Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation . Categories include (explicit) icebreaker , parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games. Other types include pairing off (partnered) games, and parlour races. Different games will generate different atmospheres so the party game may merely be intended as an icebreakers, or the sole purpose for or structure of the party. As such, party games aim to include players of various skill levels and player-elimination is rare. Party games are intended to be played socially, and are designed to be easy for new players to learn.
59-487: Cards Against Humanity is an adult party game in which players complete fill-in-the-blank statements, using words or phrases typically deemed offensive, risqué, or politically incorrect , printed on playing cards . It has been compared to the card game Apples to Apples (1999). The game originated with a Kickstarter campaign in 2011. The game's title refers to the phrase " crimes against humanity ", reflecting its politically incorrect content. Cards Against Humanity
118-506: A Midterm Pack in support of Run for Something ; the pack cost $ 5, but could be received for free if the customer provided the address of a registered voter in one of six swing districts (who would also receive a copy of the pack for free). In mid-November 2017, the creators announced a campaign, Cards Against Humanity Saves America , in protest of the Trump administration and Donald Trump's proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall , arguing: "[Trump is]
177-523: A $ 15 donation for the campaign would receive six "surprises" throughout December, including additional cards and a map of the aforementioned land plot. One of the surprises was the redistribution of the money paid, including 10,000 refunds, and issuing $ 1,000 checks to 100 donors they determined to be the most in need. In August 2022, it was announced that revenue from all purchases of the game and its expansions by residents of U.S. states that have or are "likely" to restrict abortion rights would be donated to
236-682: A 19-year-old transgender man from Boston posted a photo of a burning game card, featuring the text "Passable transvestites ." After the post quickly spread, game creator Max Temkin apologized: "I regret writing this card, it was a mean cheap joke. We took it out a while ago." A 2016 analysis of the game showed a strong racial bias in the cards. One-fifth of the original card deck included answers involving race. Of those cards, only 11 percent of white cards were racially charged compared to 60 percent of black cards, 60 percent of Hispanic cards, 80 percent of Asian cards, and 100 percent of Native American cards. Cards were coded as "racially charged" if they spoke to
295-578: A child and farting all over him" remain in the original deck of the game. Jokes involving rape were pointed out early in the game's history and were subsequently removed, but " Surprise sex! ," " Copping a feel ," and " Coathanger abortions " remain in the game. In 2020, designer and co-founder Max Temkin left the company after accusations surfaced on social media accusing him of creating a sexist and racist work culture at Cards Against Humanity. Other co-founders confirmed that this behavior had been present, and complained about for several years, and resulted in
354-519: A collection of simple minigames , designed to be intuitive and easy to control, and allow for competition between many players. Some games are played on simulated game boards, like the Itadaki Street series, Mario Party series and Sonic Shuffle . BYTE in 1981 called the Olympic sports game Olympic Decathlon (1980) "the first true party game for microcomputers ". Another early example
413-487: A design-themed expansion pack, featuring 30 cards that were created by famous designers riffing on comedian George Carlin 's " seven dirty words ". All proceeds were donated to the Chicago Design Museum . In July 2017, a special edition of the base game, Cards Against Humanity For Her , was unveiled, in support of EMILY's List —a PAC that aims to help elect female pro-choice Democratic candidates to office. As
472-522: A discount code, a user would have to solve multiple increasingly complex CAPTCHAs , including identifying tanks (military tanks, fish tanks, Shark Tank , tank tops, etc.), identifying "assholes" (including actual animal anuses as well as public figures like Elon Musk ), and answering who rightfully won the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election . With each individual code given out, the discount would decrease by .01%. Other items, including an "Ultimate Expansion" version of Bōks filled with almost 2,000 cards and
531-446: A golf outing for corporate executives does not generally accomplish much in the way of organizational improvement while a business simulation might be directly focused on linking the play of the game to issues for corporate improvement. Holiday groups use a gift exchange party game such as white elephant gift exchange for socializing and sharing gifts. New online party games, based on these holiday games, allow larger groups to gather on
590-412: A historical or contemporary oppressive event or stereotype; some examples of actual cards from the deck included: "The Trail of Tears ;" "The hard working Mexican ;" and "Helplessly giggling at the mention of Hutus and Tutsis ." The game has also been criticized for its use of misogyny , rape , and child abuse for humor. Cards such as " Child abuse ," "This year's mass shooting ," and "Holding down
649-536: A less structured way. Some are modeled on TV reality shows such as The Amazing Race or Survivor . Participants compete as individuals or in teams to complete challenges that move them towards victory in a competition spanning the entire party. The TV shows on which such parties are based are normally competitions involving elimination, so such events require significant planning to avoid exclusion or boredom. There are also now electronic party games such as Cards Against Humanity or Appyshot App that can be played on
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#1732873648513708-402: A letter of complaint to The New York Times Magazine , writer Dan Brooks argued: Like America's most successful brands, Cards Against Humanity positions itself against the masses, when in fact it is mass taste distilled. It is the product of a culture in which transgressing social norms has become an agreed-on social norm ... Cards Against Humanity isn't really transgressive at all. It
767-407: A miniature version of the base game, were released. The base set of Cards Against Humanity came initially with 550 cards, though this has increased to 600 as of version 2.0's release in 2017. Six 100-card expansions were made over the years, before being repackaged into two 300-card expansions, known as the "Red Box" and "Blue Box", in 2016. More 300-card boxes have been released since then, such as
826-411: A preposterous golem who is afraid of anything. He is so afraid that he wants to build a $ 20 billion wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing." It was revealed that the creators had purchased vacant land along the wall and "retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built". It was also announced that those who made
885-532: A rating of 6.48/10 in reviews on BoardGameGeek . The score earned it a ranking of 146 in party games. Reviews note the similarity between Cards Against Humanity and the 1999 family card game Apples to Apples . The A.V. Club interview calls the game "a sort of Apples to Apples for the crass and jaded." Criticism of the game stems from its enjoyment primarily depending on the number of players participating as well as many reviewers' concern that its politically incorrect content may offend certain audiences. In
944-455: A satire of the " pink tax ", it is exactly the same as the normal base set, except it has a pink-colored box and is US$ 5 more expensive. In 2020, Cards Against Humanity announced a new version of the game for families: Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition . Initially released as a free printable version in April 2020, the game eventually released as a 600 card base set later in the year. The game
1003-468: A variety of forms and formats. Some are physical games such as Buck buck . Some are modeled on the TV game show format, offering points for teams who can answer questions the fastest. Trivia-type games might have questions posed from the stage and each tabletop writing their answers to be collected and scored. Others may take on some of the qualities of Open Space environments and allow participants to wander in
1062-591: Is Starpath 's Party Mix . Modern examples include Tower Unite (2016), a virtual community party game played online, and The Jackbox Party Pack series which offers minigames that can be played both online and with people in the same room. Large group games are played by many participants and are often used as planned activities in structured environments, especially as educational activities. They are similar to party games, except that large group games are typically planned for larger numbers (perhaps even hundreds) as part of an event. Large group games can take
1121-454: Is Stephanie Barish, Festival Chair is Celia Pearce , and Festival Director is Sam Roberts. The festival started as part of E3 before being spun off as an independent event in Bellevue, Washington . In 2009, IndieCade moved its flagship stand-alone festival from Bellevue, Washington , to Culver City (Los Angeles), California, where a Twitter game and an "urban" scavenger hunt were part of
1180-488: Is a game of naughty giggling for people who think the phrase "black people" is inherently funny ... The awful thing is that it works. The reliability of Cards Against Humanity as an activity most people will enjoy only makes it more depressing to those of us immune to its charms. It is, in the end, a party game for horrible people. But who else is there to party with? Brooks' editorial received attention from media sources such as The A.V. Club and PJ Media . In 2014,
1239-720: Is so rich, how come he didn't buy this billboard?" In October 2016, the Nuisance Committee posted a billboard in Dearborn, Michigan which was printed in Arabic text on a black background, reading "Donald Trump can't read this, but he is scared of it". An Overwatch -themed anti-Trump billboard was also posted in Orlando, Florida . In the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections, the Nuisance Committee posted billboards against incumbent Illinois representative Peter Roskam . The company also released
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#17328736485131298-460: The National Network of Abortion Funds . In September 2024, Cards Against Humanity announced a lawsuit against SpaceX , alleging that the company had left equipment and materials on the plot of land Cards Against Humanity purchased in 2017 along the U.S.-Mexico border. Cards Against Humanity alleges that SpaceX never asked for permission to use the site, and is seeking $ 15 million in damages for
1357-463: The "Green Box", "Absurd Box", and "Everything Box". Various themed card packs, usually with around 30 cards, have also been released, with some as limited time releases. Various international versions have released, as well. A storage box, known as "The Bigger, Blacker Box", was released in 2013. As more cards came in, the company released an even larger box in 2016, along with a 69 -inch (180 cm) box, entitled "Please do not buy this product.", that
1416-716: The $ 250,000 set aside for a Black Friday promotion to five charities: the Equal Justice Initiative , the New Georgia Project, National Low Income Housing Coalition , Brave Space Alliance , and the Laughing At My Nightmare COVID-19 Relief Fund. In 2021, the creators held a " Cards Against Humanity Pays You $ 5 Sale", in which the creators would pay $ 5 and up to site visitors for doing various tasks, ranging from asking Hellmann's to bring back "Clam-O-Naise", to donating teeth, to helping
1475-615: The Clinton campaign regardless. The group began posting billboards under a political action committee (PAC) called the Nuisance Committee. Temkin named the PAC in honor of his grandfather, a Jewish prisoner of war in World War II who formed a "nuisance committee" to try to annoy their Nazi captors without getting killed. In September, the group advertised on a billboard in Chicago with the words: "If Trump
1534-645: The Gregg Fleishman Studio, all turned into temporary galleries for the festival. Night Games Night Games was an evening centered large-scale physical and hybrid games played outside after dark. Examples of game types included single-player experiences played on a giant screen in front of an audience ( SuperHyperCube ), multiplayer games that use only certain mechanics such as glowing wands or laser pointers ( Johann Sebastian Joust , Renga ), and large performance pieces involving many players ( Humanoid Asteroids ). IndieCade promoted Night Games to feature
1593-515: The alleged unlawful use of the land. If the lawsuit succeeds, Cards Against Humanity has pledged to give back all of the net proceeds to each of their 150,000 original subscribers. The game was praised as "Simple, yet well-executed" by the Chicago Tribune "Puzzler", "pretty amazing" by The A.V. Club , and "the game your party deserves" by Thrillist . However, in December 2015, the game received
1652-533: The annual festival has taken place online under the name IndieCade Anywhere & Everywhere. The IndieCade festival is the only stand-alone festival open to the public in the United States for exclusively independent games. Games are submitted for consideration to the IndieCade festival jury in the early spring and a selection of finalists for the culminating annual IndieCade festival is determined and announced by
1711-637: The beauty and innovation of modern game design in all forms, outside the label of what are commonly perceived to be "traditional" games. Big Games The Big Games program served as an extension to IndieCade's mission to promote games of all kinds. Big Games are large, multi-player games played outside and involving physical activity, and range to include technology, tactics, and personal interaction. Big Games were curated by on-site docents, and presented projects such as Ninja (a turn based game of tag), Reality (an Alternate Reality game), and Meatspace Invasion (a mixed virtual/real-world tag/shooting style game). It
1770-462: The black card out loud. The other players answer the question or fill in the blanks by each passing one white card (or however many required by the black card), face down, to the Card Czar. The Card Czar shuffles all of the answers and shares each card combination with the group. For full effect, the Card Czar should usually re-read the black card before presenting each answer. The Card Czar then picks
1829-475: The creators began to live stream the excavation of a "Holiday Hole", located in Oregon , Illinois, and stated that they would continue to dig the hole as long as they continue to receive donations. The creators did not state any reason for the hole nor any planned use of the money, and explicitly ruled out charity in a FAQ by asking the reader, "why aren't YOU giving all this money to charity? It's your money." $ 100,573
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1888-509: The creators figure out what program they saw Patrick Fischler in ( Nash Bridges ). Some tasks, like getting the COVID-19 vaccine that day, would reward $ 100, while other tasks, like guessing how many jelly beans have been put inside a 1993 Cadillac Allanté , would reward $ 10,000 to one person. In 2022, Cards Against Humanity launched a new storage box, known as "Bōks", by kicking off a 200% off sale at 3:00 P.M. EST on Black Friday. To receive
1947-492: The creators held a "Black Friday A.I. Challenge", pitting the company's writers against a machine learning algorithm, producing two themed card packs: the Human Pack and the A.I. Pack. If the Human Pack sold more, the writers would get a $ 5,000 bonus and if the A.I. won, the writers would be fired. The Human Pack ultimately sold over $ 1,000 more than the A.I. Pack. For 2020, in lieu of doing a prank, Cards Against Humanity donated
2006-441: The creators of Cards Against Humanity had exited the gaming industry in favor of snack food , with a commitment to "bold flavors and bold thinking". In a FoxNews.com interview, Max Temkin and Josh Dillon (who referred to themselves as Prongles' "chief flavor officers") stated that Prongles and its pig mascot were inspired by US president Donald Trump , adding that "if you love President Donald J. Trump, we guarantee you will love
2065-439: The creators of Cards Against Humanity have held satirical promotions on Black Friday . In 2013, an "anti-sale" was held in which the game's cost was raised by $ 5. Despite its higher price, the game maintained its best-selling status on Amazon and experienced a minor spike in sales during that period. In 2014, to "help you experience the ultimate savings on Cards Against Humanity ", the game and its expansions were removed from
2124-501: The fall. Additional games from the pool of IndieCade submissions are showcased at a variety of events each year around the world. Ben Fritz for the Los Angeles Times called IndieCade "the video game industry's Sundance ." Approximately 40 games each year are selected to exhibit. The finalists are eligible to compete in IndieCade's Red Carpet Awards. Audience Choice and Developer Choice Awards are announced separately during
2183-412: The festival's closing party. Awards categories vary by year. Typical categories include: See also: Category:IndieCade winners . Showcase The IndieCade showcase is the heart of the IndieCade festival and consists of approximately 40 finalist games selected for their creativity, unique vision, and technological innovation. The showcase involves both digital and physical games. It is free and open to
2242-483: The festivities. The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) partnered with the IndieCade organization in 2009. Each year, IndieCade created a "city-sized arcade" in downtown Culver City. The festival transformed a central blacktop parking lot on Main Street, leveraging the open space by building temporary structures that host parties, individual games, and planned and spontaneous Big Games. In 2016 IndieCade Europe
2301-455: The funniest play, and whoever submitted it gets one "Awesome Point". After the round, a new player becomes the Card Czar, and everyone draws back up to ten white cards. The part of speech of a white card is a noun or gerund , including both single words and phrase constructions. Black cards are either fill-in-the-blank statements or questions. Both white and black cards break these rules on rare occasions. The rules do not state how to win
2360-399: The game, the creators added fifty more cards to the game itself. To start the game, each player draws ten white cards. According to the rule book provided with the game, the person who most recently defecated (a primitive form of randomization ) begins as the "Card Czar" (or "Card Tsar") and plays a black card, face up. The Card Czar then reads the question or fill-in-the-blanks phrase on
2419-554: The game—the objective being simply to have fun. However, a popular way to win for most players is whoever has the most black cards or points at the end of the game (black cards are obtained on who is funnier). Another way to end off the session of Cards Against Humanity is to end off with the Haiku card since it can help get rid of all of your "bad" white cards. The rules in Cards Against Humanity are flexible and can be altered with
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2478-452: The internet to save travel expenses. IndieCade IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. Game types include video games , live-action games , and tabletop games . Independent game developers are selected to demo, screen, and promote their work at the annual IndieCade festival and showcase events. IndieCade also includes a conference track featuring classes, panels, workshops, and keynotes. Since 2020,
2537-409: The many house rules (which are listed in the rules) that players can incorporate (e.g. winning cards are chosen democratically, ability to trade points for cards, points given by ranks, etc.). The official rules include additional provisions for gambling previously won "Awesome Points" for the right to play additional white cards during a round. After six months of development, Cards Against Humanity
2596-509: The numbers. In October 2011, the game was exhibited as part of the "Big Games" area of the annual IndieCade games festival in Culver City, where the release of a first expansion was announced. In November 2011, the expansion was released. It sold out in three days. The first expansion contained 100 new cards and 12 blank cards. The base game cards are licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 license and can be downloaded at their website. Since 2013,
2655-404: The online store and replaced by "Bullshit" boxes containing sterilized bull feces , sold at $ 6 each. Over 30,000 boxes were sold. In 2015, the game's online store was replaced by an order form with an offer to "Give Cards Against Humanity $ 5" and receive nothing in return. The offer was justified by claiming that "the greatest Black Friday gift of all is buying nothing. We're offering that for
2714-782: The phone or computer. Group board games can take on the design of small groups of players, seated at tables of 4 to 6 people, who work together on a problem. There can be large numbers of people (and thus many tables). If properly designed, these scalable exercises can be used for small groups (12 to 20 people) as well as very large events (600 people or 100 tables). Generally, for these larger exercises, multimedia projectors, large screens and microphones are required for instructions and communications. A search for team building events can turn up millions of links to exercises, companies, and various offerings ranging from paintball competitions to fire walks to outdoor climbing or whitewater adventures. The impact on actual team building can vary widely -
2773-560: The public. IndieCade was formed by Creative Media Collaborative, an alliance of industry producers and leaders founded in 2005. IndieCade's board of advisors have included (among others) Seamus Blackley , Tracy Fullerton , Megan Gaiser , Andy Gavin , Carl Goodman, John Hight, Robin Hunicke , Henry Jenkins , Richard Lemarchand , Frans Mayra, Jamil Moledina , Janet Murray , Robert Nashak, Carolyn Rauch, Kellee Santiago , Keita Takahashi , Will Wright , and Eric Zimmerman . IndieCade founder
2832-663: The reduction of Temkin's managerial duties over time. In an apology, the company stated: As Cards Against Humanity rapidly grew from a hobby project in our parents' basements to a company with 18 full-time employees, we made a lot of mistakes. We want to apologize to employees who were unheard or disrespected in our office. We are truly sorry. We also want to state unequivocally that we condemn harassment of anyone who has posted stories about their experiences at Cards Against Humanity. Party game The characteristics of party games tend to include: Traditional children's party games include: Party video games are commonly designed as
2891-423: The rock-bottom price of $ 5. How can you afford NOT to seize this incredible opportunity?", and that what the money would be used for would be announced "soon". 11,248 customers spent $ 71,145 on the offer during the campaign. The money was divided equally among the Cards Against Humanity team members, who were asked to report back what they spent their money on. Many of them made donations to charities. For 2016,
2950-425: The tangy onion and thick cream flavors of Original Prongles. That's why we promise to Make America CRUNCH Again™! [ sic ]" In 2018, the creators held a "99 Percent Off Sale", selling random items (such as a used 2015 Ford Fiesta , medieval weapons, and even cash) for 99% off, with a new item every 10 minutes. The creators stated that the promotion was "100% real and possibly a very bad idea." In 2019,
3009-733: The white cards known today. Co-creator Ben Hantoot cited experiences with various games such as Magic: The Gathering , Balderdash , and Charades as inspiration, also noting that Mad Libs was "the most direct influence" for the game. The game was financed with a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and influenced by a previous crowd-funded campaign for a book on the design of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign . The campaign started on December 1, 2010; it met its goal of US$ 4,000 (equivalent to $ 5,589 in 2023) in two weeks. The campaign ended on January 30, 2011, and raised over $ 15,000 (equivalent to $ 20,958 in 2023), just over 400% of its original goal. With this additional money raised towards
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#17328736485133068-430: Was collected. Later in the week, the hole was filled back in and reseeded. Prior to Black Friday in 2017, a brand of potato chips known as "Original Prongles" (a parody of Pringles ) were spotted in multiple Target stores, with packaging featuring a pig mascot and the slogan "Once You Pop... That's Great!". On Black Friday, the Cards Against Humanity website was redirected to OriginalProngles.com, which announced that
3127-403: Was created by a group of eight Highland Park High School alumni. Heavily influenced by the popular Apples to Apples card game, it was initially named Cardenfreude (a pun on Schadenfreude ) and involved a group of players writing out the most abstract and, often, humorous response to the topic question. The name was later changed to Cards Against Humanity , with the answers pre-written on
3186-576: Was developed in consultation with child development experts and psychologists, and was intended for ages 8 and up. Expansions have been released for the Family Edition , including a 300 card "Glow in the Dark Box" and a 30 card "Written By Kids Pack". In 2022, Cards Against Humanity announced the release of "Clam-O-Naise", a clam-flavored mayonnaise sold only at Target, referencing one of the campaigns from their 2021 Black Friday prank. A 30-card "Clam Pack"
3245-590: Was free and open to the public. 3D Game Jam The first IndieCade Mobile 3D Game Jam was hosted in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California 's Interactive Media Division on August 6–7, 2011. During the two-day event, 12 teams began the process of creating a fully functional 3D mobile game for the LG Thrill 4G . 6 finalists were chosen to go on to the next round of refining their games in order to compete for
3304-402: Was hidden on the store page. The original storage box contained a special card hidden inside the packaging, entitled "The biggest, blackest dick.", with silver letters. The expanded release contained more hidden cards, along with unique algorithmically generated cards. Both products were discontinued by 2021, with "Bōks" replacing them in 2022. On July 28, 2015, Cards Against Humanity announced
3363-504: Was officially released in May 2011. A month later, it became the number one game on Amazon . Since its release, it has gradually become more popular and has seen a rise of sales throughout the years. The Chicago Sun-Times estimated that CAH earned at least $ 12 million in profit, and according to the company, customers have downloaded the PDF file 1.5 million times in the year since they began tracking
3422-432: Was packaged inside the mayo, along with a code to redeem unique prizes, including Clam-O-Naise merch, vacations, and a Toyota Clamry . In August 2016, Cards Against Humanity released two "America Votes" packs for the two presidential candidates: Vote for Hillary Pack and Vote for Trump Pack . Each pack contains 15 cards of jokes about the candidate. Designer Max Temkin said that the proceeds for both packs would go to
3481-471: Was rebooted and took place in Paris, where it returned in 2017 and 2018. Since 2020, the annual IndieCade festival has taken place online under the name IndieCade Anywhere & Everywhere. Showcase Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic , the main showcase was known as the "Game Walk" with several games exhibited in various locations across downtown Culver City : the fire station, NextSpace coworking offices, and
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