Israeli humor, no filters: the right answer is probably the most wrong

Content warning: This game is for adults aged 18 and over. It includes dark humor, explicit language and sexual content that some readers may find offensive.

“I spent 800 shekels on… and I don’t regret a single shekel.” That sentence appears in Bli Filterim, leaving players to choose a card to complete it. The most sensible answer probably won’t help here. The aim is to make that round’s judge laugh, and knowing their sense of humor makes the choice more interesting.

This Hebrew card game, inspired by Cards Against Humanity, is for three to eight players and runs in a phone or computer browser. One person creates a room; the others join through a link, room code or QR code. There’s no registration or download, and built-in voice chat lets everyone hear the reactions when playing remotely.

Playing from afar was the reason the game was made. Its creator, Dvir Yotvat, belongs to a group of friends from Jerusalem who have scattered to different places over the years. They still meet occasionally to play Cards Against Humanity, but he didn’t want to wait for the next get-together every time. Yotvat, a 33-year-old software engineer from Ma’ale Adumim, is married with two daughters and also serves as a combat reservist. He decided to build a game of his own.

When Dvir told me how the idea came about, I thought about trying to arrange an evening with my own friends. Everyone lives somewhere different; Thursday works for one, Saturday for another. By the time we find a date that suits everyone, we have to check whether it still works for the person who suggested it. Sometimes the evening gets postponed, and “we must get together” stays in the group chat. Here, you can just send a link and start playing without all the fuss.

Seven answer cards to complete the sentence “I spent 800 shekels on… and I don’t regret a single shekel.”

Anyone familiar with Cards Against Humanity will pick up the rules quickly. Each player gets seven answer cards, and one person acts as the judge each round. Everyone else chooses a card to complete the question or sentence on screen. The judge picks the winning answer without knowing who submitted it. The winner earns a point, and the next person takes over as judge.

The default target is seven points, but you can change it or keep playing until the host decides to stop. A question such as “What is the Mossad hiding in its most secret safe?” gives you an idea of the tone. Then you have to decide which of your cards best suits the current judge’s questionable sense of humor.

The Hebrew writing and local references particularly interest me. In a game built around jokes, wording does a lot of the work. A familiar expression or a reference to life in Israel can turn a card into something the whole group immediately gets. There are also expansion packs covering subjects such as reserve duty, dating and the tech industry, so you can choose material closer to our lives as Israelis. Of course, this humor needs the right group. The game is for adults, and its cards deliberately get crude. It helps to know who you’re playing with and what makes them laugh, even from the other side of a screen.

The waiting room with four participants, a room code and a QR code for joining.

The base game is free, and expansions are sold as one-time purchases. Only the host needs to buy them for everyone in the room to play with the extra cards. I like that choice: you can invite friends to try the game without asking everyone to buy something first. The host needs to keep the game open on their device for the room to stay active. Instructions and expansion details are on the official website.

If your group also struggles to find time to meet, you could try arranging an evening where everyone stays at home. At least nobody can blame the traffic this time. You’ll find Bli Filterim here. Save your filters for tomorrow’s work call.