There is something vaguely off putting about this game and games like it. It only recently occurred to me what exactly it is.

Cards Against Humanity is a game that allows people who don’t really like each other to pretend to be friends.

Games can be a kind of psychic prison. Although your actions in a game may feel natural and spontaneous, the options available to you are tightly scripted according to the intent of the game’s creators.

The intent of the creators of CAH is to present you with a serious of building blocks to, more or less, simulate cracking slightly transgressive jokes.

In other words, it is a game designed to simulate the vibe that usually only exists between people who really trust each other.

I’ve lost count of the number of times a particular kind of person has brought up CAH as though it represents the very apogee of “off colour” humour. I’m sure you know the type. They love a good graph, they’d never be caught dead in a gym, and enjoy making others uncomfortable.

But more than enjoying making others uncomfortable, they desperately crave the kind of easy, relaxed mood that only comes in the presence of real friendship - something from which they are more or less completely shut out.