How to Play Joking Hazard: Official Rules & Variations

If you’re looking for a fun adult party game when you have some friends over, Joking Hazard is a great choice. Based on the webcomic Cyanide and Happiness, Joking Hazard has you play cards to make funny comic strips and a judge chooses their favorite punchline or setup each round. This game is super simple to play, so keep reading for all the rules and some fun variations to try.

Joking Hazard Overview & Objective

Each round, players put down cards to complete a 3-panel comic strip. The round’s judge chooses their favorite setup or punchline card to the comic, and the player that put that card down gets a point. The first player to 3 points wins the game.

Section 1 of 6:

Starting a Round

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Draw from the deck so each player has 7 cards. Shuffle the deck thoroughly and put it facedown on the table so everyone can easily reach it. Have each player draw 7 cards into their hand.^{[1]
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- Joking Hazard works best when you play with 3 or more people.
- Since some of the cards are inappropriate for kids, only play the game with people who are 18 or older.
It’s usually best if the person who owns the game is the first judge, but you can pick any player at random. The judge picks a winner for the current round, and the role passes to a different player each round.

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The judge takes the top card off of the deck and plays it face-up in the middle of the table so everyone can easily see it. Cards with a black border trigger a regular round, but cards with a red border start a bonus round.^{[2]
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Section 2 of 6:

Playing a Regular Round

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The flipped card becomes the first panel of a comic strip.
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The judge plays a card from their hand as the second comic panel. The judge looks through their hand and chooses another card with a black border for the second panel. These two panels are the “setup” for the final punchline.^{[3]
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- Tip: Try to pick a card that makes sense and flows well with the first panel so the other players have an easier time finishing the comic.
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Other players play a card for the final panel face-down. Using the first 2 cards as the setup, the other players can choose any card in their hand as the final panel, or the conclusion to the scene or joke. Set the cards face-down in front of the judge.^{[4]
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- Tip: When you’re picking a card, think about the judge’s sense of humor and what they think is funny. Try to choose cards that will make them laugh so they’re more likely to pick your card later on.

Section 3 of 6:

Playing a Bonus Round

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The red-bordered card becomes the last panel of a comic strip instead of the first one. The judge doesn’t have to play any additional cards this round.
Before anyone plays cards from their hand, they can discard any cards they don’t like and draw new cards from the deck.^{[5]
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Research source} Make sure to have 7 cards total before continuing.
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Players play 2 cards face-down as the first 2 panels of the comic. Each player (except for the judge) picks 2 cards from their hand as the setup. Players set the cards face-down in front of the judge.
- Be sure to specify which card you want as the first panel and which one is for the second panel so the judge knows what order to look at them.^{[6]
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- Typically, the card you put down first will be the first panel, and the card you set on top of it will be the second panel.

Section 4 of 6:

Ending the Round

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Once everyone plays their card(s), the judge will flip them over one at a time and read the full comic strip out loud. After the judge reads all of the cards that were played, they choose the one that was the funniest to them as the winner.
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The player who was chosen takes their cards and earns 1 point per card. The person who played the card(s) picked by the judge takes them back and keeps them face-up. Each of these cards counts as 1 point.
- During a bonus round, players take both of their cards and earn 2 points for the round.

Section 5 of 6:

Finishing & Winning the Game

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The next player on the left becomes the new round’s judge. After the judge picks their favorite, the person to their left becomes the next judge. They’ll flip over the top card of the deck to start the next comic strip.
- If you played cards during the last round, remember to draw new cards from the deck until you have 7 in your hand.
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Play rounds until a player has 3 points. Keep playing additional rounds of the game and taking turns being the judge. As soon as a player has won 3 cards, they win the game!^{[7]
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- If you’re having fun and want to keep playing, then just keep playing until you and your friends get bored.

Section 6 of 6:

House Rules & Variations

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In this version called “Jerk Mode,” whenever the judge flips over a red card from the deck, they immediately add it to their score pile and get a free point. Additionally, the judge can choose another person to lose a point.^{[8]
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Play until the deck runs out for a longer game. Rather than ending the game when someone gets 3 points, continue playing until you use all of the cards in the deck. After the deck runs out, whoever earned the most points is the winner!
- If there’s a tie for who has the most points, the tied players play one last round and whoever’s card gets chosen wins the game.
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Take turns adding cards to create a single long comic strip. Take all of the cards with the red border out from the deck before shuffling and dealing 10 cards to each person. Take turns adding one card to the strip. If a card doesn’t make sense in the comic, other players can reject it with a majority vote. Whoever runs out of cards first, wins!^{[9]
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- If you don’t think any of your cards make sense, you may trade in 1 card from your hand for 2 new cards from the deck, but your turn gets skipped.^{[10]
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Add Joking Hazard expansions to the deck for new cards and more variety during the game.

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Warnings

Even though the cards have fun, cartoon drawings, some of them use bad language and suggestive themes inappropriate for children.

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