Comeback CatZ · Cards Against Sexism
How to play
You scanned the box. Good. Two minutes here and you’re playing — and the wellbeing guide is further down, whenever you need it.
The sixty-second version
If the table is already waiting, this is enough to start. The detail is underneath.
The full rules
You know the rules. You’ve heard the comments. The two differences: every Comment card is a line someone really said, and firing back is timed.
Deal
Everyone takes seven Comeback cards — the blue ones — and keeps them hidden. Put the Comment cards, the purple ones, face down in the middle.
Pick a Top Cat to go first: whoever arrived latest, has the loudest shoes, or won the previous round. Democracy is optional.
Read it out
The Top Cat draws a Comment card and reads it aloud, in their best offender voice. Commit to it — a mumbled Comment kills the round.
Every Comment card in this deck is something someone really said. We didn’t have to invent any of them.
Fire back, blind
Everyone except the Top Cat picks one Comeback from their hand and slides it face down into the middle. You get fifteen seconds. No deliberating, no workshopping — the whole point is the line you reach for first.
If you’re playing without a timer, the Top Cat counts down from fifteen out loud.
15 secondsShuffle and deliver
The Top Cat shuffles the pile of played Comebacks — only the cards face down in the middle, not the Comment deck and not anyone’s hand — and deals one back to each player at random. You will often not get your own; that’s the joke.
The Top Cat reads the Comment again. Going round the table, each player delivers whichever Comeback they were handed, out loud, like they mean it.
Judge and score
The Top Cat crowns the funniest delivery. Not the cleverest card — the best delivery. Someone selling a weak line beats someone mumbling a great one.
The winner keeps that Comment card. Everyone draws back up to seven. The role of Top Cat passes to the left.
House rules worth stealing
None of these are official. All of them make the game better.
- Rehearsal. After the Top Cat crowns a winner, the winner performs the line a second time, dead straight, directly to the person on their right. No laughing. Much harder than it sounds.
- Sudden death. Running short on time? Play to three Comment cards instead of five.
- The real one. Before the round, anyone who has actually had that Comment said to them puts a hand up. If someone does, they judge the round instead of the Top Cat.
- Office mode. Coming with the second print run: a Mild-only sub-deck, marked with a pink corner, safe enough for the staff away day.
got a good one? send it in — we’re collecting for the next run
The wellbeing guide
Read this bit properly
Every Comment card is a line someone really said, which means somebody at your table has probably had it said to them. That is the point of the game, and it is also the risk of it. A few minutes of setup makes the difference.
- Agree the opt-out before you deal. Anyone can bin a card, skip a turn or step out of a round at any point, with no explanation asked for and none given. Say this out loud at the start so nobody has to be the first one to ask.
- Play it at the line, not at the person. The Comment cards are the target. Nobody at the table is.
- Watch the room, not just the cards. If someone goes quiet, that matters more than finishing the round. Check in afterwards, privately, rather than making it a moment in front of everyone.
- Nobody owes the table their story. A card landing close to home is not an invitation to ask what happened. If someone wants to tell you, they will.
- Know when to stop. If the mood has turned, end the game. It is a pack of cards. There will be other evenings.
- It’s a party game, not a training course. Whether and how you use any of these lines in real life is entirely your call, and real situations are rarely as safe as a table with your friends around it.
The bin rule
If a card lands badly for anyone — the person holding it, the person it was aimed at, anyone listening — it goes out of the game. Bin it, draw another, carry on.
No explanation needed. No vote. No “but it’s only a joke.” One person is enough.
If it’s bigger than the game
Sometimes a card stops being funny because it is too close to something real and current. If that is you, or someone you were playing with, this is the part of the page that matters.
Sophia
Sophia is run by Spring ACT, our sister organisation, and a portion of every deck sold keeps her running. That is the whole reason this game exists.
If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number first. Sophia is support, not an emergency service.
Not a toy. Contains adult language and themes. 18+. Keep away from small children and small-minded uncles.
Questions that come up
How many people do we need?
Three at an absolute minimum, and it’s better with four or more. Eight is about the ceiling before the round takes too long. It plays best at five or six.
Do the Comebacks match the Comments?
No, and they’re not meant to. Any Comeback can answer any Comment — the mismatches are usually where the best moments come from.
Can men play?
Yes. Allies at the table make it better, and the game is a lot more interesting when it isn’t only people who have heard these lines first-hand. What doesn’t work is treating it as a debate.
Is it suitable for work?
The full deck is 18+ and some of it is blunt. For a work setting, wait for Office mode in the second print run, or have someone pull the harsher Comment cards out before you start.
What if we run out of Comment cards?
Shuffle the won cards back in and carry on. With 65 Comments and a first-to-five finish, that rarely happens in one sitting.
Can we play with our own cards?
Please do. Blank-ish rounds work well: someone says a real line they’ve heard, and everyone answers it from their hand. If you write a good one, send it in — we’re collecting them for the next edition.
Playing someone else’s deck?
Get your own. The first edition is limited and the Christmas list closes 31 October.