As lovely as family game night is, it can get a bit vanilla after a while. Sometimes, you just want to let loose and drop the filter when you’re among friends. Whether it’s accusing them of debauchery, pointing out their weird habits, or just turning on each other, there are card games that add that extra bit of zing to game night.
Of course, not all of these games are targeted at breaking up your friendships, some of them are geared at getting you drunk and livening up the party. So, the next time you host a no-kids-allowed party, you’re able to try out one of these card games to get things going. Just don’t blame us if your friends don’t call you the next day!
Updated on Jul 01, 2025 by Davis Collins:These days, many of us are finding ourselves more and more in need of ways to escape into the world of humor with groups of friends. We’ve come back to this list to add more games that provide that escape for a variety of different people.
Cards Against Humanity
The one that started it all
Of course Cards Against Humanity was going to be here. It set the bar as one of the most popular adult card games in the industry. Not only that, subsequent expansion packs have ensured that it maintains its place.If the base version isn’t NSFW enough for you, it has more intense ones too.
No sense waiting to include this one. Cards Against Humanity was always going to make it to the list. The original adult card game puts everyone’s sick humor on display by having players respond to each of its prompt cards with a response card from their hand.
It’s easy enough to see how the tone of that game will depend on the content of the cards, and, well, the contents of Cards Against Humanity’s cards are something else, so much so that we’re not going to give any examples here. Just trust us.
Cards has set a standard for adult party games, and has had multiple expansions. The majority of the games on this list are heavily influenced by this one and, while there are potential reasons you might play any of them, you’re always going to be comparing them to this game.
New Phone, Who Dis?
Hopefully not representative of your actual texting history
The first of many, many, many games on this list to operate on the prompt-card response-card formula codified by Cards Against Humanity, New Phone Who Dis? adds an interesting theme to keep from feeling too identical to the others.
Here’s the first variation on Cards Against Humanity on this list. This game sets itself apart from that particularly large crowd with its theme. Each prompt card is presented as an out of the blue text, and each response is a reply. This often makes the humor subtler and dryer than in Cards, but that’s going to be suitable for some people. It’s also somewhat less offensive. It’s still adult enough to be on this list, but there are some spaces where you may play it where you wouldn’t be able to get away with CAH.
The Queer Agenda
Perfect for queer settings
More than just an LGBT-themed version of Cards Against Humanity, The Queer Agenda adds new mechanical ideas that make the game more complex, while still offering queer people a thematically appropriate experience to enjoy.
This game is superficially another variant on Cards Against Humanity, but, unlike some of the other games on this list, it has more differentiating it than a thematic change. Mind you, it still does have a thematic change. This game is specifically designed for members of the queer community. While there’s nothing to stop a group of straight people from playing it, some of its humor comes from inside jokes or unique experiences queer will be especially able to appreciate.
It also enhances itself mechanically by incorporating Dare cards, which players can draw. Performing the dare gets them points, but refusing it is costly. This brings a bit of mechanical variation to make the game less monotonous, with the downside that the dare cards are seldom quite as funny as a normal round would be.
Ruin It
Write your own answers instead of selecting premade cards
This unique party game allows for increased creativity by giving players the power to create their own answers, something players of similar games have likely fantasized about. With the right group, this can make it a riot.
Another game about trying to play the funniest card in response to a prompt, this game sets itself apart in two ways. First, all of its prompt cards are situations, and the responses are meant to be the most disastrous possible outcome of those situations. More important than this thematic change, though, is the fact that this game doesn’t have pre-made response cards. Instead, the game has you fill in the responses in yourself. This allows for a greater variety of creativity and gives you the power to more easily reference inside jokes with your particular group of friends.
Tell Me Without Telling Me
Be fast to beat your friends
Tell Me Without Telling Me puts you and your friends against each other in a quick, three-way battle. Your cards will give you your instructions while the winning side is whichever goes fastest.
Reminiscent in some ways of pictionary, charades, or Taboo, Tell Me Without Telling Me is a great game for parties or a small group of friends, which charges you with communicating the information given to you using highly limited means. We recommend this game for breaking the ice with a group that knows each other well, but not too well. It doesn’t have the awkwardness of some games and substitutes it with quick, rapid-fire competition.
Taboo Uncensored
Keep the children far, far away
Hasbro Gaming’s Taboo Uncensored is an alteration of the existing Taboo game. This adult-oriented version focuses on more suggestive, sometimes downright lascivious subjects.
From a stictly mechanical standpoint, this game is the same as the family-friendly Taboo, in which you draw a card with a word on it, and have to get your team to guess that word without saying the word itself or a series of related words also found on the card.
In Taboo Uncensored, the task is the same, but the words and terms used tend to focus on more suggestive topics. At times, this raunchy game can get a bit lewd, so verify everyone is comfortable with the subject before whipping it out.
Drawing Without Dignity
Keep the Crayola pack ready
Drawing Without Dignity features more than 670 unique drawing prompts. This card is a Pictionary-style drawing game that places you and your friends in competition to guess each other’s raunchy drawings.
Drawing Without Dignity is similar to Pictionary, but this title has a more adult twist to it. There are 670 unique things to draw, and there are certain to be a few topics in here that will leave you and your friends blushing. This set also comes with a timer, a drawing pad, and pencils so you can open it up and get right to playing.
Unstable Unicorns Card Game
How can something so cute be so dangerous?
While it may sound cute, Unstable Unicorns is definitely not a game for kids. There’s something sinister about putting adorable looking creatures into horrible situations. You can play with up 2–8 players, and the winner is ther one who assembles their Unicorn army the fastest. Spring for the NSFW expansions if you want things to get really spicy.
How can something with the unicorns in it be only for adults? Well, Unstable Unicorns takes these cute creatures and puts them in horrible situations. The game is about collecting your own set of unicorns, and one of the important things you’ll have to do is destroy your opponent’s unicorns to stop them from winning. The resulting fates of these poor horses are not pleasant, and neither is much else that happens in this game. The fun of it is that it’s so adorable while being cruel at the same time. If you really want to liven things up, Unstable Unicorns also has an NSFW expansion among many others.
Joking Hazard
Leave your moral compass at home
Joking Hazard comes from the minds behind of Cyanide & Happiness. Players have to put down the card they think delivers the best punchline to the drawn card. The more inappropriate, the better your chances of winning the round.
Cyanide & Happiness' twisted sense of humor can now be enjoyed in card game form with this excellent title. If you ever thought you could make similar comics, here’s your chance. Much like Cards Against Humanity, Joking Hazard tasks 3–8 players to place a card they think will deliver the funniest punchline to the prompt card of the round. This time, the prompts are comic panels which set up a joke, and the responses are punch lines.
These Cards Will Get You Drunk
As the name suggests
These Cards Will Get You Drunk keeps things simple, so you don’t have to think too hard while you’re drinking. Just pick up a card during your turn and follow the often silly instructions. If played well, you could get your friends pretty tipsy. Just remember to drink a lot of water and eat something too.
Of course, you’re able to’t have adult card games without at least one drinking game. Thankfully, These Cards Will Get You Drunk doesn’t want you to think too hard while you’re drinking - just follow the instructions on the card well enough, and you’ll be getting your friends buzzed in no time. You can alsopurchase the expansion packif you’re the kind that hosts parties with a lot of people.
Drunk Stoned or Stupid: A Party Game
How well do your friends know you?
Drunk Stoned or Stupid is a great way for you to find out what your friends think of you. The rules are pretty simple - each player picks up a card from ther pile, and everyone votes which player the card best describes. Beware, you may have to face some harsh truths.
Drunk Stoned or Stupid sounds like a drinking or smoking game, but it’s not. Instead of getting you drunk, this card game gets you embarrassed. Players vote forwhich among themis described best by the card in hand; and most of the time, these descriptions aren’t something that you’d exactly be proud of. Then again, it’s not our job to tell you how to fell, and maybe you don’t mind it if your friends decide that you’re the most likely to have a twenty-minute conversation with Siri or “Just want to cuddle.”
Exploding Kittens
The kittens have gone wild
While Exploding Kittens' original version is great for a nice family game night, you can crack open the NSFW version once the kids are asleep. Exploding Kittens NSFW is basically the same game, but the artwork has been changed to something even more horrible - yet funny - than in the base game.You can enjoy the same game but with a bit more horrible fun.
Like most NSFW expansions, Exploding Kittens NSFW turns things up a notch. However, whereother card gameschange the written content on their cards, this one keeps everything the same, only changing the artwork to depict something even more horrible and cute at the same time. While it’s not a whole lot different from the original, the NSFW artwork gives you a good little chuckle.
Zombie Kittens Card Game by Exploding Kittens
Two of the deadliest predators out there, united
Remember all those kittens you exploded? Well, they’re back from the dead for revenge. Zombie Kittens adds a whole new dimension to Exploding Kittens. While earlier you only needed to worry about explosions, now you need to keep an eye out for zombies as well. However, if you meet an unfortunate fate, you might join the ranks of the undead too.
Zombie Kittens is a great expansion toExploding Kittensas it not only adds more cards and twists to the game but allows players who have lost to continue participating. It’s strongly suggested that you have the original Exploding Kittens to supplement with this expansion. If you have other expansions, this card set will be fully compatible with it!
Pick Your Poison Card Game
Good for getting to know people
Pick your poison is a card game markedly different from many of the others on this list, where a judge tries to construct the most difficult choice they possibly can.
Pick Your Poison isn’t completely different from Cards Against Humanity, but it’s still pretty dissimilar by the standards of this list. Each round, the judge picks a poison: some kind of hypothetical scenario few would want to experience. Each round, the players choose a card to give to the judge, and the judge picks the one among them he thinks makes for the most difficult dilemma with his card. This difficulty of this dilemma will then be tested when the players choose one of the two items, and the judge is rewarded differently based on how divided the consensus is.
There’s Been A Murder
A classic whodunnit.
There’s Been a Murder tasks all players to work together and find the murderer. There’s no backstabbing or hidden roles here, so the whole group must cooperate to find the killer. The stakes are raised due to the fact that if certain conditions are met, the killer can also escape.
Unlikeclassic whodunnit adventures, There’s Been a Murder requires all players to collaborate in order to win. This is a cooperative game, and you’ll need to play smart, or else there’s a chance the killer will escape. This raises the stakes a bit, and encourages everyone to communicate and cooperate.
Psycho Killer
She’s a psycho killa!
There are two reasons why Psycho Killer shouldn’t be played by kids. Firstly, it’s about gathering the most points based on murder weapons. Secondly, kids these days just eon’t get the pulp ’70s aesthetic that it’s going for.
You’d assume that everyone would know that a game called Psycho Killer was only meant for adults. Mind you, this is still a game with a comedic tone. The desperate attempts to escape the killer are played for comedy rather than legitimate tension. The best part about this game, though, is the pulp artwork that’s reminiscent of old slasher flicks. This is a great one if you want to play a game abouta gruesome murder, but also want some laughs.
FAQ
Are card games good for older adults?
Card games are not only a good way to spend time with other people, but they also stimulate brain activity and improve mental health.
What is the recommended age for adult card games?
This entirely depends upon you as a parent, but most of these games are recommended safe for children aged 16 and above. We recommend you play them yourself before getting them for your kids.
What is the most complex card game?
Mathematically speaking, Magic: The Gathering is the most complex card game on earth. This is mostly because of the sheer number of cards available. Some would regard this as a technicality, because the overwhelming majority of those cards will not feature in any given game, and this is all ignoring any set limitations in place in a given format.
