Collect Cats, Defuse Bombs, or Blow Up in Exploding Kittens: Party Pack Edition

Use your cards wisely or find yourself exploding along with an adorable kitten. Kittens are sweet but not so much when they’re blowing you sky-high.

Exploding Kittens, published by the company of the same name, set the record for the most backers in Kickstarter history when its campaign first launched. Exploding Kittens: Party Pack Edition can be played with 2-10 players, and is a light and fast card game.

Gameplay

Each player is given one defuse card and then dealt seven cards from the deck. Exploding kittens equal to the number of players minus one are shuffled into the deck. You are ready to begin!

On your turn you may either pass or play as many cards as you wish from your hand. Cards have different abilities — for example, one might allow you to look at the top cards of the deck or take a card from another player. When playing cards, you can play any two matching cards to steal a card from another player at random, three matching cards to name a card and steal it from an opponent if they have it, and you can play five completely different cards to go through the discard pile to take any one single card you wish.

At the end of your turn, after you passed or played, and assuming you did not play a card that allows you to skip it, you draw a single card and add it to your hand. If you draw an exploding kitten, it explodes and you are out of the game unless you can use a defuse card. Defuse cards allow you to replace the exploding kitten back in the deck anywhere you like. You can even replace it secretly so that the other players do not see where you put it.

The game continues until only one player remains, unexploded. This player is the winner!

Review

Exploding Kittens is one of those easy-to-learn, quick-to-get-into card games that works so well at parties or with groups who don’t play a lot of games. It’s accessible, it’s light, there’s lots of player interaction and take-that, turns go quickly, but there’s a little bit of strategy as well as push-your-luck as you decide when to play your more powerful cards and when to save them based on the odds of drawing an exploding kitten as the deck shrinks.

That moment when you draw your card is always suspenseful, and it’s actually quite exciting, especially as the deck shrinks lower and lower, and there’s always lots of groans or cheers when a kitten finally explodes. Meanwhile, the defuse cards are a solid addition, as it makes sure that a player isn’t likely to be eliminated too early on.

This Party Pack Edition is compatible with a wide player count, which is great given the accessibility of this game and how easy it is to start playing. That being said, you probably don’t want to play it at the highest player counts, as there is going to be a lot of downtime.

The packaging for this edition is really fun and sets the tone for what you’re getting into when you open the box and music starts to play. The artwork is definitely intended to be humorous, but we do think that the humor is likely to be met with mixed results. Some players will find it really fun and for others it might actually be a slight deterrent to playing.

Exploding Kittens is a fast, funny good time. It brings a little extra thought to this style of card game and does so in a satisfying way.

Pros: Very accessible, fast, lots of player interaction

Cons: The humor of the artwork won’t be for everyone, too much downtime at the higher player counts

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.