The Exploding Kittens rules are deceptively simple. But, just like a deck of cards hiding a combustible cat, there are hidden details just waiting to trip you up. Can you Nope a Nope card? What’s a combo? If you need help learning how to play Exploding Kittens, you’re in the right place.
Below you’ll find a comprehensive Exploding Kittens tutorial, ready to introduce you to one of the best board games for beginners. We’ve set out to make this easy card game even easier with a complete guide to setup, turns, and every playable card.
Here are the Exploding Kittens rules, explained:
- How many players is Exploding Kittens?
- How long is a game of Exploding Kittens?
- How do you win Exploding Kittens?
- Exploding Kittens setup
- How to play a turn
- All Exploding Kittens cards explained
- Exploding Kittens: Party Pack cards explained
- Optional Exploding Kittens rules
How many players is Exploding Kittens?
A standard game of Exploding Kittens can be played by two to five people. Party card games are often best with big groups of people, though – if you want a game with up to ten players, grab a copy of Exploding Kittens: Party Pack instead.
How long is a game of Exploding Kittens?
Exploding Kittens is a fast-paced card game, with the average game time estimated to last 15 minutes. This is a game with a hefty dose of random, however, so the exact length of the game very much depends on how many players there are – and how the cards have been shuffled.
How do you win Exploding Kittens?
Exploding Kittens is like a card-based, cat-themed version of Russian Roulette. Pull an Exploding Kitten card without any way to defuse the situation, and you’re out. The last player standing wins the game.
Exploding Kittens setup
Start by taking all Exploding Kittens cards from the deck. Depending on how many people are playing, you may also need to remove a few extra cards. Two to three player games use cards with a single paw print in the top right corner, while four to seven players use cards without a paw print. For even larger groups, use all cards in the deck.
Also remove any Defuse cards, dealing one to each player and returning any leftover cards to the deck. Now, shuffle the deck and deal everyone a hand of seven cards each.
At this point, those spicy Exploding Kittens are put back in the deck. Add Exploding Kittens cards equal to the number of players, minus one. Any extras can go back in the box with the other cards you’re not using.
Shuffle the deck one more time to give those Exploding Kittens a place to hide. Then, decide who will go first.
How to play a turn
You can play as many cards as you like on your turn – including none. Simply place your chosen card face-up in the discard pile beside the deck, and resolve its effects.
Once you’ve tired of dropping kittens in the discard, end your turn by drawing the top card of the deck and adding it to your hand.
Well, you’ll normally add it to your hand. But if you’ve drawn an Exploding Kitten – kaboom. Discarding a Defuse card neutralizes the explosion, but otherwise it’s game over.
With your fate decided, play continues clockwise to the next person. There’s no maximum number of cards you can have in your hand, so don’t go discarding any before passing your turn.
All Exploding Kittens cards explained
Here’s a reminder of what each of the Exploding Kittens cards can do:
Exploding Kitten
When drawn, reveal this card immediately. Unless you have a Defuse card, you’ve lost the game and must discard all your cards – including this one.
Defuse
If you draw an Exploding Kitten, discard this card immediately. Then, secretly add the Exploding Kitten to the deck. You can’t re-order or look at the cards, but you can place the Exploding Kitten anywhere you like (including right on top, ready for the next player to draw).
If you play a Defuse card, your turn is over and you can’t play any subsequent cards.
Cat
These cards have no special abilities, and in older versions of the game, there aren’t any instructions printed on them at all. Discard two at the same time to unlock their ability. When a pair is played, you can take a random card from any player’s hand.
Attack
End your turn without drawing a card, and force the next player to take two turns in a row. This means the next player must play or pass, draw a card, and then repeat this a second time. If that player also plays an Attack card, the effects roll onto the next person – who will take four turns in a row if they haven’t got an Attack card of their own.
Skip
End your turn immediately without drawing a card. If you play this in response to an Attack, the card only ends one of your two turns. You’d need to play a second Skip if you wanted to survive the assault without drawing any cards.
See the Future
Secretly look at the top three cards of the deck, and put them back in the same order.
Shuffle
Shuffle the deck until someone tells you when to stop. Do this without looking at any of the cards in the deck.
Nope
Stop any card from resolving – except an Exploding Kitten or a Defuse card. Yes, this means you can Nope another Nope card, and someone can Nope that Nope card, and so on, and so on. Nope cards can also be played outside of your turn.
Favor
Force another player to give you a card from their hand (they get to choose which).
Exploding Kittens: Party Pack cards explained
These cats can’t be found in the base game, but they are in the Party Pack edition.
Alter the Future
Look at the top three cards of the deck in secret. This time, you can put them back in any order you want.
Draw from the Bottom
End your turn, and draw from the bottom of the deck rather than the top.
Feral Cat
Can be used to represent any of the Cat cards.
Double Slap / Triple Slap
These function a lot like Attack cards, and they replace them in some editions of Party Pack. End your turn without drawing a card and force any player to take two (or three) turns in a row. Even if you draw and defuse an Exploding Kitten, you finish all the forced turns. And yes, the effects stack if the target plays their own Slap card.
Reverse
Also only found in some editions of Party Pack, this card reverses the turn order and lets you end your turn without drawing. If you’ve been forced to take several turns in a row (by an Attack or Slap, for example), you’ve only ended one of the prescribed turns.
Optional Exploding Kittens rules
After you’ve played a few games, you might want to try adding special combos to keep your gaming group on their toes. There are three possible combos you can play:
Two of a Kind
If you play two copies of any card (not just Cat cards), you can take a card at random from another player’s hand.
Three of a Kind
Play three cards of the same name, and you can choose another player to steal a card from. This time, name a specific card (Defuse, for example). If that player has one, it’s now yours. You get nothing if they don’t have the card you were looking for.
Five different cards
If you play any five different cards at once, you can take a card of your choice from the discard pile.
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