Exploding Kittens is a highly strategic kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette. Players take turns drawing cards until someone draws an exploding kitten and loses the game. The deck is made up of cards that let you avoid exploding by peeking at cards before you draw, forcing your opponent to draw multiple cards, or shuffling the deck. 
 
 
 
 The game gets more and more intense with each card you draw because fewer cards left in the deck means a greater chance of drawing the kitten and exploding in a fiery ball of feline hyperbole. 
 
 The game was created by Elan Lee (Xbox, ARGs), Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal), and Shane Small (Xbox, Marvel). We think this game combines all the things we're best at creating, and and put together this Kickstarter campaign because we can't build this without you. 
 
 So if you're into card games or laser beams or weaponized enchiladas, please help us make this game a reality. We think you'll love it as much as we do. 
 
 Hugs and enchilada kisses, 
 
 -Elan, Matt, and Shane. 
 
 The Origin Story 
 
 Exploding Kittens started when Shane Small proposed a game to Elan Lee where a joker was inserted into a deck of cards and they took turns picking cards until the joker came up. It was called “Bomb Squad” and it wasn’t any fun at all. 
 
 Over the next few weeks, two important things happened: First, after neglecting work, family, and a social life, Shane and Elan developed a rule-set that started working and brought the game to life. Second, Matt Inman saw the game, thought it was super fun, and asked to join the team. (btw, if Matthew Inman ever asks you if he can join your team, the answer is “HELL YES”.) 
 
 We changed the name to "Exploding Kittens" and our little team was born. 
 
 BUT YOU'RE BLOWING UP KITTENS! NOT COOL, BUDDY. 
 
 We struggled with this a lot. We love the name Exploding Kittens, but we don't want to hurt kittens. We also don't want the kittens to be hurt by anyone else. Eventually we decided to explore the concept of the kittens blowing themselves up. 
 
 First, Matt tried drawing the kittens as the actual bombs: 
 
 But that felt too Angry Birds’ish. 
 
 Next, we tried making the kittens suicidal, but that felt terrible. 
 
 In the end, we realized that everyone understands feline shenanigans, and that could be our solution. Our kitties would not blow up out of malicious intent or negligence, but by doing the things that kittens do, like running across keyboards or chewing on things they shouldn't be chewing on. 
 
 From there, the rest of the cards fell into place, and the cards used to defuse the exploding kittens were items you'd use to defuse regular kittens. 
 
 HELP US BUILD THIS GAME 
 
 We wanted to put this project on Kickstarter because it's the fastest way for us to get the game into your hands and make improvements as a community. We think this game is great, but we need your help making it even better. 
 
 So, if a world full of weaponized pork missiles is a world you want to live in, please back this project and help us build this game. 
 
 
 
 With love and pork missiles, 
 
 -The Exploding Kittens Team (Matt, Elan, and Shane) 
 
 
 
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 For more information about the game: http://www.explodingkittens.com 
 
 
 
 Follow us: Facebook Twitter 
 
 
 
 Music: Royalty-free music from Bensound. ||||| All artwork and content on this site is Copyright © 2018 Matthew Inman. Please don't steal. 
 
 
 
 Thanks to Weberz for providing dedicated server hosting for this website. ||||| Matthew Inman, creator of quirky comic website The Oatmeal, just launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new card game, called Exploding Kittens. 
 
 In the vein of Russian roulette, players go around in a circle, drawing cards from a deck, until one of them picks up an exploding kitten. That player immediately "explodes" and loses. Players can strategically use other cards they've picked up to negate an exploding kitten, or make it more likely for other players to pick one up. All of the cards feature Inman's signature Oatmeal-style drawings, and many include drawings from his past comics. 
 
 Within minutes, Inman's Kickstarter campaign had raised its $10,000 goal, and an hour later, it had over $100,000. At the time of this writing, Exploding Kittens was rapidly closing in on $1 million. Inman created the game alongside partners Elan Lee and Shane Small. 
 
 WE JUST HIT OUR GOAL! $10k in 8 minutes — Matthew Inman (@Oatmeal) January 20, 2015 
 
 We can easily see this becoming Friday night's game of choice. Just don't invite any cat lovers.
– The creator of popular comic website The Oatmeal launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to make a card game, and let's just say things are going well for him. "Exploding Kittens," a Russian roulette-inspired game created by The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman along with Elan Lee and Shane Small, reached its $10,000 goal in eight minutes yesterday, Mashable reports, citing an Inman tweet. Within an hour, it had raised $100,000. And that was just the beginning: With 21 days to go in the campaign, it has so far raised more than $1.8 million.