Michael Kohler

Seaside’s Michael Kohler has observed extreme reactions to his playing card creation. Like the guy on YouTube laughing so hard he can’t breathe. Or the individual who sent a 650-word email about how terrible its inventors must be, and deserve to be thrown in jail.

That’s just the beginning of the adulation and anger generated by Crabs Adjust Humidity, volumes of supplemental playing cards used with the original game, Cards Against Humanity. For the uninitiated, that’s a game Cards’ own makers define as “despicable and awkward as you and your friends.”

Kohler’s game became profitable within a few weeks of launching in July 2013, and now ships to 26 countries on three continents. He and his wife Amber have done well enough to abandon their other careers, in graphic design and sales, respectively, and fully support themselves by selling their cards online.

While Kohler grows more and more popular, he’s become a target for patent attorneys (Cards Against Humanity is opposing two of his trademarks) and intellectual property pirates (chasing Chinese counterfeiters, he says, “is like playing whack-a-mole”). He’s better known locally as the beer gnome, aka the guy with a pointy hat and beard who’s a regular at local brew fests and, sans hat, at Post No Bills Craft Beer House in Sand City.

Weekly: How do you describe the type of human who feels alive playing CAH?

Kohler: It’s someone with a dark sense of humor and appreciation of the absurd.

What was the spark that led to your CAH?

Crabs Adjust Humidity came about because I was at a friend’s birthday party just after I got laid off, and a bunch of people were playing with our set of Cards Against Humanity, which had a couple hundred custom cards Amber and I had written. Everyone liked our cards better than the official ones. I woke up at 5am the next morning with the idea fully formed in my head.

How would you describe 1) your creative process, 2) your workflow, and 3) your chi?

1. It’s incredibly hard to be funny on a deadline [for new editions]. Any time we think of a good card, day or night, no matter where we are, we write it down immediately in a spreadsheet from our phones. It’s second nature by now.

2. When we start getting close to deadline, we dredge through the list and sort the diamonds from the muck. Then we edit, edit, edit until we’re happy with it, run out several prototype decks, and have intense, hours-long playtest sessions with as many people as we can. We have a couple different playtest groups around the country to help make sure we aren’t getting too regional with the humor.

3. By the time we actually go to press, it’s hard to find anything in a new deck funny anymore, because we’ve been beating our heads against it for weeks and weeks. Then we stop looking at it, and a couple months later when it comes back from the printer, we’re dazzled by our own brilliance.

What’s the story with the gnome hat?

When my beard got long and pointy, it was the natural consequence.

What would your life and new career be like without craft beer?

Much more boring. I would never have been crazy enough to try this whole thing without craft beer. We only played Cards Against Humanity in the first place because it was introduced to us by friends we met drinking craft beer.

Speed round: Favorite CAH memory?

We were on vacation in South Carolina last year, having dinner at a little hipster gastropub. Chatting with the guy next to us, he freaks out when he hears who we are, and pulls out his phone to show me his favorite card of ours. It blew my mind.

Favorite CAH creation?

It’s hard to pick favorites, but I have a soft spot for “Cockasaurus rex: the horniest dinosaur of them all.”

How do you know you have a gifted CAH player on your hands?

It’s all about the most creative, non-obvious combinations. Some people can tell a whole story, comedy or tragedy, in two or three cards.

Best sequence you’ve heard of late?

I won’t say it’s the best, but a few months back I saw a black card – “What really brings out the child in me?” – answered with the white card, “A few sharp tugs.” We were all just quiet for a minute. It won the hand.