Joking Hazard is a board game bound to be compared to Cards Against Humanity; with clear parallels between the judging and ‘not politically correct’ nature of the game.
Some of the outcomes from rounds of Joking Hazard will possibly upset people, or tip-toe the line of taboo. So, ideally, you need to play this game with like-minded people and if you don’t like games like it then, well, it just isn’t for you.
Intro text aside, most of the people who are fans of the Cyanide & Happiness webcomics and brand are likely to dive straight in here: the same tone, dark humour and art style that are prevalent throughout the brand are the heart and soul of Joking Hazard.
The premise of the game is that you have to complete a comic strip using one of the cards in your hand, with a judge picking which player does so in the best way. It has an effortless setup and set of rules, and scales well for larger groups.
Each player starts with a hand of seven cards and then the group decides who will be the judge for the first round. To win you simply need three points, which is normally done by winning three rounds.
Each round starts with the top card from the draw pile being flipped over by the judge. The judge then plays one of their cards as a chaser. All other players then place one of their cards, that they think best completes the strip, face down in front of them. The judge then reveals them one by one, reads out the comic and chooses from the best one. The player that won the round takes their card back to keep score. Everybody then draws back up to seven cards and then the person to the left of the judge becomes the judge for the next round
Within the draw pile, there are red cards which have slightly different rules to the black ones and the judge does not play a card for that round, instead each player plays two cards from their hands. Red cards are worth two points for scoring and make for incredibly tense game rounds.
Joking Hazard is suited towards bigger groups, as playing it with three people — as I did on my first play — ends up making for a very quick game. We upped the points required to win for the second game which made it more enjoyable as we got to see more of the cards.
Overall, Joking Hazard was quick and fun to play and there was a lot of laughing, although I recommend playing it with people who are like-minded and not easily offended. Looking through the cards that we didn’t see during the playthroughs there is the potential to create combinations that will shock many people; it’s a game for adults only
Joking Hazard is available on Amazon.
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