“Puns of Anarchy” (2020) was designed by Evan Katz and Josh Roberts, and self-published by Evan and Josh’s Very Special Game Company. And on the surface, I actually think the premise is fairly interesting. It’s a “Cards Against Humanity”-adjacent game about making crazy puns, with some of the most unusual game design I’ve come across. It’s the technical aspects of this design that, ultimately, do cause it to fall a bit short for me (though I’ll unpack later why I’m conflicted on this criticism).
The game is mechanically fairly simple. There are two types of cards: Purple cards and white cards. Purple cards have a category (“Name My Podcast,” “Bathroom,” “The Elderly,” etc.) written on them. White cards have mostly pop culture references written on them – “The Real Housewives” “Jennifer Lawrence” or “We Will Rock You.” Most are easily recognizable, though unsurprisingly, there is a bit of a spectrum here.
Each player is dealt a hand of white cards, as well as being given a dry-erase marker. One player reveals a purple card. Other players write puns on their cards that relate the phrases there to the category (the white cards are coated with a dry-erase material, so you can safely use the markers to write on them). The judge picks their favorite, players draw back up as needed, and a new round starts.
Let’s say that I drew the card “Hotel California.” If the category was “Food,” I might cross out the first “i” in “California” and write in “zone,” so the card reads “Hotel Calzone-fornia.” If it was “Animals,” I might even make a pun in multiple places – “Moo-tel Cow-ifornia” could work quite well. You can even replace full words. I’m not originally from Chicago and came here for school, so if I was writing for the category “Titles For My Memoir,” I might go for “Hotel Chicago,” a reference to how I live here only for part of the year.
Normally, I’m not a huge fan of mechanically simple games. This is a personal preference, but I typically like something with a bit more strategic complexity to them. That said, there is something quite enjoyable about the simple fun of this game. It’s not something I always enjoy, but I think it’s done quite well here.
As another point in favor of this game, it scales to different ages and audiences much better than most games. Okay, maybe it’s not great for young kids. You do need at least enough broad knowledge about each category to make puns based on them. While most of these categories are broad, a kid who knows the bathroom as “that place where I use the potty and wash my hands” might struggle with the category “Bathroom” or something like that. That said, the ability to scale from completely PG content to the dirtiest puns you’ve heard in a long time purely based on what jokes people are or aren’t comfortable with is an unusual level of flexibility. Most games like this are locked into a target age group based on the card content, but because you add your own content, it opens that up wide.
My one real criticism of this game has to be the whiteboard cards. Dry-erase boards are often made from a material called melamine, “a laminate coating that is essentially plastic back[ed] by a pressboard,” but over time, these can warp and become porous to allowing in pigment, meaning you can’t fully erase them anymore (from “Whiteboard vs. Dry Erase Board – Which Is Right For You?”, Whiteboards and Pinboards). Other materials, like steel, porcelain, and glass, are sometimes used, but you wouldn’t use these for making cards for a card game. To maintain the feeling of a typical card, the laminate and backing are both very thin. This makes it much easier for them to warp, which makes it easier for them to become porous, which makes them more likely to be permanently marked accidentally. While most games have a lifespan (wear and tear damage is a very real thing, even if you take good care of them), this drastically reduces the usable lifespan of this game.
But even as I offer it, I’m somewhat conflicted about this criticism. It is a flaw in game design, but I’m not certain that there is or even could be a better way of resolving this issue. And ultimately, this facilitates a unique, fun, playful game that’s unlike others I’ve found on the market. So while I think it’s reasonable to bring this up as a point of issue, if this is your only reason for not trying “Puns of Anarchy,” I’d just keep in mind that this probably was the best way of handling the writing and custom-creation aspect of this game, so it might be a necessary compromise.
Who would I recommend this game for? Anyone who’s looking for a fun, new party game that’s simple and straightforward would enjoy this. It’s also good if you’re looking for a game that could adapt to different ages (something that you could play with your college-age friends, but also that you could play with your younger siblings or cousins). If you like puns, this is also a great game. If you don’t enjoy games like “Cards Against Humanity” or “Apples to Apples,” I would probably discourage you from this game a bit. This game is new, but it’s clear where it takes its notes from – if those aren’t formats you enjoy, this probably wouldn’t be either. Finally, this game isn’t super expensive, but if you’re looking for something that will last a little longer for your money, I get it. I think the design was handled as best they could, but I understand why someone would want it to last longer.