Cards Against Humanity Rules: Start, Winner, End

You’ve played Cards Against Humanity hundreds of times already, but do you actually know how it’s meant to be played? It’s time we, once and for all, break down the official rules and explain meticulously how to play.

We’ll also add a few house rules to add some fun twists, plus some extra tips on how to become the winner. In this guide, it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a CAH master. Ultimately, all of you will learn something new. 

Objective Of The Game

The objective of Cards Against Humanity is to make the most hilarious card combination, meaning, submitting the funniest response card to the black card of the round. Therefore, your objective would also be to make the other players laugh 🙂 

The Setup Of Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity is an adult card game, suitable for players aged 17 and above, that works well with 4 to 20 or more players. Therefore, the first requirement is to have at least 4 players. 

• One of the players (as the official rules say, the player who most recently pooped) becomes the Card Czar – game judge, for the first round.
• Separate the white deck from the black deck, and place them facedown.
• All players (except the Card Czar) draw 10 white cards from the deck, which they’re allowed to look at. 
• Place the remaining white deck aside for the next round.

And that’s it. You’re ready to start playing. 

How To Play Cards Against Humanity?

It’s finally time for us to explain the official rules of Cards Against Humanity. Mates, these rules apply not only to the core game but to all Cards Against Humanity packs out there!  

• The chosen Card Czar for the round starts by picking one black card from the deck and reading it out loud. 
• All active players choose one of the 10 white cards in their hand that they think best matches the black card of the round.
• All white cards are submitted face down to the Card Czar. 
• The Card Czar shuffles the cards and reads them all, one by one, while re-reading the black card every time.
• The game judge picks their favorite response, and the player who played that gets one awesome point. 
• The new round begins, and a new Card Czar is chosen. 
• Make sure to draw cards on each round, so your hand total always remains 10 cards.

Pick 2: You’ll notice that a few black cards have the ‘Pick 2’ written at the bottom and 2 blank spots. This means that for that black card, you have to submit 2 white cards. Make sure to submit them in the correct order, as they’re supposed to be read. 

Gambling: If you’ve ever had 2 perfect white cards to play for a round, and wish there were a way to play both, Gambling is the way to go. If you want to play a second white card, all you have to do is bet one of your awesome points on it. If it wins the round, you get the point. If you lose, whoever wins the round gets your bet point too.  

Ending the Game

As understood already, the player whose card is the funniest wins the round and gets to keep the black card as an awesome point. You can either play until you get tired of the game, and check who has the most awesome points and wins the game, or specify target points at the beginning of the game (5, 7, or 10), and whoever reaches that, wins. 

Now, winning depends on how well you can read people. Therefore, the most useful tip would be to always try to give responses, depending on what you think the Card Czar or the group would find funny, not necessarily what is the funniest for you. Besides understanding and playing according to the judge’s humor, we would also like to tell you not to be afraid of experimenting or playing absurd or dirty cards. Most of the time, they end up being the most successful.

House Rules For Playing CAH

Sure, you can have a blast playing Cards Against Humanity in the traditional way. Still, there are a few house rules we love including in the game, and I bet they’ll change your whole game experience.

Happy Ending

You can just stop the game when you’re tired of playing. However, there’s a Happy Ending rule. To end the game correctly, you should play the ‘make a haiku’ card, which includes the Draw 2 Pick 3 rule (adding 2 white cards to your hand and playing 3 cards to make a combination). Finally, the judge picks their favorite combination, and that player wins. 

Rebooting the Universe

This is basically a house rule to trade white cards from the remaining deck, with your awesome points. So, anytime you wish you had a better hand of cards, you can just return white cards to the deck, up to ten, and draw new ones, but with awesome points being taken, one per card.

Packing heat

Whenever there’s a Pick 2 black card, before playing your 2 white cards, you can draw one from the deck, so you have more options for the next round.

Rando Cardrissian

Rando Cardrissian is the extra imaginary player, usually activated when you need more players in the game. All you have to do is, after all active players have responded, someone plays a random white card from the deck (a.k.a. The Rando Cardrissian card), so there are more combinations available. 

God is Dead

This rule suggests that the game has no God, meaning it has no Card Czar. Everyone plays their white cards to a randomly chosen black card, and then votes on their favorite answer. The card with the most votes wins.

Survival of the Fittest

This is kinda the opposite of the previous rule. After all players have answered, everyone takes turns to eliminate one white card. The last one that remains wins the game. 

Serious Business

This is only possible when there’s a larger group of players. If this rule is applied, the Card Czar shouldn’t pick one favorite card, but instead pick 3, and rank them: the best one with 3 points, the second best with 2 points, and the third with 1 point.

Never Have I Ever

Unofficially called the Card of Shame rule, it means that anytime you don’t understand what a card says (even after you’ve read our card meanings explained), you can discard it, but first, confess the ignorance to the group. Optionally, whoever knows its meaning gets one extra point.

Here are your frequently asked questions answered:

1. How many white cards do you get in Cards Against Humanity?

When the game begins, each player receives 10 white cards. Then, on subsequent rounds, you always refresh your hand (draw new cards), ensuring that you always have a hand of 10 cards.

2. How many black cards to win Cards Against Humanity?

The official rules don’t say anything about that, so, depends on you. Usually, 7 points (black cards) is the most preferable; however, if you want the game to last more, you can increase that to 10, and vice versa. 

3. Is there a card limit to use when playing? 

No. You take the whole deck into the game, draw whatever you need, and place the remaining deck aside. 

4. Can you play with all expansion packs at once?

That wouldn’t be very practical, considering that there are so many expansions available, but yes, that is doable. We always recommend mixing your favorite expansion (s) with the main game, so everyone enjoys the content. 

5. Can I make my own CAH game?

Yes. There are a few PDF documents on the official site, and some other fan-made ones, which you can use to make your own cards. We have a few listed in our printing guide. 

6. Is it OK to play with kids or teens? 

With kids, absolutely not. The content is very much adult-friendly, hence the age range is 17+. When it comes to teenagers (preferably 15+ at least), we wouldn’t recommend it, but if the parent or the guardian says it’s okay, sure.

7. What are the places that sell Cards Against Humanity?

Lots of shops have Cards Against Humanity in stock; however, the most trusted site remains the official cardsagainsthumanity.com.

When it comes to unofficial packs, Edition Cards has all the good ones! 

Final Thoughts

Starting from today, there’s no such thing as ‘I don’t understand how this one goes’ when talking about Cards Against Humanity. Above, you have all the official rules explained, followed by tips & tricks, house rules, alternative ways of playing, and all your doubts finally explained. Now, go pick your favorite pack, and make sure to have the best game sessions ever!