The world is full of press your luck style games, hot potato, slot machines, and Russian roulette, just to name a few. But only one combines cats, bombs, and the hilarity of the Oatmeal’s artwork. That game is Exploding Kittens.
In Exploding Kittens, players take turns drawing cards until a kitten card is drawn, eliminating that player from the game. Then play continues until only one play is remaining. BUT WAIT! Defusing the bomb keeps you in the game, and reloads the deck with another bomb. The deck is also full of UNO style action cards that allow you to skip a turn, reverses draw order, or stack the deck. In addition, players can find and match objects and characters from the Oatmeal to steal cards from your opponent. Don’t play too many cards too quickly, or your opponent can steal your defuse card!
Our first game of Exploding kittens brought forth the cutthroat nature of our office personnel. The first few turns merely ticked down the stack, as player after player played nothing, trusting the kitten-bomb was not too close to the top. Once the first kitten flipped (eight draws in), carnage broke loose. A timed skip card saw the stacking of five nope cards (I still do not know how the skipper got so many of them), leaving the next player with no option but to defuse. The hilarity continued after one then another player fell to the nefarious kittens. In the end, two players who had saved most of their cards through the game went on a stealing spree, trying to empty their opponent’s hands of any safe place to hide. Each card draw the tension in the air got thicker. Pea soup would be jealous of that last draw, leaving my boss and lady luck as the only survivors.
Exploding Kittens is a 2-5 player game for ages 7+. The rules are so simple, that anyone can pick it up in no more than a few moments.
We would like to thank Exploding Kittens for this great donation, and for sponsoring International Games Week!
