Exploding Kittens

A card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometime goats. 2 to 5 players ages 7 and up

It seems everywhere I look these days I see someone is talking about Exploding Kittens. It sounds like a wild, crazy time. Something I knew we would have to try.

We wondered what it would be like. Would be fast paced like Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza? Strategy driven like Jok-R-Rummy? Or would be be more like the dice game Volcano, where players are fed into the Volcano. It turns out it’s a little bit like them but mostly, like nothing we had ever played before.

Object of Exploding Kittens

The object of Exploding Kittens is to be the last player eliminated by drawing Exploding Kitten cards.

Set Up

The rules of Exploding Kittens say to take out both the Exploding Kitten cards and the Defuse cards. Next, deal four cards to all players and one defuse card to each player. Then shuffle in all the remaining defuse cards and enough Exploding Kitten cards for each player plus one into the deck. The deck is then placed in the middle of the playing area.

Exploding Kitten Cards

Exploding Kitten cards – these cards eliminate players. Unless you have a defuse card.

Defuse card – these cards defuse the Exploding Kitten card, allowing a player to stay in the game. Once played, the defuse card is left on the discard pile but the Exploding Kitten card is placed back in the draw pile by the player who just played the defuse card.

Nope cards – these cards allow a player to stop any action except for an Exploding Kitten or defuse card.

Attack cards – these cards allow you to not pick up at the end of your turn and makes the next player take two turns in a row.

Skip cards – these cards allow you to not have to pick up at the end of your turn.

Favor cards – these cards force another player to give you a card from their hand.

Shuffle cards—when you play these cards you get to shuffle the draw pile.

See the Future cards—these cards allow you to peek at the next three cards on the draw pile.

Regular cards – there are 5 sets of cards that are powerless. These cards can be played only in pairs.

Playing Exploding Kittens

On a players turn, he can play any card in his hand that he wants. If he wishes not to play a card, he can do that also. At the end of his turn he must draw a card unless he has played a card that allows him to skip.

Players follow the rules of the cards as they are played, making sure to draw a card after every turn.

When a player draws an Exploding Kitten card and has no defuse card, she is out. Play continues until all but one player has been exploded out of the game.

Winning Exploding Kittens

The last person in the game, or the one who avoids being exploded, is the winner.

What We Like

The quality of this game is good. The box is sturdy and the right size, including extra space for adding expansions. The fact that there are many expansion packs to go along with the game is also a positive (although at this time we haven’t tried any).

Some of us like the art work and the humor on the cards.

What We Don’t Like

First, the non-action cards seem to be pointless. Now there are advanced rules where they have value but we haven’t gotten that far.
Next, the game is pretty pointless for the first half. All the action is only once the exploding kitten has been exposed and all the defuse cards have been used. It mainly comes down to luck. Usually we’re good with just luck games but this one seems to be lacking something. It would be nice if there were some skill to use.

Lastly, it should be a simple enough game to play but we seem to have to refer to the rules over and over. Maybe we haven’t played enough or are trying to make it more complicated than it is. I’m not sure. The box says it takes 2 minutes to learn and that just doesn’t seem to be the case.

Conclusion

I had high hopes for Exploding Kittens. I really wanted to like it. Sadly, I have to say that overall, we don’t care for it. I will say that it would be a better game for teens to play rather than the whole family. So, if you have teens and are looking for newer games to add to your Family Game Shelf you can try Exploding Kittens, if not find a different game for you next family game night.

Shop for Exploding Kittens and one of the many expansion packs to see if it’s right for your family. Canadians can shop Exploding Kittens and check out the expansion packs here.

To find a card game that we do reccommend, visit our card game section, our game reviews and our dice game section.

Rating:

Pros: quality, teen appeal, expansion packs
Cons: confusing, first half of game is boring,
Mom: not much