Draw Against Humanity [Appropriation]

by | Feb 25, 2016 | Artwork #2: Appropriate, Projects

Before you play/ Artist Statement:

This game is a combination of two different games, “Cards Against Humanity”, and “Write and Draw”. There are a few twists to each of the game which makes this one unique and more exciting. This game is very much inspired by the Yoko Ono -esque style of having the audience getting involved with the actual process of creating the art. Additionally, it has a slight flux element to it because of the nature of the game and how it involves individual players to draw(or try to…).

Many people have played Cards Against Humanity and I’m sure that it’s been great fun, but I hope that playing it with a few twists here and there will make it more interesting for you. Although Cards Against Humanity may disappoint some players with its very horrible or offensive themes and statements, the players should try to go beyond that and think about the artistic or unartistic elements behind the white cards when playing the second part of the game.

Materials needed:

  • Cards Against Humanity Cards
  • Post it notes or something that you can stick/label the white cards from the deck
  • More post it notes (preferably large sized) for the second part of the game
  • A pencil/pen
  • Human (6,8, or 10 of them preferred)

How to Play:

Before listing out the steps of the game, here is the general flow of the game so you have an understanding of how it all goes.

  1. Divide up into two equal teams.
  2. Play 6 rounds of speed-Cards Against Humanity
  3. Put all remaining white cards into either one or two decks                                                                                         ( different difficulty levels)
  4. Play 2 rounds of Write/Draw (each team)
  5. Determine the winner

Here are the more detailed steps to playing this game. Please take note that it is important to follow all steps at all times.

  1. Grab about 80-100 white cards from Cards Against Humanity
  2. With 2-3 other members (who could play this game or not), go through each of the white cards and determine how difficult it is to draw the card.
    • If the card seems relatively easy to draw, label it with yellow
    • If the card seems not too easy to draw, label it with red
    • If the card seems nearly impossible to draw, label it purple
    • If the card is impossible to draw, place in another deck far far away
  3. On a sheet of paper, write the following…
    • ” Yellow:  Point Value : 5     Seconds to draw: 25s”
    • ” Red: Point Value: 8        Seconds to draw: 35s”
    • ” Purple: Point Value: 12    Seconds to draw: 45s”
  4. Once all cards are labeled, place them into one deck and shuffle very well.
  5. Gather all players and split into two teams.
  6. Card Czar (the one who chooses with card is best) is whoever is at the end of the table on the left hand side. If you are playing at a round or other irregular shaped table, you may choose as a group as to who goes first
  7. The next Card Czar is the person to directly across the table. If playing at irregular table, go counter clockwise.
  8. Deal 8 white cards to each of the players around the table
  9. Place the remaining cards in the middle of table
  10. Explain to all players that…
    1. players may only draw one additional white card from the middle during all 5 rounds
    2. Players must place their white card in the middle within 15 seconds of the black card being placed. Otherwise the player doesn’t get to play for the round
  11.  Like a normal CAH game, let the Card Czar choose the best card. Award one point to the team of winner.
  12. Play 5 rounds of speed-CAH
  13. After 5 rounds, place all of the remaining cards in players’ hand in the middle.
    • For easy level: Place the cards in two different decks depending on which team they’re in
    • For difficult level: Place all cards into one pile
  14. The winning team will now play Write/Draw. Because they won, they get 5 additional seconds allotted for each step.
  15. Have two post it notes next to each other and a pencil ready
  16. Ask for the winning team to get in order of who is good at drawing/interpreting. Those who are good at drawing should go 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th… Those who are good at writing should go in between them
  17. Everybody except #1 must now leave the area to where they cannot see the cards.
  18. Player #1 now chooses a white card from the deck (either their own or from the big pile) and has the allotted time written on the card to draw a visual representation of the statement.
  19. After the allotted time is over, cover the drawing with another post it note and ask for player #2 to come over. Player #2 will now have the allotted time to write what they think the player before read on the card. The post it note may be revealed when player #2 is ready.
  20. After allotted time is over, cover the drawing done by player #1 again and also cover the writing by player #2. Player #3 will now come and repeat the same process at player #1, but this time based on the statement written by player #2.
  21. Repeat steps until all players have gone.
  22. When all players have gone, all players come together and reveal the marvelous art that they have created as a group. Determine if the final drawing has anything to do with the original white card that was drawn. If it’s close, reward the team with the point value. If they have it half way there, give them half the points. If it’s horrible, don’t give them any points.
  23. Let the other team repeat the steps.
  24. Each team plays 2 times and whoever has the most points in the end wins.

Some documentation:

A player tried to write something...

A player tried to write something…

The cards labelled and ready to go

The cards labelled and ready to go

An example of a player who tried to draw....

An example of a player who tried to draw….