. And just plain "incest" beats them all, maybe because it's actually real and thus more disturbing. Maybe I'm a wimp, but I couldn't in all conscience play "incest" for anything and I just put it to one side as too serious to play.
posted by jb at 12:04 PM on December 17, 2012


Another thing I will say is that CAH really, really shines on the two-blank cards. The one blank stuff has plenty of potential but there the resemblance to Dirty Apples to Apples is complete; the two-blank cards invite juxtaposition from within your hand in a way that I feel like leads to by far the biggest surprises and laughs of any game I've played.

We traditionally finish the game with a haiku round: no points awarded (but I can't remember the last time anyone counted points in a CAH game I've played in any case), no syllable constraints, just everybody puts together a three-card poem and takes turn reciting. It's wonderful and terrible and just solid fuckin' gold.
posted by cortex at 12:07 PM on December 17, 2012 [7 favorites]


I played this game with two people in Belize last week. There was crying and an inability to read cards because they were so funny. Play the invisible player mode. We were beat by "Elijah" handily.

I mean, the haikus. Oh god, the haikus.
posted by waitangi at 12:08 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


See also : Cheap Ass Games
posted by jeffburdges at 12:10 PM on December 17, 2012


Another thing I will say is that CAH really, really shines on the two-blank cards.


Seconded... dang how did the winner phrase it. Oh yea,

Mr. Clean, right behind you
Cuddling
Doin' it in the Butt
A mating display
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:12 PM on December 17, 2012


We were beat by "Elijah" handily

Sounds kinky. Tell us more.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 12:13 PM on December 17, 2012


Am I missing something about the cost analysis? Looking at the graphs, nearly 20% got a free copy of the game, and most people only paid $3-$4 for the game? And somehow they made $70k in profit but the normal game goes for $25? How does that work if most people paid barely 10% of the full price of the game?
posted by mathowie at 12:19 PM on December 17, 2012


Mathowie, this was only a Christmas expansion pack, not an entire game.. The full game is either pay the whole price for a printed edition, or print your own for free.
posted by modernnomad at 12:22 PM on December 17, 2012


Mathowie, this was for a small holiday-themed expansion pack. Not the full game.
posted by misskaz at 12:22 PM on December 17, 2012


You can get the game in two different ways.

If you buy a boxed set, you pay full price, and the creators get some fixed amount of profit from your purchase, with the rest going into production, retailer fees, etc.

If you opt for the pay-what-you-want model, you get a PDF of the cards and it is up to you to print them, cut them out, find a box to keep them in, etc. Whatever money people choose to pay for this version is very nearly pure profit for the creators.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:23 PM on December 17, 2012


Ignore the above, I failed to read the charts properly.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:25 PM on December 17, 2012


Also, it totally fits in with the CAH mindset that the expansion is mailed in an envelope festooned with "CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY EXPANSION SET," thereby giving away one of my Christmas presents three weeks early.
posted by Etrigan at 12:27 PM on December 17, 2012 [3 favorites]


this is the best game ever. its so fun!!!!
posted by supermedusa at 12:31 PM on December 17, 2012


I received my set as a gift at a MetaFilter meetup. (The Portland MeFites are deliciously disgusting!) I was very happy to play this with my family, but our sense of humor is not... normal.
posted by Specklet at 12:31 PM on December 17, 2012


A conversation that usually comes up in my games is whether the most or fewest points at the end is a win. The answer, of course, is that the person with the most points may have won the game but, by being able to win, they have lost in a more fundamental way.

Also, "you're German! Isn't it illegal for you to play those cards together?" has been used, at least once, to try to invalidate a round.
posted by frimble at 12:35 PM on December 17, 2012


So I think this is great: If you ordered your CAH sets and paid $0,

they addressed the package to "Huge Asshole"

not my package, honest
posted by TheNewWazoo at 12:46 PM on December 17, 2012 [15 favorites]


they addressed the package to "Huge Asshole"

Someone also sent a copy of the pack to the CAH office addressed to Allow international Shipping, Fuckers.
posted by sparkletone at 12:49 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


CAH has had me dubbed the worst human being among one of my groups of friends. I tend to come out near the top in another group.

My all time favorite, which had a friend gasping for breath:
War, what is it good for?
Poorly Timed Holocaust Jokes

I've gotten this combo twice and I hereby resolve to quit using it and pass it on to you.
posted by Hactar at 12:49 PM on December 17, 2012 [3 favorites]


CAH is fun but suffers from the same flaw as Apples to Apples: namely, that your sense of humor is irrelevant; only what the judge thinks matters.

But YOU are the judge 1/Nth (for N players) of the time. So your sense of humor - and your fellow players' ability to gauge is - is what matters that turn.

So sure, if you and all your friends are all solely amused by the most hideous or offensive answer then yes, it's dull. But if I know current judge jb will be turned off by the incest card then I'm not ever going to play it. And really, in my group of transgressive-but-lefty friends, anything that was beyond the pale would just go in the discard pile and be silently ignored.
posted by phearlez at 12:52 PM on December 17, 2012


I was strongly considering giving my brother Cards Against Humanity for Christmas, but (1) I didn't want to imply he was a horrible person because he's great (2) oh, uh, hi Mom.
posted by Metroid Baby at 12:52 PM on December 17, 2012


cortex: I am considering pulling every card that mentions Glenn Beck out of my set

Turns out there's only 3 of them. I've removed them from my deck, plus a handful of others ("The Care Bear Stare", "Classist undertones", etc.) that nobody ever seems to use.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:53 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


I lost it completely the very first time I was the dealer. It took me a few tries to get out:

"I used to like charades until I saw my mother act out ______"

Sure enough, someone played "incest".
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:57 PM on December 17, 2012


For those who are going to print off your own copy: I suggest 100 lb card stock. Get the pdfs on a flash drive and head to an office store for the print. Cost me $11 at staples.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 12:59 PM on December 17, 2012


I've played this with my friends. The first game is really funny just because it's taboo, offensive, and surreal. The later games are a touch more cerebral.

The best combination I've seen is playing with the Rando Cardrissian house rule, where you put in a random white card from the deck. "_________, Good to the Last Drop", where Rando played "Kamikaze pilots".
posted by cyberscythe at 1:02 PM on December 17, 2012 [3 favorites]


No way, The Carebear Stare is gold! That is some genuinely unsettling shit on the periphery of contemporary pop culture memory!
posted by cortex at 1:04 PM on December 17, 2012


OK, I'll trade ya "The Care Bear Stare" for "The Fanta® Girls". But only if I can also remove "Sean Penn" and "Nickelback".
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:12 PM on December 17, 2012


I was given the Print & Play copy as a sort of gift. A friend wasn't too happy with the quality of the printing on her first go-round, so I got that one while she had a second copy printed.

Of course, the copy I got wasn't cut out yet. So I spent $20 on a paper cutter and, what, three or four hours cutting it out?

I mean, if you really really want to play the game and you can't get a copy (each successive printing tends to sell out quicker than the one before, leaving interested buyers a window of a few hours to grab a copy after a new printing has been announced), I guess print and play is an option... but don't underestimate the effort necessary to cut out hundreds of 2" squares.

Now that I have a playable copy of the game, I have another problem: the members of my game group enjoy it much more than I do. For me, the novelty wore off FAST. Seriously - if you were to set out to design a game with TONS of immediate appeal that evaporates the moment the game hits the table for the second time, I don't think you could succeed in creating a better example than Cards Against Humanity. It's like the "Be Sharps" of board games. As a compromise, we bring it out for a quickie at the end of game night as a sort of palate cleanser (albeit one which leaves the most gruesome taste in your mouth).

Despite my oversaturation in the game, I still have a favourite card. It's the white one that simply reads, "Bees?"
posted by blue t-shirt at 1:13 PM on December 17, 2012 [6 favorites]


My circle of friends recently experimented with Charades Against Humanity. It consisted of drawing white cards and ... well, you can guess the rest.

On the whole it's not as much fun as the game itself, but there are still a few gems. Easily the most offensive thing that came out that night was the (very well-done, and very quickly-guessed) "Cheating at the Special Olympics".
posted by ChrisR at 1:14 PM on December 17, 2012 [2 favorites]


OK, I'll trade ya "The Care Bear Stare" for "The Fanta® Girls". But only if I can also remove "Sean Penn" and "Nickelback".

Next PDX game meetup, we're going to figure out how to play Draft CAH.
posted by cortex at 1:15 PM on December 17, 2012 [3 favorites]


OK, this reminds me that I still need to thank my secret quonsar for sending me this -- thanks mefite whose name I don't have with me now!
posted by InfidelZombie at 1:31 PM on December 17, 2012


I'm a bit surprised that Cards Against Humanity is apparently so well liked among MeFites. I understand the appeal, but it's definitely not my thing, and not because I find it offensive. I just prefer humour with more subtlety and wit. But the sales numbers are totally interesting.
posted by smorange at 2:15 PM on December 17, 2012


I just prefer humour with more subtlety and wit.

I think it's important to keep in mind that the machinery that makes the game work is significantly in the shared re-analysis of juxtaposed terms by the group. Looking past the surface gloss of OMG Did That Card Really Say That reactions, the good stuff is all in the finding of ways to put ideas together sideways in a surprising or jarring or gut-busting sort of way. There's plenty of room for wit and subtlety in the resulting gameplay, it just comes from the humans involved rather than the cards; it's playing against constraints, basically.

But, yes, ultimately it's a party game, not an Oscar Wilde play. Different tones for different occasions, and everybody's got their preferences.
posted by cortex at 2:24 PM on December 17, 2012 [6 favorites]


If you go to the CAH company party this year, steer clear of the egg nog, yahearme?
posted by Sunburnt at 2:26 PM on December 17, 2012


After years of playing and loving Apples to Apples, I thought I'd be a lot happier when I got my chance to finally try Cards Against Humanity. While I don't consider myself that easily offended generally, playing this game just wasn't that fun for me. The laughs felt, I dunno, cheap.
posted by The Biggest Dreamer at 2:28 PM on December 17, 2012


Folks who are intrigued by the dynamic of Cards Against Humanity but would rather try something a little more sophisticated/artistic would be well served by checking out the wonderful game Dixit, which I've described as Apples to Apples' art-school sister.
posted by blue t-shirt at 2:28 PM on December 17, 2012 [7 favorites]


This is awesome timing. They finally got more cards in stock on their site this morning, and I placed an order as gifts for family and friends.


Because nothing says "Happy Holidays!" to your family like a gift of "Jerking off into a pool of children's tears" and "Making the penises kiss" cards.

And by awesome timing I mean before the stampede caused by this post :).
posted by formless at 2:28 PM on December 17, 2012


Just placed a copy of CAH in my Shopping Cart at Amazon, but not before noticing that last item on the features list:

* 550 cards (460 White cards and 90 Black cards)
* Over 13 duodecillion possible rounds (10^40) with 6 players
* Professionally printed on premium playing cards
* Includes game rules and alternate rules, shrink-wrapped in a custom box
* 0% of the proceeds will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation
posted by Sunburnt at 2:32 PM on December 17, 2012


In my view, that shows the quite severe weaknesses in a Pay What You Want model in any case where what you're providing isn't a digital good.

When something is just barely this side of free to provide, then you don't really care how much people pay, as long as they pay something. But when it cost you $3 per customer, that suddenly becomes a very risky proposition. They could have very easily lost a LOT of money, or even bankrupted themselves, if people were sufficiently greedy.

With digital files, it's just so insanely cheap to make a copy, even when the file is multiple gigabytes, that price becomes nearly irrelevant. Once the good is made, that cost is sunk. From there on, every copy you sell is money good, even if it's like fifty cents apiece. In the digital world, copies cost you absolutely nothing if someone else is making them, and damn near nothing if you're making them yourself. Since you're trying to sell to people who, by definition, have machines that can make perfect copies of your good for free already, making them a copy is not a high value service. High pricing is, therefore, probably not a good long-term strategy in that market; you want volume, because volume is nearly free. (if volume gets too high for your infrastructure, distribute via bittorrent instead... voila, customers are paying to make their own copies, after paying you for access to the server.)

But that logic really, really doesn't translate well to the real world, with real marginal costs of production. When things don't cost you zero, Name Your Own Price is rather scary.
posted by Malor at 2:48 PM on December 17, 2012


Just placed a copy of CAH in my Shopping Cart at Amazon...
posted by Sunburnt at 5:32 PM on December 17


Me, too! The core game, and the two expansion sets. Looking forward to getting it this week!
posted by magstheaxe at 2:49 PM on December 17, 2012


I recently had a family vacation that largely consisted of playing A2A during the day and CAH at night when the older folks had gone to bed. It was awesome. I am still extremely proud of a combination I played that was something like "What does Dick Cheney prefer?" and "friendly fire."
posted by naoko at 3:08 PM on December 17, 2012


Depending on how many Amazon points I have at the end of the month, I may very well get this game after having read this thread. Which, considering I came in here an inch short of "this is dumb," is a testament to you people.

So what I mean to say is fuck all y'all for succesfully redirecting my Mortal Kombat funds.
posted by griphus at 3:12 PM on December 17, 2012


I lost it completely the very first time I was the dealer. It took me a few tries to get out: "I used to like charades until I saw my mother act out ______" Sure enough, someone played "incest".

That was the LOSER in in the CAH game I played the other night; "Double Penetration" was the one that won the round and cleared the room.

I've already weeded out the Glenn Beck cards and a few others from my Master Set; that's where the first & secound expansions are helpful. You can replace cards that relied on current events for their humor to work, plus ones that people just don't understand (if I have to explain what "Object Permanence" is one more damn time . . .). The criticism that it gets old fast is valid, and we generaly only bust this game out at larger parties (where there are more new players, because half the fun of this game is the reactions people have in their first time playing it) or use it as an ice breaker for 10-15 minutes at Game Night while we wait for stragglers to show up, etc.

Seriously, the most fun I've ever had playing a parlour game.
posted by KingEdRa at 3:30 PM on December 17, 2012


I played a few rounds in the lab, but I think my sense of humor is more absurdist than shocking, so the "micropig wearing a tiny raincoat and booties" card was the only one that consistently made me laugh.
posted by Squeak Attack at 4:00 PM on December 17, 2012


I feel strangely virtuous for having shelled out an above-the-median amount for the holiday expansion pack ($6).

Said virtue is probably canceled out by the game contents, huh?
posted by Superplin at 4:02 PM on December 17, 2012


Jacquilynne brought along a copy to a Toronto meetup last summer; I think it fair to say the consensus among attendees is that the villages of our children will sing her name.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:52 PM on December 17, 2012


If you've played CAH, you've probably asked yourself: swooping? Well, now there's an answer. Sort of.
posted by Sibrax at 4:53 PM on December 17, 2012


I am sad that it doesn't mean this.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:29 PM on December 17, 2012


each successive printing tends to sell out quicker than the one before, leaving interested buyers a window of a few hours to grab a copy after a new printing has been announced

For this reason, if you're interested in buying the game I definitely recommend you get on their mailing list.

When something is just barely this side of free to provide, then you don't really care how much people pay, as long as they pay something. But when it cost you $3 per customer, that suddenly becomes a very risky proposition. They could have very easily lost a LOT of money, or even bankrupted themselves, if people were sufficiently greedy.

On the flip side, I feel like (based solely on feelings, no actual research) people are more willing to pay something for a physical product. With a digital one, there's a certain "it doesn't cost them anything!" attitude that sometimes comes through.
posted by inigo2 at 5:56 PM on December 17, 2012


I haven't played CAH yet, but I think it sounds hilarious, so I've been trying to plan a small party next week to have some friends over to play. I went to buy it from Amazon, but they were out of stock. Fearing they wouldn't get more in time, I downloaded the PDF and went to the FedEx Office store to print it out and spent a while cutting the cards up.

So, OF COURSE, Amazon got restocked today. D'oh. I ordered a set - the cards will be larger and nicer, and then if I get the expansions later they'll match.
posted by dnash at 6:01 PM on December 17, 2012


blue t-shirt writes "I mean, if you really really want to play the game and you can't get a copy (each successive printing tends to sell out quicker than the one before, leaving interested buyers a window of a few hours to grab a copy after a new printing has been announced), I guess print and play is an option... but don't underestimate the effort necessary to cut out hundreds of 2" squares."

The advantages of the print it yourself model (besides immediacy and availability) are you can easily replace damaged cards (one of my gaming groups makes use of copious amounts of alcohol) and you can insert custom cards seamlessly (especially useful in Canada to get rid of Americans and insert roughly equivalent Canadians).
posted by Mitheral at 6:05 PM on December 17, 2012


Mitheral: (especially useful in Canada to get rid of Americans and insert roughly equivalent Canadians)

Dude, there's a Canadian version of Glenn Beck?

I have lost all faith in the goodness of Canada as a whole. Only an *immediate* shipment of Tim Hortons can try to restore it.



I'm waiting....
posted by hanov3r at 6:55 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


I played it for the first time this weekend. We had to keep a box of Kleenex close by for the constant laughing to tears.

(My personal favorite set that came up: "[Dead parents] are a slippery slope that leads to [BATMAN!]")
posted by Lucinda at 6:55 PM on December 17, 2012 [2 favorites]


I'm not sure what a Glenn Beck is actually but we don't lack for blowhards. I mean they are _polite_ blowhards but still.
posted by Mitheral at 7:02 PM on December 17, 2012


one of my favorites, and appropriate this time of year, was the one that goes something like "what does Santa bring to all the bad children?" and a friend played "heteronormativity."
posted by ifjuly at 7:07 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


Dude, there's a Canadian version of Glenn Beck?

I give you Don Cherry whose name is on one of the cards in the CAH Canadian expansion pack.
posted by never used baby shoes at 7:08 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


I played this for the first time with my 20 year-old son, his girlfriend, and a pile of their equally young friends. They had neglected to warn one of the young ladies that I am...a bit of a bawdy broad.

The shocked gasp of "OH MY GOD! MIZ B, YOU'RE POSITIVELY FILTHY!" was easily the best compliment I had received all month.
posted by MissySedai at 8:09 PM on December 17, 2012 [3 favorites]


Well I'm a little drunk, but I fuckin' love these guys, man!
posted by Mister_A at 8:47 PM on December 17, 2012


Malor - they knew the max they'd be on the hook for, and figured it was worth a shot. I don't think these guys (non-gendered sense) bet more than they could afford to lose.
posted by Mister_A at 8:51 PM on December 17, 2012


I'm on my phone so this may have been linked already, but if you want to try the full game out for free you can play it online here. Of course, a large part of the fun is playing with friends in person (and many of the randoms online are dunderheads who go with poop jokes against THE VERY FINEST OF JUXTAPOSITIONS), but it shows off the possibilities of the game well.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:59 PM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]


So, OF COURSE, Amazon got restocked today.

They're already sold out, and resellers are reselling them for more than twice list price. Le bummer--guess it's the copy shop, then!
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:02 PM on December 17, 2012


Hey, I played this the other day as part of my Apocalypse-themed birthday party. My wonderful friend who loaned it to me even let me open her holiday expansion pack. It's good fun, though I'd probably want to switch between it and Apples to Apples to prevent staleness. The last wedding I went to actually ended with everyone who wasn't unconscious (including bride and groom) leaving the reception hall at closing time to play CAH for a couple of hours. It's very interesting seeing the difference in plays between a mostly-Canadian room and a mostly-American room, and what people play for me in each room, knowing I'm both. I enjoy the Canadian expansion pack.

My favourite rule you can add, besides the haiku one, is "Rando Cardrissian" - a random card or cards are drawn, and if Rando wins, you are all shamed. Rando won quite a bit the other night. I also enjoy the rule that you can discard any card you don't understand, but you have to admit to that and be explained to and also shamed.

I think my favourite combination was a two-card play: "Lifetime presents: [Assless Chaps]: the story of [kids with ass cancer]." I'm sorry.
posted by ilana at 1:11 AM on December 18, 2012 [9 favorites]


Damn I knew I should have picked this up when they restocked a couple of weeks back. Nice of the resellers to more than double the price though, thanks a lot pals.
posted by Talanvor at 5:47 AM on December 18, 2012


ricochet biscuit: You realize this means we have to have a CAH meetup before I move to Vancouver, right?
posted by Canageek at 8:23 AM on December 18, 2012


I wish it wasn't in .pdf; I'd like to print on labels to stick to the correct color of paper and I can't find labels the size of the .pdf cards.
posted by theora55 at 4:41 PM on December 20, 2012


There are a lot of cards but there aren't all that many words per card. If it was me I'd set up a template in the word processor of my choice for what ever size label I wanted to use and then just retype the whole game.
posted by Mitheral at 2:23 PM on December 22, 2012


When I saw this get posted back on the 17th I immediately checked my email and sure enough there was a note that the wait was over! Ordered two copies, gave one to my brother who was headed to a cabin for a week with family (who are not normal, in a good way) and kept one for us. Finally played Saturday night with another couple.

Oh my. My cheeks hurt for most of Sunday. I laughed. I cried. I wept. And drank quite a bit.

And that's even with Rando Cardissian coming out the winner.
posted by Big_B at 11:04 AM on December 24, 2012


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