Exploding Kittens

Aficionados of the internet’s weirder side are likely to already be familiar with the long-running Oatmeal webcomic. Exploding Kittens is the new card game from the comic’s masterminds, featuring the same distinctive artwork and warped humour that its fans have come to expect.

You’re probably already thinking that this is just a Cards Against Humanity clone, but fortunately Exploding Kittens offers a totally different experience to that perennial ‘grown up’ party favourite.

While fast gameplay, sick jokes, and easy-to-learn rules are definitely the order of the day, there’s a surprising element of skill required here that should appeal to both serious and casual gamers.

Rather than attempting to prove themselves the superior edgelord, players take turns drawing cards from the deck. Whenever a player draws one of the titular exploding kittens, they are eliminated. Players are able to stall for time via the various effects of the other cards in the deck, allowing them to take cards from other players’ hands, check the next cards in the deck, or hold off an explosion.

Victory therefore depends on skillful application of each card’s capabilities, and successfully out-bluffing the other players, in order to force them to explode first.