This Online Version Of Cards Against Humanity Is As Inappropriate As It Gets

If you and your friends have already exhausted every other virtual game while social distancing, you'll be happy to know that you have the option of playing Cards Against Humanity online. The card game, known for its hilariously crass content, is available for free to anyone with a desktop or smartphone. And if you really want to make the experience fun, get on a group call with your friends so you can hear the absurdity that ensues in real time.

What Is Cards Against Humanity?

For those who haven't played the game, Cards Against Humanity is an "adult" version of the family-friendly Apples to Apples — a board game where whoever can make the best word associations, wins. In Cards Against Humanity, every player chooses a card to best fit the question or fill-in-the-blank statement drawn from the deck. Except unlike Apples to Apples, the more inappropriate you are, the better your chances of winning. They don't call it "a party game for horrible people" for nothing.

How To Play Cards Against Humanity Online

There are a few sites out there that you can play Cards Against Humanity on, but Playingcards.io is your best bet if you're looking for something that's easy-to-use and also gives you a little wiggle room to play how you want. The site is essentially just a virtual tabletop that you can use to play a plethora of card games you'd normally play in person. You'll find Cards Against Humanity by going onto the site and scrolling down to its game section. It should be the first option there.

Once you click into Start the Game, you'll be prompted with a link that you can copy and send to other friends that you want to invite into the game as well. Whereas there's no limit while you're playing the game in person, you'll have to cap Cards Against Humanity off at six players if you're playing online. Once you've done this, you and all your friends can hit Enter the Game to get things started.

The game can begin as soon as everyone logs on. Everyone will be able to see the first black "question" card that they have to match their own white "answer" cards to. To start drawing white cards, simply drag them from the pile at the top of the screen to the white box at the very bottom of the screen. Once you drag cards here, they'll flip over for you to see. But don't worry, only you will be able to see the cards that you place there as it's a private section.

How Cards Against Humanity Is Played

Each player should deal themselves 10 white "answer" cards from the pile at the top of the screen. Think about which white card best fills in the blank or answers the black card displayed at the top of your screen. When you decide which card you want to use, drag it from your private space at the very bottom of the screen to one of the six blank spaces in the middle of the screen. This is where your friends will place their answers as well.

The rest of Cards Against Humanity is played the same way it would be IRL. Because nothing is automated, you have to do everything manually, including dragging and dropping the cards to the Discard pile after using them.

How To Win Cards Against Humanity Online

In the game's "Basic Rules" available online, there is a Card Czar who decides whose card wins the round. This role first goes to the person who pooped last (I know... classy) and then changes each round so that a new person is Card Czar each turn. The Card Czar is not allowed to play their own cards when it's their turn, but it is their responsibility to read the black "question" card aloud, read all the white "answer" cards that are played, and then choose the winner of the round. The winner of this round gets to collect this black "question" card. At the end of the game, the person with the most black "question" cards wins the game.

But of course, Cards Against Humanity can be "remixed" in different ways. This means there are other ways to decide who wins each round. For example, there's the "God is Dead" version, where you play without a Card Czar. In this version, each player chooses which white "answer" card is their favorite. The card with the most votes wins each round. You can also play the "Survival of the Fittest" version where players take turns eliminating each card until the funniest is left standing and therefore wins. And lastly, players have the option of playing the "Serious Business" version where the Card Czar ranks their three favorite white cards in order. The first choice gets three Awesome Points, while the second and third get two and one respectively. At the end of the game, the person with the most Awesome Points wins.

You can play until you can't take the cramp-inducing laughter anymore or until the deck of 500 white cards runs out. Either way, you're sure to be kept entertained for a while.