Cards Against Humanity has been a monumental, breakout success for board games, proving to a lot of people that modern games have so much more to offer than the tedious sessions with Monopoly and Risk from their childhood. That being said, it’s definitely not for everyone. If you’re eager for an alternative that’s just as accessible, but with longer legs and less of a need to provoke and titillate you, look no further than The Metagame.
Not so much a single game as it is a flexible gaming system, The Metagame starts with a similar basic structure to Cards Against Humanity (or its more neutral predecessor, Apples to Apples), but explodes it into a much more robust and interesting framework that we think you’ll be able to enjoy for a much longer time. We got a big kick out of playing it here at the office, and so we invited its creators — a Brooklyn-based collective of game designers and art school professors called Local No. 12 — to come in and tell us more about the game, where it came from, and why you should be interested.
You can pick The Metagame up right now for $25 on Amazon, or by following Local No. 12 on Twitter, where they offer up a free copy every week. If you’re hungry for more, stay tuned for news about expansion decks, themed around various specific areas of culture so you can customize the game to better suit your particular interests.
