Abuse: The Final Insult (2004)

About this game

The concept is one of the oldest in existence—make the other guy look bad by beating him down verbally. Abuse is a fast-playing game of instant gratification at its most base—serving up heapin' helpings of nastiness on your friends, before they can do the same to you. To quote that eminent sage George Carlin, "It's all about 'doing the dozens.'" Written and designed by Greg Stolze, with graphics by Samuel Araya, Abuse is easy to learn. Each player aims to destroy the ego (not really, it is only a game!) of the other players, by laying down insults created from cards in one's hand. The objective: get as many of your cards out of your hand before the end of the round (brought on by someone emptying their hand), so as to have as few points as possible. At the end of the game, whoever sinks the lowest (in score as well as insults) wins! Just to make things even more interesting, there are blank cards (helping you to put your own personal touch on your insults) and snappy retorts, which allow you to turn the tables on someone who's just insulted your mother. Abuse is a non-collectible card game with eighty cards in a deck, good for four players per each deck in play.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 4.
• Rules load. At 1.3/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 12 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.