11 Games Like Cards Against Humanity

The original card game that inspired CAH and the whole trend, Apple to Apples is a classic favorite that’s appropriate for all ages. Whoever’s turn it is to “judge” draws a green card, which has an adjective. Fellow players with red cards that have nouns on them decide which red card will appeal most to that judge — humor usually does the trick — and submit. The judge reviews the anonymous submissions and picks one, earning whoever played it one point. Whoever collects seven green cards first wins the game. It’s identical in structure to CAH, but much more kid-friendly. Four to 10 players, ages 12 and up.

Based on the popular site bearing the same name, Urban Dictionary’s card game is very similar in format to CAH but with some tweaks. The prompt cards can involve questions or images, and judges can pull “act” or “draw” cards that trigger special rounds where the judge has to act out or scribble whatever they drew. It’s like someone threw Urban Dictionary, CAH, Pictionary and Charades into a blender and hit puree. And who knows, you might learn a new definition or two along the way. Three to eight players, ages 18 and up.

If someone made a card game modeled after the science portion of the ACT and somehow made it actually fun, it would be Charty Party. The judge flips over a card displaying a chart and caption, and participants choose their funniest card to describe it. For example, if a judge’s card has a chart with an upward slope over an increasing number of “people in an elevator,” a player may submit the “effort required to smile.” Perhaps it’s a little on the nose in 2020 to play a game focused around charts, but if you’re the type of person who loves The Big Bang Theory then you’ll appreciate this game. For recommended ages 17 and up, though no specified number of players.

This game created by BuzzFeed combines the “dare” element of “truth or dare” with social media in a card format. A “where” card is played to indicate a designated social media platform, and then “what” cards indicate something embarrassing a person has to do on it. For example, a combination may require a player to upload a video to Instagram making an armpit fart with a completely serious face. It’s a little bolder than similar games given its real-world actions, but who doesn’t love seeing a friend make an ass of themselves? Unlike the other games of this nature, this one requires a smartphone and social media accounts to play. Recommend ages 17 and up, and it requires at least four people to play.

Created by Matthew Inman, the illustrator behind the hilarious site The Oatmeal, this game is like Russian Roulette in card form. Rather than having a judge, everyone takes turns drawing and placing cards until an exploding kitten card is drawn. Whoever draws it is out, unless they have a card that can defuse the kitten or another action card that will get them out of harm’s way. The characters are colorful and the action cards are creatively absurd. And with Inman behind the illustrations, it’s guaranteed to be unexpected and hilarious. Two to five players, ages seven and up.

If you came to this list looking to actually up the level of offensiveness in your games, look no further. Joking Hazard is a card game born from a popular comic-generating website where players use cards drawn from a deck to create a comic strip panel-by-panel. The dialogue the characters say in the comics can veer into dark or borderline offensive, but they’re presented in dry, anti-comedy, or absurd formats. It also has cards where you draw your own lines in, for the truly artistic- and comedic-inclined. Recommended ages 17 and up, and at least three players.

This super popular game, brought to you by the company behind Fuck Jerry, is about exactly what its name suggests: players are craft memes in the format of CAH. A rotating judge plays a known memey image and players submit their meme situation that fits the funniest. Its rise to popularity comes at a time when memes on Twitter and Instagram have become many people’s primary form of communication. This game also has a sister game, Do You Know Me?, and a variety of expansion packs available: Fresh Memes Expansion Pack, Basic Bitch Expansion Pack, Game of Thrones Expansion Pack, Stoner Expansion Pack and NSFW Expansion Deck. Ages 17 and up, and at least three people to play.

This game is like if high school superlatives were combined with a comedy roast. Players draw a card with a situation like “wake up with half a burrito in bed” and, after a group discussion, the rotating judge chooses which person would be most likely to do that thing or be in that situation. In the spirit of assassinating everyone’s character, nobody “wins” the game — whoever collects the most cards is deemed the “loser.” It’s sociable and designed to bring people together, but watch out if you have some sensitive people in your group: Not everyone likes to hear the truth. Ages 17 and up, and requires at least three players.

This game is almost identical to CAH, but instead of being blanket statements that are funny, the sentence on the judge’s card that is drawn is specific to that person. So if Rob is judging and draws a card that says, “[Blank] wakes up saying he’ll never mix [blank] and alcohol again,” the group would read it as Rob in the sentence and players would submit their cards to fill in the noun. It’s a small difference, but it makes it easier to cater to inside jokes and ideally call back some memories. Like “Drunk, Stoned or Stupid,” it has the potential to bring people together and share some stories, but be prepared for what may come out! Two to 10 players, ages 18 and up.

This game is similar to “Exploding Kittens” in its artwork and an absurd concept, but it’s equally if not more entertaining than its sister fauna game. It arguably has more complex gameplay as well: The goal is to get seven unicorns into your play area, or “stable,” while also deterring other players and destroying their unicorns in the process. The cards feature all kinds of hilariously specific unicorns, and there are a variety of card pack options. An NSFW version of the standard, innocent base pack exists with more adult unicorns (e.g., “uncut unicorn”), along with multiple expansion packs: Rainbow Apocalypse expansion pack, Dragons expansion pack, and Unicorns of Legend expansion pack. There’s also a similar game under the brand umbrella that’s the same as Unstable Unicorns but plays with llamas instead — Llamas Unleashed. Two to eight players, and 14 and up — unless you go with NSFW, in which case it’s 21 and up.

Based on the popular @WeRateDogs Twitter account with more than 8M followers, which in turn inspired spinoff social media accounts, this game is kid-friendly and designed to bring happiness, much like dogs themselves. The dog cards feature categories like Floof, Sass, Boopability, Zoom, Ears, and Wag. This game is a little more complex to explain compared to the others listed in this article since it involves a die and tokens to keep track of. But once you get the hang of it, who wouldn’t enjoy a game where you get to rate all kinds of puppers and doggos? If the popularity of its Twitter is anything to judge by, this game is designed to make people smile. Three to six players, for ages eight and up.