Cards against Humanity
July 26, 2009 7:57 PM   Subscribe

Cards Against Humanity is a misanthropic version of apples to apples.
posted by boo_radley (55 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
Enlighten this non-American, please.

What is wrong with Pabst Blue Ribbon? What on earth is so bad about this beer that makes it the butt of so many internet jokes? How has it deserved a card here along with "Assless Chaps", "Sand In Your Vagina" and "Auschwitz"?
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:03 PM on July 26, 2009


As someone who finds Hiroshima 1945 to be hot and heavy, I'm pretty sure you mean more misanthropic.
posted by allen.spaulding at 8:06 PM on July 26, 2009 [3 favorites]



It's incredibly popular with hipsters Fiasco.
posted by boo_radley at 8:09 PM on July 26, 2009


Enlighten this non-American, please.

What is wrong with Pabst Blue Ribbon?


Take the worst beer your country has.

Add douche.

Serve ironically.
posted by xthlc at 8:11 PM on July 26, 2009 [6 favorites]


... I should add that in fact there are far, far worse USian beers than PBR. It's just that it's the only bad beer widely available in crappy overpriced bars because it was supposedly ironically cool in Brooklyn in 1999 or something.
posted by xthlc at 8:16 PM on July 26, 2009


So it's not actually the beer that's shitty, and the card is there as part of absurdist self hatred humour based on mutually recognised intra-group memes?

I understand this game now.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:20 PM on July 26, 2009 [3 favorites]


You're Australian, right? You can replace it with Foster's if you like. "eh? eh? Foster's? Australian? eh? for bee-ah, right?" and you just sort of rub your temples and sigh a little bit.

Weirdly, someone else complained this game made little sense to his Australian mind.
posted by boo_radley at 8:22 PM on July 26, 2009


Talk about perfect timing- I'm going to a board game party next week. I can't wait to draw the "BILLY MAYS HERE FOR..." card.
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:23 PM on July 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


PBR is really just a name now. Miller took them over and closed down their breweries a while ago. Who knows what they put in the cans labeled Pabst? I'm sure that it doesn't have much in common with the PBR that my dad drank in the 60s and 70s.
posted by octothorpe at 8:24 PM on July 26, 2009


My god, but Apples to Apples is a terrible "game". But I should print this out on the off-chance that any "friends" of mine wish to "play" Apples to Apples with me. Then I can break this one out and make them suffer with me.

Maybe I am in the target audience.
posted by silby at 8:27 PM on July 26, 2009


... I should add that in fact there are far, far worse USian beers than PBR. It's just that it's the only bad beer widely available in crappy overpriced bars because it was supposedly ironically cool in Brooklyn in 1999 or something.

Are you forgetting Budweiser and Miller? PBR is no worse than the other mass-market American beers.

(Although you're right, there are some worse than those examples. But they're regional. see: Rainier. Although, according to wikipedia, that's apparently owned by Pabst now.)
posted by Netzapper at 8:27 PM on July 26, 2009


I almost died laughing when a friend played Hiroshima, 1945 :: Radiant

The royal flush of apples to apples is getting "Helen Keller" when the green card is "Touchy-Feely."
posted by Solon and Thanks at 8:48 PM on July 26, 2009 [23 favorites]


pbr is just watery generic beer that they sell for $1 a can at trendy bars.
posted by empath at 8:57 PM on July 26, 2009


PBR's better than any Miller, Bud, or Coors product I've had. That is, of course, an extremely low bar, but still a relevant one when it comes time to pick out a cheap beer.

That said, I'm not sure exactly why we need a whole version of A2A to get some snark into it. I mean, I once played "The Challenger Explosion" for "Fortunate." And don't even get me started on my college friends' semi-legendary Hellen Keller Lightning Round.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:05 PM on July 26, 2009


Best Apples to Apples play I've ever seen was Snappy::Titanic.
posted by Brainy at 9:06 PM on July 26, 2009


Some of those CAH answers are trying way too hard.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 10:17 PM on July 26, 2009


The royal flush of apples to apples is getting "Helen Keller" when the green card is "Touchy-Feely."

I believe you mean "Helen Keller" and "Visionary."
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 10:32 PM on July 26, 2009 [2 favorites]


My god, but Apples to Apples is a terrible "game".

To each his own, but I love the shit out of the game specifically because it's such a wonderfully blank backdrop for playstyle. And also because I enjoy talking specious shit in defense of the universally bad hands I get dealt.

As a couple folks have suggested already, Apples to Apples is only not misanthropic if you have the misfortune to not play with clever misanthropes.

And if you have ever wanted to watch the human psyche develop in real time, play the game with some bright pre-teens and encourage them to really defend their decisions. You can actually see the wheels turning in their heads. It's awesome.
posted by cortex at 10:33 PM on July 26, 2009 [4 favorites]


"Your Mom" is pretty much the trump card for every round of Apples to Apples; nothing can beat it.
posted by Rangeboy at 10:34 PM on July 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


Apples to Apples is only not misanthropic if you have the misfortune to not play with clever misanthropes.

Our overarching rule for play is that you must remember that you are playing to the judge. If a sick fuck is judging this round, you better go with that.
posted by elfgirl at 10:56 PM on July 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


So to keep these new buyers, Pabst did almost nothing. And we wonder why agency people are paid so much
posted by mattoxic at 11:11 PM on July 26, 2009


whoops- got me tabs in a twist
posted by mattoxic at 11:14 PM on July 26, 2009


I don't know what strange compulsion in me compels me to add to this, but...

PBR is a cheap, crap beer. From....whenever is was they won the blue ribbon? ....until like the 1970s, it was just a normal, cheap, shitty beer, one primarily associated with a blue-collar crowd. If your grandpa wore Old Spice cologne, then he may well have drunk PBR. By the late 1990s, however, PBR had fallen well out of fashion and was probably on its way to extinction. Because it was so passe, nobody'd ever bothered to give it a more modern makeover, and the cans still had the logo and styling of the mid-20th century, giving them a sort of mid-20th century old-fashioned feel, like fake wood-paneled dens and shag carpeting but in beer form. There are many other kinds of crap beer little better or worse than PBR, but Budweiser and Coors and Miller are all modern brands with huge marketing juggernauts behind them, popular with frat boys and high school football teams through all 50 nifty united states. So the ironic hipster crowd and the bars that catered to them began offering PBR, as not all hipsters are trustafarians, and many were in the market for cheap beer but snobbish about Bud et al., such being the preferred tipple of their natural enemies. To the extent that PBR has now become a hipster cliche. At least, it is in New York; don't know how much it's really spread or if it's just New York thinking it's the center of the universe again.
posted by Diablevert at 11:23 PM on July 26, 2009 [4 favorites]


Just a couple weeks ago, my guy and I played Scrabble with another couple (the other gal had never played before; I cleared my rack for the first time ever; we decided to do something else) and then Apples to Apples before we all went on a long road trip together. This was a good bonding experience, really.

With the Apples, we played "backwards day" rules at my husband's insistence, which I don't think is listed in any of the variations included in the box, but I may be mistaken. The end result sounds kind of like the misanthropic rules. The most appalling answer wins. The addition of booze meant that some of us kept forgetting it was backwards, but it was still very fun.

We were supposed to play again tonight, but with kids and plain rules. That turns out kind of funny sometimes, especially when taking the judges point of view. Keeps you on your toes.
posted by lilywing13 at 11:36 PM on July 26, 2009


Solon and Thanks, you totally stole my best Apples to Apples play. (The person who came in second that time had "Michael Jackson". We were both wondering why our card wasn't obviously the winner.)

Anyway, this seems like Apples to Apples for misanthropes who lack subtlety. Meh.
posted by Casuistry at 12:28 AM on July 27, 2009


It won the blue ribbon at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Before it was hipstery, it was merely slightly cheaper than the comparable swill. It's the K-Mart of beers.
posted by fleacircus at 2:16 AM on July 27, 2009 [1 favorite]


At least, it is in New York; don't know how much it's really spread

Those same people are drinking it in California.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:38 AM on July 27, 2009


PBR gives me a headache like no other beer. Sometimes halfway through a can. None for me, thanks.
posted by scrowdid at 2:53 AM on July 27, 2009


But Apples to Apples is great, really. Second only to Blank White Cards.

I think haters must be playing with really boring groups.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 2:58 AM on July 27, 2009 [1 favorite]


I missed the PBR hipster craze. Out here where I live it's just beer that alcoholics drink. I suppose it's probably the hipster cliche mefites speak of in the city.
posted by IvoShandor at 4:12 AM on July 27, 2009


Hipsters drink PBR in Florida, too. But if I ever want a retro styled beer, I just go for Miller High Life. That little lady on the moon is awesome.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 4:42 AM on July 27, 2009


Hipsters definitely drink PBR in Boston, particularly Cambridge.

Personal best Apples to Apples: "Charming" and "Homeless Shelter"
posted by Ryvar at 5:21 AM on July 27, 2009


I have it on good authority that when then-Senator Obama visited a local Raleigh bar on one of his campaign swings during the primary, he ordered and drank a PBR.
posted by EarBucket at 5:34 AM on July 27, 2009


PBR is a cheap, crap beer

It's hard to find Pabst in the bottle, but it's actually better than Pabst in the can. It has a slight caramel/molasses taste undetectable in the canned version. Not sure why this would be.

(Not anywhere close to being a hipster, btw.)
posted by metagnathous at 6:42 AM on July 27, 2009


To extend the PBR aside: Part of the reason hipsters I know drink it is because of that scene in Blue Velvet where Dennis Hopper yells "HEINEKEN? FUCK THAT! PABST BLUE RIBBON!"

In fact, that scene is the only reason I've ever gone out of my way to drink PBR.
posted by dismas at 6:47 AM on July 27, 2009 [2 favorites]


HI I'M ON METAFILTER AND I COULD OVERTHINK A CAN OF BEER.
posted by stresstwig at 6:48 AM on July 27, 2009


"hardworking" and "gang members"
posted by inara at 6:51 AM on July 27, 2009


In my experience, Apples to Apples is a misanthropic version of Apples to Apples.
posted by pemberkins at 6:58 AM on July 27, 2009 [2 favorites]


Best Apples to Apples play I ever saw was on "Pure". The card played was "Berlin, 1942".
posted by kafziel at 8:14 AM on July 27, 2009


I don't get this. They're just making their own Apples to Apples cards, right?
posted by bettafish at 8:55 AM on July 27, 2009


I'd say KB Lager would be the Australian equivalent of PBR, although it's never really taken off with the inner city crowd.
posted by onya at 9:15 AM on July 27, 2009


For some reason, in my demented circle of friends, "wheat" is always the winning card. I think I remember seeing it win the round for matching up with "momentous."

"Wheat! That's a win." Good old momentous wheat.
posted by Skot at 9:28 AM on July 27, 2009 [3 favorites]


Inspired by the two competing comment themes in this thread, I'm going to make and market a game called "Pabst to Pabst." It will be a lot like Apples to Apples--in fact, I'll probably just photocopy all the Green Apple Cards as is and call them Pabst Green Ribbon Cards--but all the Red Apple Cards will be replaced with a new set of cards called Pabst Red Ribbon Cards. Stay with me here: All of the Pabst Red Ribbon Cards will read, "Pabst Blue Ribbon."

It's up to you how you want to play.
posted by etc. at 9:28 AM on July 27, 2009


Personal best I've seen, and I wish I could say that I was the one who played this particular combo, but I was not.

Adjective - "Chunky."
Winning noun - "The Challenger Explosion."

but Apples to Apples is a terrible "game".

I am now shunning you. You have been shunned.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:43 AM on July 27, 2009 [1 favorite]


The Green Card was "Quiet." The winning Red Card? "Anne Frank."
posted by sarahnade at 9:49 AM on July 27, 2009


I think a lot of you are forgetting (or not realizing) that Apples to Apples is a game you can successfully have fun playing, even if you are in a mixed crowd of adults and kids. There's nothing inherently awful about any of the cards, so all would be safe to throw down in front of the younger players, and much of what makes pairings funny is lost on the youngest anyway. But everyone has fun.

(My favorite pairing was something like "Root of all evil::Republicans" even though I knew I wouldn't win that round, given the audience.)

Also one time my friend stuck me with a case of PBR because of an 18-year-old college girl. We're 30-ish at the time, buying beer for a party, the girl looks at my friend and asks what we're getting. He mumbles something, and points in the general direction of the beer case. She sees that he's pointing at the PBR, and gushes "Oooh, PBR! Like, Professional Bull Rider, amirite? *giggle*"

So that's what my friend buys for the party. Shit beer. Because some sloshed teenager winked at him and he wanted to impress her, I got to drink fucking PBR. Woo.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:09 AM on July 27, 2009


They're just making their own Apples to Apples cards, right?

Sorta. The setup on these is more "Finish this sentence" or "Answer this question" instead of "Pick a word that fits." Some of these cards have special rules as well, like "Pick 2" or "Draw 3."
posted by Dr-Baa at 10:10 AM on July 27, 2009


"Rip Torn drop-kicking antisemetic lesbians."

I think that was the second choice for Hemmingway's six-word story.
posted by Dr-Baa at 10:15 AM on July 27, 2009


What is wrong with Pabst Blue Ribbon? What on earth is so bad about this beer that makes it the butt of so many internet jokes?


> It's a hipster cliché.

When I started drinking Pabst it was just cheap and not as foul as Milwaukee's Best but I guess it became cool. I still drink it because where I live we all really are rednecks and nobody cool thinks Pabst is. All the cool kids around here drink Fat Tire, which is a fine beer and I'm not knocking it, but Pabst is still cheaper and I'm a drunk.
posted by nola at 2:04 PM on July 27, 2009


In Washington state, PBR costs half as much as any other domestic macro, contains more alcohol, is not 'lite' in any way, and does not taste like putty. It actually tastes decently beery, all things considered.

I'd rather drink a Henry Weinhard's ($x2) or a microbrew ($x3+), but PBR is cheap, consistent, very widely available, and good enough.

Sometimes I just want beer in a can, and PBR is nearly always that beer.
posted by blasdelf at 4:08 PM on July 27, 2009


Sometimes I just want beer in a can, and PBR is nearly always that beer.

exactly.
posted by nola at 4:11 PM on July 27, 2009


1) Wasn't PBR the beer that was brewed with rice?

2) I think if I had do-overs, I'd say the game was "the internet's own version of apples to apples", rather than the misanthrope's version.
posted by boo_radley at 5:22 PM on July 27, 2009


“What is wrong with Pabst Blue Ribbon? What on earth is so bad about this beer that makes it the butt of so many internet jokes?”
It’s like sex in a canoe.

“It's just that it's the only bad beer widely available in crappy overpriced bars because it was supposedly ironically cool in Brooklyn in 1999 or something.”

I think in part Lynch’s film Blue Velvet, yeah, had a bit to do with it. If only for the l “Heineken!? Fuck that shit. Pabst! Blue Ribbon!” line (to agree with dismas).
And that’s only got to have been exacerbated by “Gran Toreno.”
That and ‘authenticity’ as has been explored elsewhere.
Although Old Style is worse. Far, far worse.
And some beers, from what I’ve heard, use chemicals to artificially age them. Hence the headaches. Formaldehyde and whatnot. Well below toxic levels. But yeah, no thanks. Although I haven’t had alcohol of any kind for a while, so I’m not the best judge here.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:36 PM on July 27, 2009


Here's the New York Times article that is supposed to explain the PBR hipster connection. As a drinker of PBR at the Lutz in the late 90's I can verify the veracity of the story.
posted by dipolemoment at 3:30 PM on July 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


Sorry to derail the PBR discussion, but I printed this out last week and oh boy was it a hit with my friends. Tip: print the question cards on another color to distinguish them. I'm not sure why the website suggests printing black onto the back of them, that's a huge waste of ink.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:36 PM on August 8, 2009


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