How a Kickstarter-Backed Card Game Helped Change the Crowdsourcing Rules

The rest of this sentence is going to sound far-fetched, but it's true: A few years ago, Chicago area natives David Munk and Max Temkin, along with six of their friends they each picked up from Highland Park High School, created Cards Against Humanity, a party game that went on to raise $15,570 on Kickstarter.

That Kickstarter
wrapped in 2011, and all they were asking for originally was $4,000. Oh, and they also were letting fans download the game and make their own copies on cards from a downloadable PDF, but as Temkin said: "Easy trumps free any day."

If you haven't heard of the game, all you really need to know is this: It's like a "South Park"-ified version of Apples to Apples. It's offensive, crass, but also hilarious assuming you have a sense of humor that doesn't bruise as easily as a summer peach.

I popped over to Cards Against Humanity's co-op office loft space in Logan Square to chat with Temkin and Munk about the game's madcap success, why it's printed in China and how to run a successful Kickstarter. 

David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.

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