'Card v Card' is a game where you race to spend someone else's money
MSCHF, the prank group behind the contest Finger on the App, is back with another game: Card v Card.
Card v Card is a competitive multiplayer bank account where the aim is to spend someone else's (MSCHF's) money. How exactly does that work? Starting today, players put their names on a waitlist to receive debit cards. MSCHF will send out access codes via text message on Monday, Sept. 21, according to the site's FAQ page. Redeem the code on the site and MSCHF will mail the card for you; the cards are free if you're selected.
Once players have their cards, the game begins. The cards link back to one bank account, owned by MSCHF, who will deposit money in the account at random. They'll alert players that money's been deposited via text message, so they recommend adding the phone number (available on the site) to your contacts.
The players then race to spend the money. "The trick to playing Card v Card is that if you overdraft the account you won’t be able to complete your purchase," the FAQ reads. "So, if we put $2000 in the account, it wouldn’t be wise to try to purchase a $2000 item: odds are someone else has purchased something already, so your card will be declined."
As MSCHF says in their Card v Card Manifesto, this is basically Greed: The Game. As with many of MSCHF's drops, it aims to provide societal commentary; in this case, the commentary is centered around credit card and consumerist culture. "Card v Card fulfills the promised allure of Credit Card America without the dire back-end ramifications of the fine print," says the manifesto. "An unmarked credit card tied to someone else’s money is pure extractivism, with no thought towards origins or consequences."
MSCHF plans on running Card v Card for several months, dropping money into the account weekly — though with no set time or amount. If you're up for the challenge, sign up for the waitlist and wait for the game to begin.
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Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky.
