How To Draw Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens
the rules

Original, First and NSFW Edition

How it works

Rules step

In the deck of cards are some Exploding Kittens. You play the game by putting the deck face down and taking turns drawing cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten.

Rules step

This process continues until there's only 1 player left, who wins the game. The more cards you draw, the greater your chances of drawing an Exploding Kitten.

Basically if you explode, you lose.

And you're full of incendiary loser sadsauce.

If you don't explode,
you win!

And you're full of greatness, good job buddy!

And all of the
other cards

Will lessen your chances of getting exploded by Exploding Kittens.

You could use a See the Future Card to peek at the top few cards in the Draw Pile. If that reveals an Exploding Kitten you could then use a Skip Card to end your turn and avoid drawing it.

Rules step

Setup

01

To start, remove all the Exploding Kittens (4) from the deck and set them aside.

02

Remove all of the Defuse Cards (6) from the deck and deal 1 to each player.

03

Insert the extra Defuse Cards back in the deck.

Rules step

Defuse cards

Each player is dealt 1 Defuse Card, the most powerful card in the game. These are the only cards that can save you from Exploding Kittens. If you draw an Exploding Kitten, instead of getting exploded, you can play the Defuse Card and reinsert the Kitten back into the Draw Pile anywhere you'd like in secret.

Try to get as many Defuse Cards as possible.

Rules step

Two or three players

Put only 2 of the extra Defuse Cards back into the deck and remove the others from the game

Rules step

04

Shuffle the remaining deck and deal 7 cards face down to each player.

Note: If your paper instructions tell you to deal out 4 cards instead of 7, don't believe them. Paper instructions are dirty liars.

05

Insert enough Exploding Kittens back into the deck so that there is 1 fewer than the number of people playing.

Remove any extra Exploding Kittens from the game.

Rules step

For example

For a 4 player game, insert 3 Kittens. For a 3 player game, insert 2 Kittens.

This ensures that everyone eventually explodes except for 1 person.

Rules step

06

Shuffle the deck, and put it face down in the middle of the table

07

Pick a player to go first. (Some sample criteria: most impressive beard, most intimidating odor, shortest spleen, etc.)

Rules step

Take your turn

Rules step

OR

Play

Play a card by placing it FACE UP on top of the Discard Pile and following the instructions on the card.

After you follow the instructions on the card, you can play more cards. You can play as many cards as you'd like.

Cards with no instructions on them

Some cards don't have any instructions on them (Cat Cards). These cards must be collected and played as matching Pairs.

If you play matching Pairs of Cat Cards, pick another player and steal a random card from their hand.

Note: If you have a newer version of the game your Cat Cards WILL have instructions on them.

Rules step

08

End your turn by drawing a card from the top of the Draw Pile into your hand and hoping it's not an Exploding Kitten.

(This is different from most games in that you END YOUR TURN by drawing a card.)

Remember

Play as many or as few cards as you'd like, then draw a card to end your turn.

Rules step