Card Game: Exploding Kittens

Kittens! Who doesn't like kittens! In this review, we will be looking at Matthew Inman’s Exploding Kittens launched on Kickstarter back in 2015. The card game is a social phenomenon and generated much hype. It was the most backed crowdfunding campaign ever, with more than 200,000 backers on Kickstarter who raised a record USD$8.7 million!

Over a million fans of Inman's The Oatmeal comic series were eager to see a game with the familiar cute art style and humor combined with the work of game developers Elan Lee and Shane Small with totally inappropriate theme to deliver a fast-paced card game. We finally got our hands on this popular card. So does the game lives up to the hype?

SETUP

Exploding Kittens is not the most complex card game, and it never aimed to be that way. It describes itself as “a kitty powered version of Russian roulette,”. Basically, is to avoid the exploding kitten card... at all costs! Drawing it means it's game over – and you will have lost and will be eliminated from the game.

The exploding kitten card functions as a ticking time-bomb hidden in the deck, the game is about maneuvering other players into risky moves whilst avoiding having to draw cards yourself. Sounds simple enough. ;)

GAMEPLAY

2 to 5 players can participate, with the number of exploding cards shuffled into the deck depending on the number of players. This gives the game a consistent level of difficulty regardless of the number of players. The game mechanics are relatively simple- each player starts with 4 cards and takes turn drawing card until you draw an exploding kitten.

If you draw an exploding kitten, the kitten explodes and you are now out of the game. However, if you have you a defuse card, you get to defuse an exploding kitten and you get to pick where to place that exploding kitten card back in the deck.

Every other action and every other card is designed to help you avoid the risk of drawing an exploding kitten or to get the other players to draw one themselves. The turn ends when you draw a card. So, this process continues until there’s only 1 player left, who wins the game.

Of course the more cards you draw, the greater your chances of drawing an Exploding Kitten.

OVERALL

A fun game indeed! Definitely a great addition for game nights. Exploding Kittens is simple to learn and offers plenty of challenges to keep everyone entertained and engaged. I like the fact that the game becomes more enjoyable once players get into the game and start to strategize and using the action cards to bluff their way into being the last player standing.

A fun, quirky game that hits the right balance between being casual and still having enough depth to keep it interesting after multiple rounds.

We Just Released Issue 22 of Kardify Magazine

The latest issue of Kardify Magazine is now on Patreon for our Patrons who pledge $3 or more on our Patreon page. Issue #22 compiles selected articles we’ve published from mid-February to mid-March. The goal is to help you stay on top of the latest playing card news, releases and previews.

Funds received from the magazine will help us keep the site running and growing, and bringing new quality content to you. Our aim is to support designers by backing on crowd-funded projects and supporting magic and playing cards retailers with their new releases. If you want to support us, please head over to our Patreon page. If you have an idea for an article you would like us to pursue, do get in contact with us. We hope you enjoy the read. In this issue:

+ Betrayers: Find out what we think about Thirdway Industries' vibrant new deck series.

+ Invocation: Check out Jackson Robinson's exquisite, hand-illustrated deck successfully funded on Kickstarter.

+ Fontaine Carrots V2: The second Anwar Carrots x Fontaine deck with a little surprise from Zach Mueller.

+ Tavern on the Green: Check out the stunning new collaborative deck by Theory11 with breathtaking artwork by Kevin Cantrell.

+ Pack of Dogs: You may have probably seen this deck on your social feeds back in 2017. Have a look at the deck that went viral on Reddit.

+ Six Strings: A collaboration between Kardify and Murphy’s Magic inspired by the most majestic and fascinating musical instrument- the guitar.

+ Unlock! Squeek & Sausage: Our first ever card game review looking at a co-operative card game inspired by escape rooms.

… and more! 43 pages of articles and deck images. Enjoy!

Kickstarter: Dice Throne Playing Cards by Albino Dragon

Dice Throne by Nate Chatellier and artist Manny Trembley is an original board game described as “kind of a battle version of Yahtzee". The game is a fast-paced, strategic dice dueling game where players choose their Hero and square off against their opponents in an intense head-to-head or team battle.

The latest playing card project by Albino Dragon is based on this hit table-top game. The artwork of Dice Throne playing cards are fully custom with artwork featuring heroes from the game: Barbarian, Pyromancer, Shadow Thief, Paladin, Monk, and Moon Elf. The colors are vibrant and wonderful! If you are a fan of the game, you will appreciate how well the design has been translated into this very gorgeous deck of playing cards.

On the collaboration with the team at Dice Throne, Abino Dragon founder, Erik Dahlman told Kardify,

Whenever we go to shows, I can't help but look at every product and say to myself, "this would look really cool as a deck of playing cards." So when I came across the Dice Throne guys doing demos at a show last year, I knew I wanted to do something with their amazing artwork. They've been crazy busy with new product development so it took some time to get things organized, but once we did, it moved very quickly and we're very happy with the results.

With this Kickstarter campaign, Albino Dragon has started a whole line of playing cards based on popular board games with great art. Erik continued,

It's a great introduction for our fans that maybe don't know the game but want to learn more after seeing the artwork. And with our specialty store placement, it's a great opportunity for retailers to sell additional products based on their customers' favorite IPs.

The deck will be printed by the USPCC. Pledge starts at $12 on Kickstarter.

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Deck View: Keeper (Green Edition) Playing Cards

Green. Lighthouse. Ocean.

Since it's St Paddy's Day weekend, I thought a green deck for this weeks' deck view would be cool. Conceived by Adam Wilber and illustrated by Oban Jones, the Sea Keeper green edition decks are the third in the popular 'Keepers' series of playing cards by Ellusionist. Designed for the worker in mind, the beautiful classic design in green colorway has been specifically chosen to invite trust, and go unnoticed by the audiences. As such, the deck features recognizable pips and faces of a standard deck.

The Keeper Ace of Spades and the faces of the Jack and Queen of Clubs have been tweaked. The design is similar to the originals but marked. Printed on Cartamundi's famed B9 stock for durability, with a true linen finish.

Available now from JP Playing Cards.

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