Dumbass! From: Blacksburg Tactical Research Center (BTRC) Reviewed by:  Ron McClung

Dumbass! is a new Card Game (PDF Format) from Blacksburg Tactical Research Center (BTRC).  Some time ago, I wrote a review for F*ck This!, a card game by Blacksburg Tactical Research Center. It was a great game, but a little offensive for some. It involved streaming together words and phrases to form the most vulgar sentence one can put together. Dumbass! is derived from the same mechanic but is less offensive.

From page #2: “You will take the part of one of these walking wastes of oxygen in an attempt to pull off the most boneheaded stunts as possible.”

The PDF includes a 6 page rulebook and the cards in PDF form as well. Obviously, the first thing one needs to do is print out the cards on hard stock and cut them out. They are in a business card format, so they can easily be printed on an Avery perforated template. There are about 130 cards, 10 per page, and he even includes the card back.

The concept of this game "honors" those that make the content of web sites like the Darwin Awards or the local "dumb crook news." Your goal is to pull off the most boneheaded stunts by piecing together stunt sentences through card play. Once you complete a stunt sentence, you pick up all the cards in that stunt and add them to your score.

Most Dumbass! cards have words or partial phrases on them. They are either actions, people, places or things. They also have trump values. Cards can be played on top of other cards but only if they have a higher trump value. At the edge of each card are numbers and shapes designating what cards can be adjacent to it in the stunt sentence. They also could have a coffin or handcuff symbol on them, which warns the player that the card could possible get the player hurt or arrested, and in this game that is a good thing. Some cards also have a "start" or "end" symbol on them, which signifies that the card can start or end a stunt (respectively). Finally, there are also little hazard symbols on the cards that kind of act like suits in a traditional card deck (explained later).

Each player starts with 5 cards and play starts with the dealer. You have two options on your turn. The first is to trump one card and play another adjacent to any card in play. If you complete a stunt after this, then you can pick it up. The second is to play as many cards as you can without trumping or picking up a stunt. There are special cards called Secret cards. They are the only cards that can be played out of turn. They are simply played, and then either discarded or placed in the player's score pile, depending on what they say. They cause a variety of things to happen including stealing cards and adding cards to score piles when certain things (like someone getting arrested) happen. 

A stunt is complete when it starts with a "start" card, ends with an "end" card, and has a total of 10 or more trump points. It also must be a complete sentence and not part of a larger sentence. You are "arrested" if you have a total of three handcuffs in the stunt and "hospitalized" if you have three coffins in the stunt. You earn extra points for them. Also, if there are three matching hazard symbols or five different symbols, you get extra points. Winner is the first person to 12 points.  

The author, at the end of the rules section, supplies alternate ways to run and alternate rules like trading and the "dumbass" rule - if a player takes 30 seconds to decide in his/her turn, he/she is called "dumbass" and lose that turn. My favorite alternate is Dumbass Poker which as the name implies is a twisted version of poker using these cards. 

In conclusion, like its predecessor, this game is brilliant. The best part about it is that it is not just simply a cleaned up version of F*ck This!. It is actually a totally new concept with the same mechanic and just as hilarious. This is a fun and quick game, great for parties or just your group of friends. I highly recommend it.