Card's Against Humanity

The next game I’d like to take a closer look at is Card’s Against Humanity.

While technically not a board game, I feel this game is worth looking over. In recent years, the card game apples to apples has worked its way deep into the hearts of gamers and non-gamers alike. To explain it briefly, are given a hand of 7 proper nouns – from things ranging from Rice to Anne Frank – and told to place a card which most closely matches a particular adjective placed in the middle. One player is chosen as a judge for that round, and – without knowing who placed what card – has to judge which fits the best. This goes on generally until players get bored and want to do something else, without much concern for who won or lost. Generally a decent, non-competitive party game.

 However, in all my experiences, there seems to be a tendency towards…the obscene. People tend to pick things with less emphasis on how well they mesh, but rather with the idea of trying to draw out the most offensive thing possible in the mind of the judge. In apples to apples, Pol Pat would likely be described as “Adorable”, the holocaust as “Hilarious”. Or just lewdness ensues, to the best of the player’s ability within the containments of the game.

What if you took out all of the inconspicuous Nouns which make up the body of Apples and replaced them with some of the weirdest and nastiest things you can imagine? And what if the adjectives were equally obscene? You’d probably end up with something like Card’s against Humanity.

Originally funded on Kickstarter, the game operates within the same framework as Apples to Apples. It manages to avoid the pitfall of simply becoming a dirty version of the same game by implementing more complex and hilariously depraved cards. As opposed to restraining itself to adjectives and nouns, the game includes everything from phrases to actions to specific groups. From “The Jews” to “Pooping back and forth, forever”, the game covers everything. And game even does interesting things with  the “adjective card”, replacing them with two main types of cards – Haikus (which prompt the player to place three cards in respond to try to build continuity)  and Fill in the blanks, which are self-explanatory. Overall, the rest of the game is played the same, and is easy for new players to pick up.

The good thing about this game is that it is a more complex, dirtier version of apples to apples. The bad thing about this game is, cliché as it is to say, the same exact reason. In the end, the game, for all it’s inherent hilarity, is still no greater than the sum of it’s parts. Despite that, it’s still one of the more interesting party games I’ve seen in a long time, and worth trying if you can ever get your hands on it.

You can buy Cards Against Humanity from their website http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/ . Currently the base game is sold out, but if you have the patience and a couple of friends you can (like me) legally print out the game and make it yourself. 

Edit 1: Made some minor corrections pointed out by commentators. Thanks!

I've thought a bit about the idea of creating something similar to cards against humanity, but I never imagined that in implementation it could be so enjoyable, though somewhat repetitive. The horrible things that players come up with are occasionally legitimately hilarious, and by the end players bond through shared depravity. The first time I played it for several hours with a small group of friends it was an instant hit. When I brought my crummy hand-made copy to my universities gaming convention it was surprisingly popular, nearly half the admittedly small  number of attendees playing. Overall, despite it's crudeness, i'd recommend this game to anyone looking for a simple party game which, while not unique, is unique in it's simple depravity.

Let's review: MANSIONS OF MADNESS

Board games are cool.

And I don’t mean monopoly.  While they’ve been around for thousands of years, only in the last 20 or so years have they grown into their own funky subculture. Innovation and unique experiences abound. On this blog, I plan to try to convey to you through words why I think some of them are awesome, and if not at least give you an idea about what it’s like playing some of the more sweet ones. One of the more thrilling games I’ve been playing lately is… MANSIONS OF MADNESS

The game is a thematic mystery game taking place in the world of Arkham Horror, a terrifying 1920’s New England inspired heavily by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The gameplay itself plays out as sort of competitive dungeons and dragons – instead of the Dungeon Master gently shaping the story guiding you to a hard-fought victory, he has other plans. He wants you dead.

The game comes with several scenarios which you put together using the beautiful pieces included, which includes figurines for all sorts of gross monsters, as well as for the neat characters which are, admittedly, taken directly from Mansions’ spiritual complicated monster of a successor, Arkham Horror.

And holy shit there a lot of pieces. With over 200 tokens and even more cards, it’s easy for even an experienced board gamer to feel overwhelmed the first few times of going through the prolonged setup, which at times took my admittedly rocky understanding of the rules more than 30 minutes. This isn’t a game for those who hope for a quick game that has no chance of dragging on for over three hours.

But if you can get past the fact that this is not by any means a casual board game, it has the ability to create intense situations which require deep teamwork to overcome. At its best, both sides are neck to neck, one side chasing clues while the other throws zombies and worse horrors at them. As I learned playing the Keeper (AKA DM) role in the game, there are few things more beautiful than the muted resentment of your friends as you slowly murder them and drive them insane.

Let me ask one of the players of my most recent game some questions about their own experience:

What did you think of the game?

It was fun I liked to kill zombies I was the strongest person.

Which character did you play as and why did you like them?

I played as Joe Diamond and I liked him because he was rugged and so hard boiled.

What was your favorite part of the game?

I’ll tell you my favorite part of the game.  It had to be when I was shot in the chest because of a made up rule which was complete bullshit.

Despite the complexity of the game, did you find it difficult to understand it the first time you played?

Yes because the person who was supposed to know all the rules didn’t, and was in fact learning alongside us. Further on, the DM continued to struggle with minor rules, which often would have made a difference in the game, giving us or him an advantage.

Any final thoughts on the game? Would you play again?

It was fun. It would be nice to know the rules better. If played properly, it’d be more challenging for the players because they could work together in certain ways in which the keeper can’t. Yes.

Thank you for your time …I suppose.

In the end, despite the complexity of the rules I would recommend Mansions of Madness to any fan of board games or pen and paper roleplaying. With 6 scenarios in-box with some variations in the objective based on what choices you make, there is a moderate amount of playability you can get out of the game. In addition, four expansions have been released so far, each adding new missions for investigators to complete.

For more information, I’d suggest going to board game geek, specifically:  http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/83330/mansions-of-madness.

There you can find places that sell the game and its expansions, and see what others have to say about the game. – In addition, some players have made their own scenarios and modifications which you can download and print out. Overall, Mansions of Madness is one of the most interesting games I’ve ever played.