Fans of the card game sensation Cards Against Humanity can now play the game even without the cards by using a web-based app that brings the game into the digital world.
Designer Dawson Whitfield of Canada thought up the idea of bringing the game's raunchiness online by developing Cards Against Originality, which, as one can clearly see from its name alone, is simply the digital version of the self-described "party game for horrible people." It has the same rules and mechanics, and both have to be played by people inside the same room.
Cards Against Humanity basically starts with a Card Czar, who is assumes the honor by virtue of having pooped last. The Card Czar draws a black card that contains a question or a fill-in-the-blank statement, and the other players draw 10 white cards. The Czar reads the question or statement in the black card and each player plays his funniest card. The person with the funniest card will win one Awesome Point and will become the next Card Czar.
If the Card Czar picks a black card with PICK 2 at the bottom, each player will have to pick two white cards to play, which should be placed in the order the Card Czar should read them. If a player thinks he has more than one white card that he thinks will win the round, he can gamble one of his Awesome Points to play each additional card. If he wins, he keeps the point; if he loses, it goes to the player with the funniest card.
Additional house rules also apply. For instance, when players don't like their hand of 10 cards, they are allowed to return their cards to the deck for another hand in exchange for one of their Awesome Points. They can also get rid of cards they don't understand, although as the game's official rules say, "they must confess their ignorance to the group and suffer the resulting humiliation."
There are plenty of variations of the game, and players can choose to incorporate these into their game. God is Dead is a variation without the Card Czar, where the players vote on the funniest card each time. Rando Cardrissian involves picking a random card for an imaginary player called Rando Cardrissian, and if Rando wins a round, there are no consequences, save for the everlasting shame each player will have to live with for the rest of his life.
To end the game, players should play the Make a Haiku black card as a ceremonial ending to a good game filled with political incorrectness, sexual perversion and literally crappy humor. Each player picks three cards and puts them together in a haiku. They don't have to take the original 5-7-5 form, but each haiku has to be read in the most dramatic manner possible.
Cards Against Originality can be accessed here.
Photo: Brett Jordan | Flickr
