Whether with good friends or complete strangers, how well does anyone know you, really? Do our closest confidants know your thoughts, feelings and experiences? Are you such an open book that someone who has just met you could guess your innermost beliefs? Are you curious enough to find out?
Curious Humans is a party card game for 4-10 people. Players are dealt a hand of seven Statement cards. Each player takes turns selecting one card from their hand and revealing it to the other players. They also play either a True or False card face down, depending on whether the Statement is true about them or not. The other players play their own True or False card, whether they believe the Statement or not.
All players reveal their cards, and any players who have answered differently to the Statement card player are considered to be fooled. If the Statement card player fools half or more of the other players they may claim the Statement card as a point. The first player to seven points wins.
Being a party card game Curious Humans will immediately be compared to Cards Against Humanity. On the surface there are a lot of similarities. The use of minimalist graphic design, game mechanics which rely on players interpretations of the cards, a swathe of cards, highly malleable rules, and a box the shape and weight of a brick. But as much as Curious Humans borrows from Card Against Humanity, it also introduces its own unique ideas.
The Statement cards are divided into four types; Sexy, Awkward, General and Controversial. Each is coded to a colour, so if you don’t want to include a particular statement type then that colour can be removed from the deck. Helpful if you want to play with your family, for instance, but aren’t eager to learn Grandma’s responses to the Sexy statements.
There are also additional cards shuffled into the Statement deck, called Twist cards. These allow players to influence the game by doing things like initiating bonus rounds, answer Statements incorrectly, or choosing which Statement card a player will be revealing.
Perhaps the most interesting thing the game does is remove the subjectivity often involved in party games of this ilk. While players are drawing on themselves to determine which statements they will play, the resolution to this statement is quite binary. Either it is true or not, so blind luck can as much play a part in a player’s success as an intimate knowledge of their opponents. Which, for an ice breaking party game, makes the game accessible to any audience.
As with a lot of party games in this vein there isn’t a massive amount of replayability. At least, not with a regular group of friends. Game groups will probably get an hour of play, at the most, out of Curious Humans and never touch it again. However Curious Humans will probably find a place in the collections of people who may need an easily learnt, adaptable party style game to break out at social occasions with acquaintances or strangers. With the colour coded Statement cards it is easy to tailor the game to suit any environment it could be run it.
The physical game itself is mostly good quality. A linen stock has been used for the cards, which gives them a nice feel and complements the simple nature of their design. Unfortunately most of the cards do have white featuring on them quite predominantly. In the copy I was provided some of the colour from the back of the facing card had rubbed off onto the white, making some cards appear dirty or streaky.
Overall Curious Humans is a solid entry into the ranks of openly interpretative party games. It provides a quick and painless way to customise the deck for any situation, with rules which are robust but simple enough for even the most beginner of player to learn. While it probably won’t see frequent use, Curious Humans looks to be a great backup game to add to a collection, for when players need to break out something light but amusing.
Curious Humans is created and published by Icebreaker Games. It is available now, and can be bought at curioushumansgame.com for AUD$49.99.
