Cards Against Humanity

When I was doing service work in Guatemala last January with a group of college students, they (wisely) brought along different card games they could play to pass the time or to wind down at the end of the day.

This is how I learned about Cards Against Humanity. And the fact that with the right group of people this game can be a great way to bring people together  for a good laugh.

[Note: unlike some of the other games I have talked about here on LLU, Cards Against Humanity is not for everyone.  On its website it talks about how it is “as despicable and awkward as you and your friends” or “a party game for horrible people,” but that just scratches the surface. As with any activity you are thinking of bringing to class, please try it out yourself in order to decide. At the very least read the game cards. You’ll see what I mean.]

The rules are pretty simple, and there are some interesting variations too. You can read about all of that here.

Cards Against Humanity (CAH) is available for free under a Creative Commons license. Which means you can download the cards and print them up and play (they give you all the instructions you need including the type of card stock you need and where to acquire the plastic box to hold the cards), or you can send them money and they will do the honors. Or as they state on their website:

Cards Against Humanity is available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0 license. That means you can use and remix the game for free, but you can’t sell it. Please do not steal our name or we will smash you.

Why am I suggesting it here on LLU? Because I have discovered that the CAH communities are international in scope and have created language specific sets of cards.  You can play in Dutch, French, Mexican Spanish, Argentine Spanish, and many more!  Some cards are just direct translations of the English cards, others include regional information or politicians relevant to the country. To access the different card sets, scroll down to the Fan Translations section on their website .

Here is a glimpse at some of the cards from the Mexican version…

 

How would I use this in class?:  I often have students in my classes who are going to travel abroad, and learning the local regionalisms, slang, and/or all of the bad words is always of interest.  Playing CAH would be perfect for those days when the collective class energy might be low, and doing something wildly different and slightly outlandish could be a nice change of pace.

Need more information?  read their website or check out the Wikipedia page

[Featured Image courtesy of Wikipedia]

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