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Not a game: Cards Against Humanity avoids tariffs by ditching rules, explaining jokes (arstechnica.com)
submitted 5 days ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/gaming@beehaw.org
54 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Oh, to be able to justify spending $25 on this ... having a one-week window is rather cruel.

Cards Against Humanity, the often-vulgar card game, has launched a limited edition of its namesake product without any instructions and with a detailed explanation of each joke, "why it’s funny, and any relevant social, political, or historical context."

Why? Because, produced in this form, "Cards Against Humanity Explains the Joke" is not a game at all, which would be subject to tariffs as the cards are produced overseas. Instead, the product is "information material" and thus not sanctionable under the law Trump has been using—and CAH says it has obtained a ruling to this effect from Customs and Border Patrol.

"What if DHS Secretary and Dog Murderer Kristi Noem gets mad and decides that Cards Against Humanity Explains the Joke is not informational material?" the company asks in an FAQ about the new edition. (If you don't follow US politics, Noem really did kill her dog Cricket.) Answer: "She can fuck right off, because we got a binding ruling from Trump’s own government that confirms this product is informational and 100% exempt from his stupid tariffs."

Pre-orders for the $25 product end on October 15, and it will allegedly never be reprinted. All profits will be donated to the American Library Association "to fight censorship."

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[-] artyom@piefed.social 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Instead of trying to exploit loopholes, why not just produce them in the US? It's just cardstock.

[-] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 90 points 5 days ago

The intent is to highlight the stupidity of the tariffs.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

I don't get it

[-] B0rax@feddit.org 50 points 5 days ago

Well that part was clear.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

Ok this Fediverse experiment has been fun but it turns out you guys are assholes just like everywhere else. Byebye now.

[-] DaleGribble88@programming.dev 27 points 5 days ago

If someone is an asshole, then they probably are just an asshole. If everyone is an asshole, you should look at the common denominator of all those interactions.

[-] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 4 days ago

People dislike having to educate the same basic lessons over and over again, when it is very easy to search why tariffs are bad. It is not a community where people are going to spoonfeed you information that you didn't even directly ask for.

The simple answer is because we live in a global economy and you can't possible make everything that needs to be made in a single country. The more complex answer can be found by reading articles about it. Take this one, which was the first hit I found on a web search:

The trouble with tariffs, to be succinct, is that they raise prices, slow economic growth, cut profits, increase unemployment, worsen inequality, diminish productivity and increase global tensions. Other than that, they’re fine.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 4 days ago

Nobody asked why tariffs are bad.

[-] athatet@lemmy.zip 8 points 4 days ago

Please, I’m begging you to get just an ounce of reading comprehension.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Please, I'm begging you to just explain what you're trying to say instead of exclusively being a giant fucking asshole for no reason at all. They're the one who read my comments and somehow thought I was in need of an explanation of why tariffs are bad instead of an explanation of the joke.

[-] B0rax@feddit.org 8 points 4 days ago

Well that’s the point, it is not a joke, they want to highlight that tariffs are stupid. That was already the first answer you got.

Then you said you did not understand that, and you didn’t ask for an explanation, so you got a cheeky answer. Then you complained that nobody explained it to you. Now you got another explanation. And as a response you complained about it being not what you asked for.

Now here I am, explaining to you why you got the responses that you got. And let me guess, you will complain about it too.

[-] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 days ago

Comment: The intent is to highlight the stupidity of the tariffs.

Your Reply: I don’t get it (as in, "I don't get the intent... I don't understand why tariffs are bad")

Me: Explaining why tariffs are bad.

Your Reply: Nobody asked why tariffs are bad.

Me: <not sure if stupid, asshole, troll, or all three>

[-] MoreZombies@quokk.au 27 points 5 days ago

Neither does Trump

[-] hamsterkill@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 4 days ago

There's currently not enough industrial capacity in the US to manufacture card games. Simple as that. Trying to do it would likely end up still being more expensive than the tariffs, and probably delay your product.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 4 days ago

It seems very unlikely that no one in the entirety of the US has the capacity to make a card game. Do you have some evidence of this?

[-] hamsterkill@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 4 days ago

https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/552558/tabletop-panic-tariffs-on-china-layoffs-bankruptcy-gama/

The U.S. has a very small industrial capacity for manufacturing tabletop games — especially board games.

“The news is bad from every angle, but especially so for card games and RPGs printed in China,” they said. “The choice seems to be either 1) a massive price hike to pay the new import taxes, or 2) go to a direct sales model that removes the hobby distributors from the equation.”

[-] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 4 days ago

This is not a tabletop game, it's a card game.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 8 points 4 days ago

Card games are classed as tabletop games due to the top of the table being the place where they're played.

[-] TeNppa@sopuli.xyz 6 points 4 days ago

You should check the definition of tabletop... Also the link provided refers directly to the card games.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 26 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

They raised money to dig a hole to then fill it in again, for similar reasons.

[-] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 13 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Why aren't you giving all this money to charity?
Why aren't YOU giving all this money to charity? It's your money.

Touché .

[-] navi@lemmy.tespia.org 24 points 5 days ago

Because its a meme

[-] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

What? Which meme?

[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 5 days ago

Looks like the trolls are starting to emerge from other platforms.

[-] prole 7 points 5 days ago

Yeah they're everywhere today.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago

I promise I've been here longer than you.

[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Well then. Looks like this troll is embedded. I'm sure that account has been here longer than my current account. Congrats. You win the internet prize for useless metrics.

[-] artyom@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

LOL the useless metrics that you brought up? Ok. Bye bye now.

[-] frezik 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Because US produced cardstock sucks ass. Maybe someone will change that in the future; it's more likely than things like die cast sheet metal, which is an industry that has to be rebuilt from almost scratch. The Game Crafter, the most popular board game prototyping service in the US, gets their cardstock from Germany, because they want it to not suck.

[-] RohanWillAnswer@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 5 days ago

They’re just using the law to their advantage. They’re good businessmen.

[-] Wolf314159@startrek.website 2 points 5 days ago

Is this wit or a genuine request that one of us explainsthejoke.com?

[-] SteevyT@beehaw.org 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I’m still confused!

You want us to explain the joke of explaining the joke?

Please?

this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2025
195 points (100.0% liked)

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