Crabs Adjust Humidity Card Game Review

What was that? Did you say Cards Against Humanity?

No, I didn’t. But I might as well have.

Crabs Adjust Humidity is the unofficial expansion of Cards Against Humanity (I see what they did there). If you think the original didn’t have enough ‘reluctant anal’, or was a little light on the ‘Anne Frank’ references, then this card game could be for you. Check out the full Crabs Adjust Humidity Card Game Review below.

Crabs Adjust Humidity (Omniclaw Edition, Vols 1-5)

Brief Overview of Crabs Adjust Humidity

The concept behind Crabs Adjust Humidity is nothing ground-breaking. It really is simply a bunch of extra cards that can be added into your Cards Against Humanity deck, or if you get the Omniclaw edition, used on their own as a stand-in set for Cards Against Humanity.

For those that have been living in a cave the past few years, Cards Against Humanity is a card-based party game where the person deemed to be the funniest wins (and it’s entirely suitable for cave-based play).

Players are tasked with filling in the blanks of a sentence using words or phrases in their hand, which often tend to fall into the categories of inappropriate, risque and/or politically incorrect. Passing it off as a parody, Crabs Adjust Humidity has taken the limits of “acceptable” to a totally new level.

Versions & Expansions

With only one of the volumes of Crabs Adjust Humidity, you really need to combine it with any of the versions of Cards Against Humanity. However, if you get multiple volumes, you may be able to play it as a standalone game.

Just remember the more people you have playing, the more cards you need. And everyone should play Cards Against Humanity some time in their lives.

The Omniclaw Edition contains Vols 1-5 and is a great deal when purchased as a bundle. Volume 6 has just been released and Volume 7 will be out sometime soon. Keep an eye out to nab it if you’re an expansion completionist like me.

Crabs Adjust Humidity (Vol 6)

Unboxing Crabs Adjust Humidity

You have to give it to the Vampire Squid Cards folks, they really do live and breathe their whole brand ethos, which I’ve decided to describe as ‘craptacular’. They are wonderfully self-aware of the legally dubious nature of their product.

This “pretty crap but that’s why we like it” approach instantly hits you as you open the box. Each one comes packed along with a few little goodies that instantly underwhelm from the word go. I’m not sure if it varies from box to box, but this one came with a small bag of gummy sweets, a Vampire Squid Cards sticker, a pathetically small amount of confetti and a totally pointless toy soldier.

Oh, and you should also get 112 cards, too. These are broken down as follows:

• 80 white cards
• 32 black cards
• (Obviously more if you get the Omniclaw Edition that comes with Vols 1-5)

You’ll notice that the cards are designed specifically to be able to be blended into your Cards Against Humanity pack. I was impressed with how close to the originals they were. The look and feel is almost exactly the same, aside from having Crabs Adjust Humidity written on them instead of Cards Against Humanity. But this small difference will have no effect on the game.

How to Play Crabs Adjust Humidity

As mentioned, Crabs Adjust Humidity works just the same as Cards Against Humanity and can be either played as a standalone game (with multiple packs or the Omniclaw edition) or combined with the original game as an expansion pack.

The black cards are question cards. These have written on them hypothetical situations or questions, such as “What was one of the rejected flavors from Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans?” or “In my opinion, [______] is justifiable cause for homicide.” The white cards are populated with things that could answer the question or fill in the blanks.

To start, shuffle the black and white cards into individual decks. Then, deal out ten white cards to each player. Next, choose someone to be the first person to read out a black card (the official rule is to give this job to the person who most recently pooped). This person becomes the Card Czar for that round.

The Card Czar reads the first black card from the deck out loud. This will contain either a question or a fill-in-the-blank statement. It’s then the job of the other players to choose a card from their hand that they think best answers the question. In this case, the ‘best’ means the funniest.

A Double Blank Space

It’s worth noting that some of the black cards may require you to play more than one white card. In this instance, you should take one extra card from the deck for each additional card you’re required to play (so if you have to play two cards, take one extra card from the deck).

All players put their selections into a pile, which is shuffled so the Card Czar doesn’t know who put forward each card. The Card Czar then reads each contribution out loud and, once you’ve all wiped the laughter tears from your eyes (hopefully), they choose the one they think is funniest.

Whoever put forward the selected white card wins the black card, which equals one point. The Card Czar title is then passed to the next player in the circle and the process starts again.

This continues until either someone reaches the point limit set at the beginning of the game, or just when you get bored/have no ounce of remaining self-respect.

Your First Game of Crabs Adjust Humidity

Cards Against Humanity and Crabs Adjust Humidity are often a bit of an alcohol-fueled free-for-all. However, there’s still some important etiquette to follow to make the game work.

One notable issue is the style in which the Card Czar reads out the answers. After all, comedy is as much about the delivery as it is the content. So, it should be made clear to all players that, when reading out the cards, they should repeat the entire contents of the black card each time, with the white card included where appropriate.

There’s nothing worse than having an absolutely killer card, only for it to be ruined by someone mumbling through a rushed list of possible answers, or not getting the emphasis right.

I would also encourage you to play with the Rando Cardrissian house rule, as it adds a lot of fun to the game. Each round, a white card is taken from the top of the deck and included in the shuffle of players’ answers. It creates the potential for the winning card to be one that was chosen completely at random. On the odd occasion that Rando wins the round, it can be a pretty embarrassing state of affairs for all involved.

You may find that some of the cards contain references or euphemisms that you don’t understand. This was definitely more of an issue for me in Crabs Adjust Humidity compared to the original. While both games are of American origin, Crabs Adjust Humidity is certainly a little more Americanisms-orientated.

I have no idea what a Chuck E. Cheese is. But, following one debauched round of the game, I can say with some certainty that I won’t be seeking one out on my next visit to the US.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Lots of graphic imagery and sexual violence
• Beefs up your Cards Against Humanity deck

Crabs Adjust Humidity is an effective way to bulk out your existing Cards Against Humanity deck, while

It’s been well made and will seamlessly integrate into the deck without it being obvious that the cards aren’t all produced by the same company.

Also, if you’re a fan of jokes about penises, religious extremism, and fetuses then you’ll feel right at home here.

Cons:

• Lots of graphic imagery and sexual violence
• Not quite the same charm as the original

That said, I wasn’t overly impressed with the quality of the content of the cards. To be sure, Crabs Adjust Humidity takes the crassness of Cards Against Humanity to a whole new level of risque. But I’m not sure they really get the balance quite right. This, of course, comes down primarily to personal preference (after all, who am I to tell people what’s funny?), but I did find myself feeling whole new respect for the makers of the original, who seem to have got the mix of political incorrectness and wit nailed down.

The nature of black question cards didn’t really encourage creativity from players or leave me feeling particularly inspired (“I love the smell of [______] in the morning).” Most seemed pretty obvious ‘easy wins’ by the authors, with many of them lacking the potential to create a truly horrifying/hilarious scenario.

This was especially the case with the multiple card questions that largely just asked players to create a list of something, rather than combine them for comedic effect (“The last three items on my bucket list are [______], [______] and [______]”, or “Three bullet points for my OK Cupid profile: [______], [______] and, most importantly, [______].).”

The white cards, on the other hand, tended to rely purely on the shock factor to get laughs, which I felt was a bit lazy. I’m not even sure “Chronic colonic” makes sense…

Overall, it comes down to your own sense of humor and what it is you want to get out of the game. Personally, I didn’t get the creative kicks from this version as I did from the original. I’m far from squeamish, but I do prefer offensive gags to be supplemented with an element of wit, which I thought was missing from this version. As a result, I think this is much more effective when mixed in with the higher quality Cards Against Humanity.

TL;DR

If you’ve played Cards Against Humanity so often that you can now memorize the entire deck, then Crabs Adjust Humidity is an effective way to freshen up the game and introduce a few surprises. That said, the content of the cards is not up to the standard of the original, relying primarily on the shock factor alone to make them funny. Crabs Adjust Humidity is no replacement for Cards Against Humanity, but it’s a necessary and adequate (unofficial) expansion.

Conclusion – Verdict?

If like me, you’ve played Cards Against Humanity so often that you can now memorize the entire deck, then Crabs Adjust Humidity is a great way to freshen up the game, introduce some surprises and extend the lifetime of the game.

However, this is absolutely no replacement for the original. When it comes to picking hypothetical situations and choosing amusing-yet-offensive topics to write on a card, I have a whole new respect for the folks behind Cards Against Humanity – it’s clearly not as easy as it seems.

Crabs Adjust Humidity doesn’t quite tick all the boxes. But with such a strong parent game to integrate into, it’s an entirely necessary and adequate (unofficial) expansion.

Crabs Adjust Humidity (Omniclaw Edition, Vols 1-5)

Have you tried Crabs Adjust Humidity? Drop a comment below and let us know how it stacks up!

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