Exploding Kittens

Plays: 4Px2.

The Game

Exploding Kittens was a wildly successful Kickstarter project. We are talking a USD 8.7M success here, no kidding. However I never read up much about it when it was hot. I only knew it was a simple and silly card game. I don't remember any of my regular boardgame kaki's owning it, and I never got to try it. Recently I received an extra copy of the game from Zee Zun. That was how I got to play this little slightly crazy game.

The stars of the show are, of course, the exploding kittens, like this one above. They are basically bombs. When you draw a bomb card, you are out of the game. When all but one player is left, he wins.

The game is simple. Everyone starts with a hand of cards. On your turn, you may play any number of cards. Once you are done, you must draw a card from the deck before ending your turn. There are many types of cards, and they can be used in various situations. The Defuse card lets you neutralise an exploding kitten. Instead of losing, you get to insert the exploding kitten back into the deck. There's a card which lets you peek at the next three cards in the deck. This can help you avoid being the next person to draw an exploding kitten. There's a card which allows you to skip drawing a card, and have someone else do it instead. There's a card which allows you to reshuffle the deck. There's a card which lets you rob a card from an opponent. There's a card which lets you cancel a card just played by another player. All these cards give you some control, reducing the likelihood of you drawing an exploding kitten and increasing the likelihood of others drawing it. However, overall this is still a luck-heavy game.

The Play

I played with my family. Younger daughter Chen Rui likes cats (and kittens) so she was keen to play. We made a mistake in our first game. The No card should not be able to cancel Defuse cards or exploding kittens. When Michelle tried to save herself with a Defuse card, Shee Yun played a No card to cancel the Defuse. Michelle was promptly eliminated. It was only afterwards that we learned our mistake.

There is plenty of interaction, because there are many offensive ("take that") cards. Who to play these cards on is a very human or social part of the game. It's about favouritism, it is about taking sides. It is about persuasion and negotiation, threatening and pleading. This is not a game about logical reasoning, impersonal calculations or careful strategising. This is a game about being childish, silly and petty. A game takes maybe 7 or 8 minutes. With 4 players, there are 3 exploding kittens in the deck. Regardless of how cleverly you play your cards, someone will still be drawing a card turn after turn, and sooner or later that card will be an exploding kitten and people will get blown up.

The Thoughts

Exploding Kittens is a silly and simple game. There is little depth. Don't let the "strategy" word in their marketing spiel mislead you. That's meant for the mass market, i.e. non gamers. This game is a party game and a filler. The cards make you feel you have some control, when in fact it's mostly luck. This is actually a good thing - making you feel you have control. The prime example is Love Letter. It's a lot of luck, but the game mechanisms sometimes make you feel you've pulled off a clever move.