Washington D.C.-based tech start-up GreaterPlaces and civic organization DoTankDC are launching “Cards Against Urbanity” the Card Game for Horrible Places, a direct play on the famous Cards Against Humanity, a Party Game for Horrible People. The game aims to teach city planning and design by making fun of cities, suburbs, and the colorful cast of people, “because planning is hard and full of jargon and math.” While players make off-color jokes, they’re also learning about real urban planning issues and some of the terminology associated with discussing urbanism.
The hope is for the game to spark conversations among people who don’t usually get involved in city issues. For example, someone will play the card game, and realize their community is missing something like a cool bus stop or a bike share system, then become active in their community’s planning board. The question card could be something like “My city’s latest economic plan includes _______” and then players get to pick from answers such as “All nude rooftop deck,” “the word ‘vibrant’,” or “Brad Pitt pretending to be an architect.”
To address things like concepts, budgets, transportation, and land use, the new game is snarky and fun, just like its predecessors Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity, but a little less offensive than the latter. The games are also similarly played, with question and answer cards, and everyone trying to get their card picked by the judge each turn. The creators of the game brilliantly noticed the plethora of jokes being made about changes in the city (gentrification, hipsters, dog parks…all by-products of urban planning!) and have given us a way of formally poking more fun. Until October 13th, they are asking the public to suggest card ideas by tweeting #CardsAgainstUrb or by emailing cardsagainsturbanity@gmail.com.The box comes with 234 cards, a Cardsplainer to explain everything for the non-uban planning layman, and a cool Tshirt. They are using Kickstarter to get 500 pledges before October 20th, when they will stop printing decks. They aim to raise $7500 to pay for the card decks and shipping, and they have made it clear: We don’t hit $7500 = No Cards Against Urbanity.”
Let’s help them out so we can all play this terrific game!
