Disgruntled Decks Give Cards Against Humanity a Military Twist

"Cards Against Humanity" is a game known for its irreverent humor, where nothing is sacred. But it was still missing something. That's where Disgruntled Decks came in. The business started with a simple idea during game night."A group of us, mostly Army Vets, would meet up once a month for game night to throw back some beers and reminisce about our time in the service," the team told us in an interview. "The subject of a military-themed game would sometimes come up, which was always followed by hilarious suggestions for its hypothetical card topics. After scouring the internet and finding no such game existed, a few of us decided to take on the project ourselves."What followed was an addition of epic proportions, based largely on the experiences of the soldiers. One of the team members shared their story behind one of the cards:"One card that comes to mind is 'The unshakable desire to burn CIF to the ground.' CIF stands for "Central Issue Facility" and is the location where Soldiers receive and turn in equipment, outer garments, and other miscellaneous gear. CIF is notorious for terrible customer service, especially when Soldiers are trying to turn in equipment. Most Soldiers at one time or another wish they could burn the place to the ground in a cool guy, slow motion, flicking-a-cigarette-on-a-trail-of-gas sort of way. "

With that sense of humor, Disgruntled Decks also hopes to bring vets and civilians closer together. "Because group play is inherent in the game, it forces people to wrangle their friends and family together to successfully play," the team told us. "Combine a hilarious, military-themed game with a group of service members and you have a recipe for nonstop 'No sh*t, there I was...' conversations prompted by the relevant card topics. This gets people talking about the great times they shared in the service, and also the not-so-great times. We feel that giving Vets a reason to come together and laugh about these shared experiences serves as a conduit for healing because it brings to light topics that normally wouldn't be discussed in passing, but in a lighthearted tone with familiar people. Think of it as unorthodox group therapy with a card game prompting conversation. We like to describe it with the phrase 'Healing through humor; because some Veterans have a good amount of healing left to do.'"That's when the company realized that it wasn't just the vets at home that could benefit from the game. Current service members serving overseas could use it, too. So, they partnered up with Operation Supply Drop to distribute the decks all over the world. Through donations on their initial Kickstarter campaign and their website, they've been able to send over 1,000 decks to soldiers that need them the most.

What's next for Disgruntled Decks? Branch-specific decks (including Coast Guard - didn't forget you guys!), and creating expansion packs for anyone to use. But for now, the main goal is, "improving the lives of our service members and Veterans, one teary-eyed laugh at a time. After all, isn't giving back to the people you care about most what it's all about?"