Balderdash

In Balderdash, players make up plausible definitions for ridiculously obscure words, earning points for every opponent they trick. Balderdash has been a games night classic since 1984, but has been recently updated with more words and themes.

Fun fact: Andrea’s parents forbade her from buying this game as a child, knowing she’d exploit her sisters’ gullibility. So… if you’re playing with gullible people, this might be the game for you!

Balderdash plays 2-6 people and is family-friendly (especially trusting younger siblings).

 

Apples to Apples

Apples to Apples was the game that inspired CAH, so it’s only fair that we include it in the list. Apples to Apples is the game of word association, matching nouns (celebrities, politicians, ideas, feelings) to adjectives. Nouns and adjectives sound like a snoozefest, but this game has become a modern classic for a reason.

Apples to Apples is great for 4-10 players, ages 12 and up (younger kids might not get the pop culture references). It’s squeaky clean, but that cleanliness really scales to its audience - we’ve played more than a few adults-only games that got hilariously dark.

 

Joking Hazard

Joking Hazard has easily been Rain City Games’s best-selling adult party game for the last few years.

It’s easy to see why - Joking Hazard is like the comic strip version of CAH, but with way more replayability (someone did the math - apparently there’s 15.4 million unique combinations in the base game alone!). Joking Hazard is by the folks who do the webcomic Cyanide and Happiness, so you know it’s going to be a good time.

In each round, you build a three-panel comic strip. If it’s your turn, you start everyone off with a two-panel prompt, then turn it over to the group. Like CAH, everyone submits a single card from their hand to be the thrilling (or creepy or sexy or murderous) conclusion, and you get to pick your favourite.

Unless you’re ready to have The Talk with your kids in the most brain-searing way possible, this game is for adults only. A minimum of 3 players is needed, but the more the merrier.

 

Trial by Trolley

Brought to you by Cyanide and Happiness - the same folks who made Joking Hazard - comes a philosophical examination of the meaning of life.

Trial by Trolley is framed around that classic philosophical quandary: a trolley is hurtling down the tracks, brakes completely shot. As it approaches a fork in the tracks, you can choose who it hits: one group of people sitting on one branch of the tracks, or another group of people sitting on the other branch. You decide who lives and who dies according to your personal morals.

So yeah, you could see how this is fertile ground for a Cyanide and Happiness game.

Each round, opposing teams must convince the judge that their side is the most sympathetic - and thus saveable - while sabotaging the other side. Enlightenment all around.

 

Exploding Kittens - NSFW Edition

Like its family-friendly version, Exploding Kittens - NSFW Edition is essentially a card game version of hot potato. Explosive kittens are hidden in the deck, waiting to take you out of the game if you aren’t prepared to defuse or relocate them. It’s a game of defending yourself and sabotaging others - with kittens!

This version is NSFW (not safe for work... or kids) due to its references to genitalia, street drugs, and other exciting topics, each lovingly depicted in The Oatmeal’s unique illustration style.

Fun fact: the NSFW and family-friendly editions are unique - mix them together for more explosive fun!

 

Anomia X

As in the regular version of Anomia (a Rain City Games favourite!), players flip cards until the symbols on two cards match - sending those two players into a face-off. Whichever player shouts a word fitting the category on their opponent’s card wins the point, and could even trigger a cascade of face-offs around the table!

In Anomia X, however, those words could be… slightly naughty. Can you think of a type of lubricant before your opponent can supply a whiskey brand? How about a sexy verb before “don’t touch it”?

Each box of Anomia X comes with four decks, enough to keep even a large group entertained.

 

What Do You Meme?

What Do You Meme? is like CAH for visual learners and/or millennials (hey, no hate here - the game’s full title is What Do You Meme?: A Millennial Card Game for Millenials and Their Millennial Friends).

Instead of sentences prompting each round, a famous internet meme image kicks things off, then each player submits the funniest caption from their hand. The judge for that round presides and selects their favourite to receive a point.

What Do You Meme? is a quick-playing game for at least 3 players, but larger groups are better. It’s absolutely not a game for kids - just people who act like them.

 

#MyDrinkingGame

Can’t decide which drinking game to play? Why not play all of them?

#MyDrinkingGame is like a greatest hits album from drinking games the world over. Every card in the deck features rules from a different drinking game from around the world - conveniently printed on the card in case your short term memory is, you know, impaired for some reason.

Designed here in Vancouver, BC, #MyDrinkingGame cuts right to the chase and gets the job done.