Exploding Kittens: Recipes for Disaster
Exploding Kittens: Recipes for Disaster Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What Is Exploding Kittens?
The game is played by shuffling a few Exploding Kittens into the Draw Pile. Then players take turns drawing a card until someone draws an Exploding Kitten.
When that happens, the person who drew the card explodes. They are now dead and out of the game.
This process continues until there's only 1 player left. That person 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 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 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.
What Is a Recipe?
In this box is a collection of the best cards from Exploding Kittens, Imploding Kittens, Streaking Kittens, and Barking Kittens. This huge collection of cards contains the raw ingredients for 13 new ways to play Exploding Kittens.
Exploding Kittens: Recipes for Disaster includes 13 Recipe Booklets describing different ways to play. The Recipe Booklets are explained in detail on the other side of the instruction sheet, but for now just pick one that looks interesting to you and matches the number of players you have.
If this is your first time opening the box, we've already put the Recipe "Nope Sauce" in its own bundle so you can get started immediately.
The Recipe Booklets in the box each contain instructions on how to assemble the cards you'll need to play that particular version of the game. Want to play a game that's only 2 minutes long? There's a Recipe for that. Want a version that lets you spy on other players? There's a Recipe for that too.
Each recipe contains the ingredients for a standalone deck. If you've played Exploding Kittens before, some Recipes and ingredients might seem incomplete or unusual. But each one has been carefully crafted. Try them as they are written, and then try your own modifications!
We've also included 5 blank Recipe Booklets so you can invent your own version of Exploding Kittens. Even more versions are available at www.recipes.game.
Just pick a Recipe, put it together, and play!
Stop reading! Go play! If you have questions about specific cards, you can look them up in the Field Guide.
Setup
- Pick a Recipe Booklet and open it. Build a deck using the ingredients listed on the inside of the Booklet.
- Now that your deck is assembled, remove any Exploding Kittens, Imploding Kittens (if applicable), and Defuse Cards from the deck and set them aside.
- Find the "Each Player Starts With" section on the Recipe Booklet. This tells you how many Defuse Cards each player starts with (if applicable), as well as how many Starting Cards to deal from the deck to each player.
- Shuffle the deck with the extra Defuse Cards (if any), then deal the correct number of Starting Cards face down to each player. You can look at your hand, but keep it secret.
- Insert the Exploding Kittens (and Imploding Kittens, if applicable) you set aside back into the deck.
- Shuffle the deck and put it face down in the middle of the table to form a Draw Pile. (Be sure to leave some space for a Discard Pile as well.)
- Pick a player to go first. (Some sample criteria: most excited about going first, most intimidating odor, shortest spleen, etc.)
- You're ready to start!
Card Count
For some Recipes, the number of copies of a card you need depends on how many people are playing. For example, an ingredient line might read "Exploding Kitten .... # players -2" — this means you should insert enough Exploding Kittens to equal the number of players minus 2 (i.e. if you had 5 players, you would insert 3 Exploding Kittens).
Some cards will show a (2x), (3x), or (5x) next to the card type (for example, "Attack (2x) .... 4"). Those numbers are part of the name of the card, and don't affect how many cards you should add to the deck.
Defuse Cards
Each player is dealt a Defuse Card listed in the selected Recipe. Defuse Cards are the most powerful cards in the game because they are the only cards that can save you from Exploding Kittens. If you draw an Exploding Kitten, you can play the Defuse Card instead of exploding. Then reinsert the Kitten back in the Draw Pile anywhere you'd like in secret.
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.
Try to get as many Defuse Cards as possible.
Taking Your Turn
- Gather your cards into your hand and then 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.
- 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 there are always enough Exploding Kittens (or Imploding Kittens, if applicable) to kill all but 1 player.
Three More Things
- A good strategy is to save your cards early in the game while the chance of exploding is lowest.
- 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.
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" card allowing you to privately peek at the top 3 cards in the Draw Pile.
While viewing the 3 top 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" card to end your turn and force the next player to take 2 turns.
But then another player plays a "Nope" card 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" card 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."
The Cone of Shame
The first player to forget either whose turn comes next or the direction of play will become a human direction indicator and must wear the Cone of Shame for the rest of the game.
Rotate the cone around your head so that the correct arrow indicating the direction of play is facing forward for all players to see. Whenever a Reverse Card is played, rotate the Cone around your head to indicate the new direction of play.
If you look particularly awesome wearing the Cone of Shame, be sure to share your pics with us at @gameofkittens.
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 pairs of Cat Cards. It now applies to ANY pair of cards with the same title (a pair of Shuffle Cards, a pair of Skip Cards, etc). Ignore the instructions on the cards when you play a combo.
Three of a Kind
When you play 3 matching cards (any 3 cards with the same title), you get to pick a player and name a card. If they have that card, they must give one to you. If they don't have it, you get nothing. Ignore the instructions on the cards when you play a combo.
"I'd like your Defuse, please."