Cards Against Humanity settles trespass lawsuit against SpaceX

Cards Against Humanity, the irreverent partisan game company known for its provocative humor, has settled its trespassing suit against SpaceX, one year after filing the complaint and launching a profanity-laced marketing campaign against Elon Musk’s rocket company.

The dispute centered on a parcel of land along the Rio Grande River in Cameron County, Texas, that Cards Against Humanity purchased in 2017. The company funded the purchase through 150,000 separate donations of $15 ($2.25 million total) from supporters who wanted to help prevent President Donald Trump’s border wall.

The land happens to be located next to where SpaceX was building the Starbase rocket complex, a launch facility for the company’s spacecraft. This became an issue in 2024 when Cards Against Humanity accused SpaceX of trespassing on the property and dumping construction equipment and materials there. (SpaceX and an attorney for the rocket company did not respond to a request for comment.)

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Cards Against Humanity was seeking $15 million, and told supporters who helped fund the land that it hoped to pay them up to $100 in proceeds. But these supporters won’t receive cash; Instead, they can sign up for a “brand-new mini-pack of exclusive cards themed around Elon Musk,” a special expansion for the popular party game, according to an email they just received.

“So, while we can’t give you what you really want — cash from Elon Musk — we will make it up to you, our best and sexiest customers… with comedy!” the company wrote in the email sent on Monday, referring to the new small package of cards.

“We are happy to stand up to a bully like Musk,” Cards Against Humanity told TechCrunch in a statement. “And we are glad we succeeded in reaching a settlement.” The company says SpaceX removed its construction equipment and that Cards Against Humanity “is working to recover it [the land] To its natural state: free of space junk and meaningless border walls.

In an email to supporters last year, Cards Against Humanity told them: “Unfortunately, an even wealthier, more racist billionaire – Elon Musk – has snuck up on us from behind and completely destroyed your Earth with gravel, tractors and space junk.” She even launched a website called “www.ElonOwesYou100Dollars.com”.

Cards Against Humanity said at the time that its “longstanding reputation as a company that makes obscene promises and actually keeps them is at stake.” But she also warned those supporters in the email that “Musk has a lot more money and lawyers than we do, so you will likely get up to about $2.”

Now they won’t even get that amount.

The lawsuit moved quickly. The two sides have already gone through the discovery process, with the parties exchanging evidence before trial, and the trial is scheduled for November. Cards Against Humanity told TechCrunch on Monday that SpaceX admitted to trespassing during discovery, which the gaming company called a “true vindication.”

Cards Against Humanity said Monday it was “prepared for the trial and we are confident we would have won.” But the company ultimately decided that the experiment “would have cost more than we were likely to win from SpaceX.”

“Under Texas law, we likely wouldn’t be able to recover our legal fees. The truth was on our side, but Musk and SpaceX could easily outspend us,” the company said.

Musk is known for his willingness to fight his perceived enemies — and those of his companies — in court. He once claimed that Tesla’s “aggressive litigation department” “would not give in or settle an unfair case against us, even if we would likely lose.”

Despite this, Musk and his companies often settle down. The Cards Against Humanity case is not the first this year. Earlier this month, X settled a complaint filed by former Twitter executives. Tesla has settled a number of cases related to Autopilot. An Autopilot case that Tesla never settled — despite having the opportunity to do so — became one of its largest court losses to date.