Exploding Kittens - Review

Yes, that’s right! It’s time to blow up some kittens. But don’t worry, we’re also going to speak to goat wizards and Abracrab Lincoln. Yes, it’s time for me to review Exploding Kittens! In this game, players take it in turns to draw cards and hope they don’t pick an exploding kitten. Exploding Kittens featured in my top three travel games of 2022, and for good reason!

Once you draw an Exploding Kitten your only hope is to Defuse it!

Set-up: 9/10

Setting up the game is fast and easy, give each player a Defuse, set the Exploding Kittens to one side, then shuffle up the cards and deal out a hand of seven cards to each player. Then, shuffle a number of Exploding Kittens equal to one less than the number of players into the deck.

When playing, I put the Exploding Kittens and Defuses into a separate discard pile, which makes them easier to find for future games.

See the Future or Attack your opponents to prevent yourself from going boom!

Mechanics: 9/10

Exploding Kittens has very few mechanics. On your turn, you may play any number of cards from your hand, and then end your turn by drawing a card. That’s it. The cards all say on them what they do, so players simply have to follow the instructions on the card. If you draw an Exploding Kitten, you can play a Defuse

Scoring: 10/10

There’s no scoring in this game, it’s simply a case of the last person standing wins!

Will you draw the cute Cattermelon, or will you Explode?

Speed: 8/10

Exploding Kittens is a fast-paced game. It’s also not slowed down by adding more players; in fact, games feel faster with more people playing. With more players, you have a smaller deck of cards to get through, and more Exploding Kittens in the deck, so players get out faster. This will change with larger groups, but with anything from two to five players games will take a similar amount of time. The Exploding Kittens party pack even has separate cards for playing with different numbers of players, balancing the game better and keeping it from becoming too stagnant.

Replayability: 9/10

Exploding Kittens is a great game that can be played over and over. Like most card games, every game is different; in one game you might survive only two turns, in another, you might achieve victory!

Draw from the Bottom and Shuffle can be used to avoid Exploding Kittens - if you’re lucky!

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoy Exploding Kittens. It’s a great, fast paced game, which is easy to learn. This makes it great for new players to access, whilst still providing a fun challenge for experienced players. The game grows more tense as it progresses, as the deck of cards grows smaller, and the chances of drawing an Exploding Kitten increases! The final few turns quickly become a battle of wits and chance, as players vie to be the last one standing.

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As always, thanks for reading!

Chris