A Game-Night Hater Finally Finds Bliss Playing Cards With Friends Thanks to “Suddenly Stoned”

The straightforward card-drawing game produced by Breaking Games is super simple, even by varsity stoner standards, requiring no established understanding of points, patterns or structure.

Suddenly Stoned Cards (Suddenly Stoned)

Suddenly Stoned has officially challenged my long-held, salty stance on game night.

I’ve never been much of a game enthusiast. Complex world-building games exhaust me, multiplayer board games annoy me, and comedy Q&A games made for cannabis users always come across as though they were written by someone who has never, ever smoked weed. Suddenly Stoned was my attitude adjustment.

The straightforward card-drawing game produced by Breaking Games is super simple, even by varsity stoner standards, requiring no established understanding of points, patterns or structure. Each card has either questions, challenges or throwaway jokes (If you could watch your favorite movie right now, why is it Space Jam?).

I brought Suddenly Stoned to my squad’s weekly RuPaul’s Drag Race watch party, and what started as a request for a few hot takes became a rousing hour of exuberant play that appealed to both the languid and high-strung smokers in our crew, as well as our token teetotaler. Here are the results of our game night along with a description of the rules.

Suddenly Stoned Box (Suddenly Stoned)

How to Play

Players take turns drawing cards with questions to answer or tasks to complete that range from easy (pretend to dodge bullets like you’re in The Matrix, correctly guess the time, catch food in your mouth) to legitimately challenging (create a house of cards with seven used cards, draw the person on your left, share your earliest childhood memory). Participants can choose to play in a circle and keep their resolved cards as points, or, in larger groups, you can play as a team. Or you can do what we did: get powerfully high, pass around some cards and see what happens.

Cards are marked with symbols in the upper left-hand corner that designate whether the task is indica- or sativa-friendly. Aside from that, there is a tenuous connection between the game and cannabis, making it just as fun during a cocktail hour as it was for our watch party. One game-play suggestion recommends playing it concurrently with another game, like Monopoly, with players pulling a Suddenly Stoned card before each turn and either resolving the card or smoking a bowl.

During our session, I slid the cards from the box, handed one to each squad member, and set the remaining stack between us. We then took turns reading our cards out loud, giving everyone in the circle a chance to try the challenge (we all shared childhood memories and attempted to catch food in our mouths).

Suddenly Stoned Conspiracy Card (Suddenly Stoned)

Round One

The first card read aloud was “What’s 6 x 8?” Half the room barked the answer, while the rest of us sank a bit in our seats, bummed at the prospect that there might be a bunch of math questions. Thankfully, we only ran into one, and it was, in retrospect, pretty easy. The next card asked the reader to describe something they did that was allegedly illegal. The next asked us to tell funny sex stories.

Finally, someone was asked to describe the plot of a movie they’d never seen before, and we all got to witness a grown, homosexual man admit to never having seen Steel Magnolias. He then characterized the film as a Sex in the City-Golden Girls mashup the world deserved. I was so impressed by my homey’s storytelling—a hidden talent I likely wouldn’t have discovered unless we played Suddenly Stoned. I made a mental note: Friends play games together to learn more about each other. It was the first step toward reconsidering my unwelcome stance on game night.

Round Two

The hosts of our weekly watch party reside in a large villa with all manner of secret closets, passages and rooms. So when a card reading “Play one round of hide-and-go-seek” was pulled, we were collectively psyched. Everyone took off in different directions, shrieking “Not it!” in chorus, with one voice trailing behind, thus relegating that player to seeking. Even if we hadn’t been several joints deep, this would have been a really fun way to spend 10 minutes.

Once we were all found and reassembled, a bit sweaty and breathless, we agreed that this was maybe a game for more than just stoners. This was a game for anyone who just wanted to have some wholesome, irreverent fun.

Suddenly Stoned Single Card (Suddenly Stoned)

Round Three

We wound down from our chaotic sprint throughout the house with cards like “Have a staring contest with the person in front of you,” and “Tell everyone about a weird dream you had.” These cards made the game feel even more free range, as we belly laughed through several failed staring contests and traded dream stories that wandered from frothy fantasies to recurring nightmares.

The last card I drew before we called it a night asked me to name the most attractive cartoon character from my childhood. I struggled for a moment as I tried to describe the himbo pilot from DuckTales. The entire room chirped “Launchpad McQuack!” and all of a sudden our clique had a brand-new (horny) touchstone, all because of Suddenly Stoned. I still won’t be joining any D&D campaigns, but at least I finally understand the appeal of game night.

Suddenly Stoned Performance Card (Suddenly Stoned)

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