Card games
Exploding Kittens
AsmodeeMatthew Inman, Elan Lee…2015
- players
- 2–5
- minutes
- 15
- years
- 7+
In the box
56 cards
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designers
- Matthew Inman, Elan Lee, Shane Small
- Artwork
- Matthew Inman, Elan Lee, Shane Small
- Publisher
- Asmodee
- Mechanics
- Hand ManagementHot PotatoPlayer EliminationPush Your LuckSet Collection
- Expansions
- Exploding Kittens: Imploding Kittens · 2019
- Exploding Kittens: Streaking Kittens · 2022
- Exploding Kittens: Barking Kittens · 2020
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Don't draw an Exploding Kitten, or else know how to defuse it. On your turn, play as many cards as you like, or none, then draw a card, which ends your turn; an Exploding Kitten knocks you out, unless you play a Defuse at once and put the kitten back in the draw pile in secret. The game ends when only one player is left, and that player wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
1 Defuse each, 7 cards dealt, Kittens: players − 1
- Two to five players with the base box.
- Set aside the four Exploding Kittens and the six Defuse cards. Each player gets one Defuse; the remaining Defuse cards go back into the deck (only two with two or three players, the others leave the game).
- Shuffle and deal seven cards to each player, who now holds eight.
- Then insert one Exploding Kitten fewer than there are players, shuffle, and form the draw pile. Extra kittens leave the game.
How to play
Play as many as you like, Drawing ends your turn, Kitten: defuse it
- On your turn, play as many cards as you like, or none, then draw a card: drawing is what ends your turn.
- Drawing an Exploding Kitten means showing it and being knocked out, unless you play a Defuse at once. You then put the kitten back anywhere you like in the draw pile, in secret and without looking at the other cards; this ends your turn. A player who is knocked out discards their whole hand.
- See the Future: look at the top three cards in secret, without changing their order. Shuffle reshuffles the draw pile. Skip ends your turn without drawing.
- Attack ends your turn without drawing; the next player must take two turns in a row. If they answer with an Attack, the following player inherits the turns that were left, plus two.
- Favor: an opponent of your choice must give you a card, which they choose.
- Nope cancels any action except an Exploding Kitten or a Defuse, at any time, even outside your turn. A Nope can itself be cancelled by another Nope.
- Two identical Cat Cards let you take a card at random from an opponent's hand.
Scoring
No points
- No points: enter 1 for the last player standing, 0 for the others.
End of the game
Only 1 player left
- The round ends when only one player is left.
House rules and pitfalls
Combos from the rulebook, to try after a first game: a pair of any cards with the same name steals a random…
- Combos from the rulebook, to try after a first game: a pair of any cards with the same name steals a random card; three of a kind lets you name a specific card, which the opponent hands over if they have it; five different cards let you take any card of your choice from the discard pile.
- No hand limit: a player with no cards simply keeps drawing.
- The deck always holds one kitten fewer than there are players: the game is bound to end, and always with one survivor.
- The player puts the kitten back anywhere they like in the draw pile, in secret. Putting it right on top, to catch the next player, is the classic move — and it is also the first place your opponent will guess it is.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · Rules on video · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
How do you win?
By being the last player alive. Players take turns drawing; whoever draws an Exploding Kitten is out, unless they can defuse it.
How do you defuse an Exploding Kitten?
With a Defuse card: you stop the explosion and put the kitten back into the draw pile, anywhere you like, in secret — often right on top, to catch the next player.
What are the action cards for?
To avoid drawing, or to tamper with the draw pile: Skip (end your turn without drawing), Attack (make your neighbour take two turns), See the Future (look at the top three cards), Shuffle, and so on.
What do pairs of Cat Cards do?
Two identical cards let you steal a random card from an opponent. They have no power of their own, so that is all they are for.
How many Exploding Kittens are there?
One fewer than the number of players: there will always be exactly one survivor. Defuse cards, on the other hand, are limited — the tension rises every turn.
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.