These are the step-by-step rules to how to play Cards Against Humanity. Cards Against Humanity was a little kickstarter project back in 2008 but has since grown into a massive hit and one of the most popular party board games to ever come out.
The game is a very adult card game about matching two cards to ab lib a hilarious phrase better than anyone else. The games uses a rotating submit and judge system making for fun and very personalized conversations. This is the guide to how to play Cards Against Humanity.
FOR MORE: Cards Against Humanity Page | Cards Against Humanity Review | Games Like Cards Against Humanity | Buy Cards Against Humanity on Amazon
HOW TO PLAY CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY – WHAT IS IT?
Cards Against Humanity has not theme or back story, it is just a very R-Rated party board game. There are black cards and there are white. The black cards are crazy sentences with blanks and the white cards are crazy verbs or nouns that fill in those blanks. Players rotate as judges and take turns deciding who did the best job of matching, creating something funny, raunchy, smart or just special. Knowing the audience is part of the battle. This is a game you should play at least once with your family because there is no better memory than hearing your grandmother talk about douching.
HOW TO PLAY CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY – STEP BY STEP
Time Needed: Approximately 30 minutes.
This is a step by step guide for how to play Cards Against Humanity the popular adult submit and judge party board game. Additional notions and special rules can be found below the list. These will be referenced for your convenience.
1. SETUP | Shuffle Black Cards
Kick off learning how to play Cards Against Humanity with the cards. The main cards everyone will try to match with are the black cards. Shuffle them all and put them in a facedown pile in the center.
2. SETUP | Shuffle White Cards
The cards that will be matched with the black cards are the white cards. Deal each player ten of these cards for a starting hand. Shuffle the remainder and put in a facedown pile in a place where players can access them,
3. SETUP | Determine First Player
The graphic game has that rule that the first player is the last player to take a number two, but you decided however you want. This will be the first active player and this is the last setup step in how to play Cards Against Humanity.
4. GAMEPLAY | Active Player Flips Black Card
Whoever the active player is, take the top card from the deck of black cards and flip it over for everyone. Players will have to submit a card they think the active player (judge) will pick as the card that most goes with it.
5. GAMEPLAY | Players Secretly Submit White Cards
Every non-active player chooses one of the white cards in their hand to submit as their choice as the card that goes with the flipped black card. This is in secret so the active player doesn’t know who submitted what.
6. GAMEPLAY | New Hand Option
One option instead of submitting a white card is to discard your entire hand and draw ten new cards. You are not eligible this turn, but you get a whole new hand for future rounds.
7. GAMEPLAY | Active Player Selects Winner
After all players have submitted their white cards, the active player looks at them all and reads out the probably hilarious combos. That player picks the wining white card. The player that submitted that winner gets to keep the black card to denote an earned point.
8. GAMEPLAY | Refill, Rotate and Repeat
After the selection process, everyone who submitted a white card (or cards) draws new white cards until they have a hand size of ten again. The active player moves to the clockwise player and you repeat the flip and choose process over and over again. This continues until someone hits the winning number,
9. WINNING | First to Predetermined Number
Before starting you will pick a number like seven. The first person to get black cards equal to that predetermined number is the winner. Not too many steps because learning how to play Cards Against Humanity is very straight forward.
HOW TO PLAY CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY – KEY INFORMATION
HOUSE RULES
Happy Ending – When you are ready to stop playing, play the “make a haiku” black card to end it. This is the ceremonial ending of a good game of Cards Against Humanity
Rebooting the Universe – At any time, players may turn in an earned black card to exchange any of their white cards for brand new ones.
Packing Heat – For Pick 2s (black cards with two blank spaces) players each draw an additional white card before playing to open up extra options.
Rando Cardrissian – Every round, take one white card from the untouched stack and add it to the submissions. This becomes the imaginary player known as Rando Cardissian. If Rando wins, everyone must go home in shame.
God is Dead – Instead of a players take turns system, the table votes on the best answer each round. The choice with the most votes gets the black card.
Survival of the Fittest – After the submission, players collectively decide to remove the weakest answer. This happens until only one white card remains. This is the winner for the round.
Serious Business – Instead of just picking one winner, the active player instead ranks the top 1 – 3 in order. First place gets 3 points, second place gets 2 points and third place gets 1 point.
Never Have I Ever – At any point players can shed any white cards they do not understand. To do so they must announce this to the group, admitting their shame.
GAME CONTENTS
- Several hundred cards.
- Nothing else.
HOW TO PLAY CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY – IN CLOSING
We hope you can now say you know how to play Cards Against Humanity. The game is a top-notch adult party board game that is a major kickstarter success story for a reason and everything you could want in a game of its type. This 4 – 30 person game is quick and lightweight and will always bring a smile to your face. Be warned that it can get raunchy, but it is so over the top that it is almost therapeutic. This is one of those games that belongs on every board game shelf if you are a party game lover.
