Taking the free-to-download print-your-own version of Cards Against Humanity, Cards Against Originality puts the over-the-top adult version of Mad Libs or Apples to Apples onto the web. If you're not familiar with the game, a judge (usually rotating), reads aloud a black card with a prompt (either answer the question or fill in the blank), the other players offer a white card that completes it. Except that the goal is to make a combination that's as awful as possible, and the one judged to be worst wins.
A small sampling of the more than 200 black prompt cards:
- My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of _______.
- Why is mommy crying?
- I learned the hard way that you can't cheer up a grieving friend with _______.
- As part of his contract, Prince won't perform without ______ in his dressing room.
- I drink to forget _______.
- What gets better with age?
- After the earthquake, Sean Penn brought _______ to the people of Haiti.
And a few of the 800+ white cards:
- Boris the Soviet Love Hammer
- Asians who aren't good at math
- The basic suffering that pervades all of existence
- The profoundly handicapped
- Passive-aggressive Post-It Notes
- Sean Penn
Which can lead to combinations like "Why is mommy crying? Boris the Soviet Love Hammer."
And that sampling isn't even remotely near the worst that Cards Against Originality offers. It can get really bad, so bad that the only way to cope is to laugh.
Cards Against Humanity was conceived as a card game to be played in person, and though Cards Against Originality is web-based, it still needs to be played in person (you just don't need the physical cards). It works simply: one person hops on, creates a new game, and then shares the link to that game with whoever they want to join in. Everybody is dealt 10 white cards, somebody taps on the black card to serve as the judge, and then reads it aloud to everybody playing.
While this technically could be set up to play remotely, the true fun of Cards Against Humanity is in hearing everything that everybody else played read out loud by a judge trying to maintain his or her composure. And Cards Against Originality maintains that crucial social component of the physical card game.
Cards Against Originality launched yesterday, but the servers were smashed by the unexpected demand. Things are still a little shaky right now, but it's slowly improving and the developer says to expect improved performance by the weekend (we held off a day just so we could show it to you when it was mostly functional). We've tried it out on multiple platforms and you'll see the best support in Safari on iOS or in the Safari and Chrome desktop browsers (weirdly, Chrome on Android won't let you scroll through your cards like Chrome desktop).
You can still drop $75 on the base physical Cards Against Humanity plus the four expansions (Or $115 total with the 90's pack, the two holiday expansions, and the Bigger Blacker Box), and we wouldn't attempt to stop you. It's a worthy purchase. But it's also something considerable to carry around, and for when you want to get in a game when on the road… turn to Cards Against Originality. Just don't invite any kids. Or your mom — you'll never be able to look her in the eye afterwards.
Source: Cards Against Originality; Via: Mashable
