11 Party Games Like Cards Against Humanity, but Better

Cards Against Humanity is the self-described party game for horrible people.

When it made its debut, it felt like everyone in the world was playing this game.

Why? Probably because of shock value. But more than that, the game has a solid design. It was a brilliant formula and it wasn’t hard to learn how to play. Therefore, there’s a low barrier to entry for a lot of people.

In my opinion, board games, in general, can get a bad reputation. People think of them as being these long, complex puzzles with crunchy game rules that are difficult and boring to learn.

But with Cards Against Humanity, the rules of the game are simple. Friends gather around, draw a handful of white cards and take turns drawing from a deck of black cards with absurd (and often crude) prompts.

The rotating judges take turns reading the submitted cards and pick the funniest answer as the winner.

Easy as that.

And the makers of that game are, I’m guessing, millionaires.

The benefit to games like this one is that they accommodate a large group of people or a high number of players. Plus, they don’t feel as strict as a lot of other games.

You can just play until you get tired. Also, you could even make up your own rules and anything goes, as long as people are having a lot of fun.

The main goal is to get a good laugh about the awkward moments of the game.

So what’s the problem? Well, half of the game is the cheap laughs and shock value of the bad (or dirty) cards. I’m not against that, but it can get old after a while.

Expansions for Cards Against Humanity

The good news is, if your cards are starting to feel a bit stale, you may be interested to know that there are several expansions.

And friends, I didn’t realize the game for terrible people had so many variations. These include, but are not limited to:

• The Nasty Bundle
• Everything Box
• Absurd Box
• Green Box
• Red Box
• Blue Box
• Hidden Gems Bundle
• Nerd Bundle
• 2000s Nostalgia Pack
• 90s Nostalgia Pack
• Family Edition
• Period Pack
• Food Pack
• Pride Pack
• Human Pack

I don’t necessarily recommend getting more than one or two expansions.

Even if you love this game, there are several other similar games you may also enjoy.

Life is short. Try to mix it up a little.

Some of the following games are nearly identical, but some are simply party games that have easy rules and offer a lot of fun.

Here are my top picks for similar games like Cards Against Humanity:

11. Game of Things

This game from PlayMonster is similar to the Cards Against Humanity game and is generally more family-friendly. Players take turns picking a card and reading it out loud.

The rest of the players write down responses that come to mind on a pad of paper.

The prompts include things like, “Things people do when no one is looking” or “Things you wish grew on trees”.

It’s simple, giftable and highly rated. The game is currently about $33 on Amazon.

10. Red Flags

Red Flags is very much like Cards Against Humanity but with a dating theme. Instead of being a game for terrible people, this is the game of terrible dates.

In this adult card game, players will select white cards that have positive traits for a theoretical date.

Then, players will choose a horrible red card. The person being “set up” must choose a date. It’s like a game version of the Twitter trend, “When they’re a 10 but … “.

Red Flags is easy to pick up and you can basically play until it runs its course.

There are also “geeky” and “dark” expansions available.

9. What Do You Meme?

This one is also very similar to Cards Against Humanity, but with memes and photos.

Players take turns drawing from a deck of memes and awkward photos.

Then, everyone will select a caption card to match the meme or funny picture. Similar to Cards Against Humanity, the rotating judge will select a winner for the round.

The game clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously because the game ends when everyone gets hungry, aka, gets tired of playing.

The name of the game is to come up with hilarious answers. If you like memes, it may be the perfect game for you.

8. Apples to Apples

Apples to Apples pre-dated Cards Against Humanity by about a decade. I can only assume it helped serve as at least some inspiration for the basic formula of its successor.

In Apples to Apples, there are green cards and red cards. Players pick the closest “Apples to Apples” comparison to the description card that the judge played, and the best answers win.

This game is definitely family-friendly. It’s suitable even for the “granny apples”, so it’s perfect for family game nights.

7. Caption This (by Fail Army)

Again, pick your flavor.

This game is nearly exactly like the ones above and nearly identical to What Do You Meme.

This time, instead of memes, you have photos of misfortune and disaster. The photos are funny and if you or someone you know spends hours on YouTube watching Fail Army videos, this might be the one for you.

With these games, pick your theme and go to town.

6. Superfight

Exactly like all of the other games on the list but with superpowers.

The game pairs silly fights between ridiculous made-up characters with silly attributes.

For example, would Abe Lincoln with laser beams win a battle with a Jedi velociraptor? White cards are characters and the black set of cards are attributes.

Players defend the absurd fighting pairs and the table decides a winner. The first person to get to the agreed-upon point total wins.

It’s a similar concept as the above games, so you get the idea.

Superfight plays 3 or more players.

5. Unstable Unicorns

Okay, we’re finally getting a little more variation now.

Unstable Unicorns is a strategic party card game for adults and teens. It’s for a slightly more experienced player than some of the above games. But not by much.

Players build an army of unicorns, starting with a baby unicorn. You basically collect unicorns and try to defeat the other unicorns.

The cards quirky, cute and funny. The downside to this game is that there isn’t an absolute ton of strategy to it. My husband wasn’t a huge fan of it for that reason.

Still, it was backed by Kickstarter and is a favorite with a lot of people due to its quirkiness. It plays 2-8 players.

4. Exploding Kittens

This game is similar to the above, in my mind, for several reasons.

It’s a card game that is similar to Russian Roulettte or Hot Potato.

Basically, avoid the Exploding Kitten card or you’re out of the game. Try to find a defuse card to keep you in the game longer.

The cards are quirky and cute, once again, which I think plays into the popularity of the game. The original game plays 2-5 players, but you can buy an expansion party that will play 2-10.

Read Also: Best board games for college students, top 8 ranked

3. Codenames

Okay, we’re getting to the good stuff. Codenames is one of my favorite party games.

The premise of Codenames is that players are acting as spies who are working to get a secret message across to their team.

The objective? Get your teammates to guess the target words on the table. You only have so many chances to get it right, and you have to do it faster than the opposing team.

Plus, there are a lot of variations that will make this game even better for the whole family. For example, there’s a Duet version for two players and a Harry Potter version for the wizards and wizards out there.

There’s also Codenames Pictures and Codenames Disney Family Edition.

Plus, if you miss the crudeness of Cards Against Humanity, you can get the Deep Undercover version for adults.

With so many variations that will make it fun for the whole family, I recommend this game for just about any group.

2. Monopoly Deal

Monopoly became unpopular for many reasons, the main one being that it takes too long to play for most people.

Introducing Monopoly Deal. It plays in only 15 minutes. The name of the game is to be the first player to collect three property card sets in different colors.

The game features rent cards, property cards, house and hotel cards. It will be a fairly familiar concept for most people, but much more digesteable.

It’s a quick, easy game and plays 2-5 players.

1. Wavelength 

I recently added Wavelength to my collection and I absolutely love it as a party game.

It’s one of the most fun party games as well as one that can make you think and spark interesting conversations.

This one is a great game when you have a lot of players. It’s a relatively new game. Players will choose a card from the top of the draw pile which will contain two dichotomies, for example, “hard to remember” or “easy to remember”.

Players will take turns coming up with a clue and then getting their team to guess where that clue will land on a dial.

This game is so much fun and it’s probably my favorite game on the list.

Read Also: Best party board games for adults: 15 fun new ideas [2022]

Which ones do you think are the best games that are similar to Cards Against Humanity? Let me know in the comments below!