The next game developed at Tiltfactor, Clowns Applaud Insanity, is now being published by Resonym! It’s a hilarious black and white party card game filled with adults-only humor, and after writing and rewriting its cards for years now, I’m excited to make it available to the world.
Gameplay
Draw a question card, like “With our planet doomed, our only chance for survival is ___________.” Then all other players submit their funniest answer card, like “Nothing” or “Nick Offerman chained to a power-generating exercycle.” Choose the most hilarious answer, and the player who submitted it gets an “Applause Point.” Play until you get bored, then whoever has the most points wins.
Impact
All games developed at Tiltfactor have a social purpose, and Clowns Applaud Insanity is no exception.
The popular party card game Cards Against Humanity—which hinges on making sexual, racist, and just generally inappropriate jokes—bills itself as “a party game for horrible people.” But does the game actually make players more bigoted, as detractors frequently claim? Research studies we conducted on the game suggest that the answer is ‘no’. In the studies, we found that making inappropriate jokes in Cards Against Humanity actually makes players feel bad and want to compensate—ending with them acting less prejudiced after playing.
Could this effect be leveraged to change players’ actions in other aspects of their lives as well? Clowns Applaud Insanity was created to let players make fun of how bad climate change is and how doomed we all are. In studies conducted on Clowns Applaud Insanity, we found that people who played the game recycled more after playing! Clowns Applaud Insanity was known as Cops Arrest Manatees during the research process.
Want to try it for yourself? You can check out the game here.
~Mary