Exploding Kittens: NSFW Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How It Works
  • Basically
• Setup
• Taking Your Turn
• Ending the Game
  • Three More Things
• Example Turn
• Exploding Kittens Field Guide
  • Exploding Kitten — 4 cards
  • Defuse — 6 cards
  • Attack (2x) — 4 cards
  • Favor — 4 cards
  • Nope — 5 cards
  • Shuffle — 4 cards
  • Skip — 4 cards
  • See the Future (3x) — 5 cards
  • Cat Cards — 4 of each
• Special Combos
  • Two of a Kind
  • Three of a Kind

How It Works

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.

When that happens, that person explodes and they are out of the game.

All of the other cards will give you powerful tools to help you avoid exploding! This process continues until there's only 1 player left who wins the game.

Basically

If you explode, you lose. And you are full of incendiary loser sadsauce.

If you don't explode, you win. And you are full of greatness. Good job, buddy.

And all of the other cards will lessen your chances of getting exploded by Exploding Kittens.

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

Setup

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

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

   Note: Depending on how many people are playing, there will be some Defuses left over. Shuffle 2 of the extras back into the deck, and remove them from the game. (In the case of a 5 player game, you'll only have 1 extra Defuse to shuffle back into the deck.)

   Defuses: Defuses are the most powerful card in the game. These are the only cards that can save you from exploding. If you draw an Exploding Kitten, instead of dying, you can play a Defuse and reinsert the Kitten back into the Draw Pile anywhere you'd like in secret.

   Try to get as many Defuses as you can.

3. Shuffle the deck and deal 7 cards face down to each player. Everyone now has a hand of 8 cards total (7 cards + 1 Defuse). Look at your cards but keep them secret.

4. 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.

   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.

   Faster game variant — recommended for 2 & 3 player games: Before inserting any Kittens into the deck, randomly remove about one-third of the deck from the game (you will be playing with approximately two-thirds of a deck, but you won't know which cards have been removed). Then, shuffle the appropriate number of Exploding Kittens into the Draw Pile, and start the game.

5. Shuffle the deck and put it face down in the middle of the table. This is your Draw Pile. (Be sure to leave some space for a Discard Pile as well.)

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

Taking Your Turn

1. Gather all 8 of your cards into your hand and look at them. Do one of the following:

   Play — Play a card from your hand by placing it FACE UP on top of the Discard Pile. Follow the instructions on the card.

   Read the text on a card to learn what it does.

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

   or

   Pass — Play no cards.

2. 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.

Play continues clockwise around the table.

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

Ending the Game

Eventually, every player will explode except for one, who wins the game!

You won't ever run out of cards in the Draw Pile because you inserted enough Exploding Kittens to kill all but 1 player.

Three More Things

• A good strategy generally is to save your cards early in the game while your chance of exploding is low.
• You can always count the cards left in the Draw Pile to figure out the odds of exploding.
• There is no maximum or minimum hand size. If you run out of cards in your hand, there's no special action to take. Keep playing. You'll draw at least 1 more card on your next turn.

Stop reading! Go play! If you have questions about specific cards, see the Field Guide below.

Example Turn

You suspect the top card in the Draw Pile is an "Exploding Kitten." So instead of passing and then drawing a card to end your turn, you decide to play a "See the Future," allowing you to privately peek at the top 3 cards in the Draw Pile.

While viewing the top 3 cards you see that you were right, and the top card (the card you're about to draw) is an "Exploding Kitten."

You decide to play an "Attack" to end your turn and force the next player to take 2 turns.

But then another player plays a "Nope," which cancels your "Attack," so it's still your turn.

You don't want to draw that top card and explode, so you play a "Shuffle" and randomly shuffle the Draw Pile.

With the deck freshly shuffled, you draw the top card to end your turn and hope it's not an "Exploding Kitten."

Exploding Kittens Field Guide

You only need this if you have questions about specific cards.

Exploding Kitten — 4 cards

You must show this card immediately. Unless you can play a Defuse, you're dead. When you die, put the kitten that killed you face up in front of you so everyone can see that you're dead, and put the rest of your cards face down in front of you.

Defuse — 6 cards

If you drew an Exploding Kitten, you can play this card instead of dying. Place your Defuse in the Discard Pile.

Then take the Exploding Kitten, and without reordering or viewing the other cards, secretly put it back in the Draw Pile anywhere you'd like.

Want to hurt the player right after you? Put the kitten right on top of the deck. If you'd like, hold the deck under the table so that no one else can see where you put it.

Your turn is over after playing this card.

Attack (2x) — 4 cards

End your turn without drawing a card, and immediately force the next player to take 2 turns in a row. If the victim of an Attack plays this card on any of their turns, the attacks "stack" and their turns are immediately transferred to the next player, who must take the Attacker's current and remaining untaken turn(s) PLUS 2 additional turns.

For example: If the victim of an Attack plays another Attack, the next player must take 4 turns. However, if the victim completes 1 turn, and THEN plays an Attack on their second turn, the next player must take only 3 turns.

Favor — 4 cards

Force any other player to give you 1 card from their hand. They choose which card to give you.

Nope — 5 cards

Stop any action except for an Exploding Kitten or a Defuse. It's as if the card beneath a Nope never existed.

You can also play a Nope on another Nope to negate it and create a Yup, and so on.

You can play a Nope at any time before an action has begun, even if it's not your turn. Any cards that have been Noped are lost. Leave them in the Discard Pile.

You can even play a Nope on a Special Combo.

Shuffle — 4 cards

Shuffle the Draw Pile until the next player tells you to stop.

Useful when you know there's an Exploding Kitten coming.

Skip — 4 cards

Immediately end your turn without drawing a card.

If you play a Skip as a defense to an Attack, it only ends 1 of the 2 turns. 2 Skips would end both turns.

See the Future (3x) — 5 cards

Privately view the top 3 cards from the Draw Pile and put them back in the same order. Don't show the cards to the other players.

Cat Cards — 4 of each

These cards are powerless on their own, but if you collect any 2 matching Cat Cards, you can play them as a pair to steal a random card from any player.

They can also be used in Special Combos.

Special Combos

(Read this after you've played your first game.)

Two of a Kind

Playing matching pairs of Cat Cards (where you get to steal a random card from another player) no longer only applies to Cat Cards. It now applies to ANY pair of cards in the deck with the same title (a pair of Shuffle Cards, a pair of Attack Cards, etc.) Ignore the instructions on the cards when you play them as a Special Combo.

Three of a Kind

Exactly the same as Two of a Kind, but you get to name the card you want from the other player. If they have it, you get to take it. If not, you get nothing. Ignore the instructions on the cards when you play them as a Special Combo.