How to Win at Exploding Kittens (or at Least Look Good When You Explode)

Exploding Kittens is fast and mean – and over in about fifteen minutes (kind of like your cat’s interest in you). 

It’s also the game most likely to end with someone accusing someone else of cheating, usually over a card that doesn’t really work the way they think it does. 

But that’s the appeal. You draw, you sweat, you survive, and (again, kind of like your cat), you take it personally.

Whether you’re trying to get an upper hand or it’s your first time playing, here’s our go-to guide to playing Exploding Kittens better. 

And since you’re going to be sitting at that table for a while, here are a few tips on dressing the part!

What’s the Best Way to Win at Exploding Kittens?

Okay, if you’re currently playing and hiding this under the table (hey, we won’t judge), here’s the quick and dirty answer:

• Protect your Defuse card (this one’s more valuable than you expect!)

• Use any and all information you gather before you draw rather than after

• Push risky turns onto other players

• Give away as little as possible about what’s in your hand

• Most losses come from drawing when you didn’t have to.

Want to really win? Scare the competition away by looking like an Exploding Kittens master in a Geek Tropical Exploding Kittens button-up.

Exploding Kittens in 30 Seconds: The Rules

Okay, for the newbies – here’s the rules for Exploding Kittens.

1. Everyone starts with a Defuse card and a hand of action cards.

2. On your turn, you can play as many cards as you like, then you draw one to end your turn. 

3. If you draw an Exploding Kitten, you’re out — unless you play a Defuse, which lets you survive and slide that dangerous little kitten back into the deck wherever you want.

4. Last player alive wins.

It seems pretty simple, and that’s why it's so easy to pick up and play with pretty much anyone. The Original Edition is built for 2 to 5 players, ages 7 and up, and each game runs about 15 minutes. 

Card interactions shift between editions and expansions, so for anything specific, you’ll want to check out the publisher’s official Exploding Kittens rules!

Your Exploding Kittens Game Night Cheat Sheet

Why not look at the style in an Exploding Kittens Still Nope button-up shirt from Geek Tropical? This is the officially licensed all-over print.

7 Exploding Kittens Tips to Improve Your Odds

1. Treat your Defuse like an emergency exit, not a card

Remember, the Defuse card does two jobs. Defuse not only saves you from an explosive cat, but it also hands you the deck.

When you put that kitten back, you get to decide where it goes – and experienced players know that getting to pick matters more than surviving!

Slide that sneak cat to the very top of the deck, and the next player is finished. It’s both satisfying and makes you the table’s main villain for the rest of the game. Bury it a bit deeper, and you can keep the danger vague while looking merciful to everyone else.

They may even repay the favor later. Nobody can plan around a kitten when nobody knows where it is.

2. Use See the Future before a risky draw, not after

Information is the name of the game in Exploding Kittens. A See the Future card shows you what’s coming up in the deck, and the whole point of looking is to make a decision on what you do next. 

If the top of the deck is clean, then you can draw without fear. If it isn’t, that’s what Skip, Attack, and Shuffle cards are for.

But knowing the future doesn’t always make you safe. It just means the bad decisions are now entirely your own.

3. A Skip is worth more than a polite pass

A Skip ends your turn without a draw. It sounds like a minor move until the deck gets really thin and every draw is a coin flip of death. So save it. 

The best moment to use it? Right after another player has looked at the deck and gone quiet. If your friend suddenly develops a deep interest in the ceiling, that’s your cue to strike.

4. Attack cards are all about timing, not aggression

An Attack moves the pressure of the moment to the next player, hot-potato-style. When played at random, it’s nothing but noise. But when you play it because you think a kitten is near the top (or when the person to your left has already burned their Defuse), it’s the strongest card in your hand.

Attack behavior varies across editions and expansions — in particular, the stacking rules — so check your version if a specific interaction is in question.

The fan favorite, obviously, is the taco cat in pink.

5. Say nothing… say it convincingly

In Exploding Kittens, the most valuable thing you own is the information nobody else has. That moment when you’re still holding a Defuse, or when you know exactly where the kitten went.

But none of that secret information survives a reaction. The strongest move at the table is drawing a card like nothing’s happening.

6. Spend Nope cards on real problems

One of the best cards in Exploding Kittens is the Nope card. It cancels an action, and it’s worth more the bigger the action is. 

So you can imagine that burning one to stop a Skip is a waste. Burning one to stop a Favor that would strip somebody’s last Defuse, or an Attack aimed at you at exactly the wrong moment, is the play.

Remember that even a Nope can be Noped. That means the person who goes second in that nope-noping usually wins it, and the person who goes third wins it more.

7. Wear the shirt that matches how you play

Okay, okay, this isn’t so much a strategy tip as it is a style one. There’s nothing magical about your shirt that will help you win. But you can bet that it’ll make the photos of the night look even better. 

Plus, who wants to go up against someone who looks like they know the game up and down?

Here are a few go-tos:

• The chaos agent — an all-over mashup print like the Mashup Purple Button Up Shirt or the Mashup Black.

• The professional noper — Still Nope or Sassy Nope.

• The tactical one — TacoCat Flowers, for the player whose entire plan is cat-card pairs.

• The smallest player at the table — the youth Hawaiian shirts come in the same designs, which is how family game night ends up with a matching photo.

Card Strategy at a Glance

Remember, a card’s behaviour can change between the original game, its editions, and the expansions — treat this as the shape of each card rather than the letter of the rules, and check your box for the specifics.

What Kind of Exploding Kittens Player Are You?

The calculated survivor. 

This one has a keen eye. They’re always watching the discard pile and usually have a rough idea of what everyone is holding. They play a Defuse with the calm of someone who saw it coming. 

The calculated survivor wears: something darker and cleaner — Mashup Black.

The chaos gremlin. 

The gremlin is always on the attack – and don’t bother asking why they did it, because the moment just “felt right”. But they’ll also be the first to describe every decision as part of a grand plan. (Yet it is somehow still in it at the end.) 

The chaos gremlin wears: Mashup Purple or Rainbow Explosion.

The nope specialist. 

These players just exist to interrupt. They’ll hold that Nope card like a legal document. They treat a well-timed cancellation as a form of personal expression. 

The nope specialist wears: Still Nope or Sassy Nope.

The one who runs game night. 

This is the one who is leading everything – and trying to teach newbies the rules while planning to crush them at just the right moment. 

The game night leader wears: whichever design the kids picked, in the adult cut — the youth Hawaiian shirts come in the same prints.

What to Wear to an Exploding Kittens Game Night

There’s no dress code for a card game. (Or any game for that matter!)

But you’re sitting in one chair for the better part of an evening in a room that gets warm once people start arguing, so comfortable and breathable is doing real work.

Every design in the Exploding Kittens collection is officially licensed and made with Geeknit — the shop’s ultra-soft, lightweight, moisture-wicking fabric — with branded buttons and eco-friendly inks. 

Plus, the art is licensed work, with most purchases paying the artist directly and proceeds from every purchase going to charity. Each shirt is made once you order it, in sizes XS through 5XL, with a youth Hawaiian cut in the same prints.

Here are five worth starting with:

• Mashup Purple Button Up Shirt

• Still Nope Button Up Shirt

• Sassy Nope Button Up Shirt

• TacoCat Flowers Button Up Shirt

• Rainbow Explosion Youth Hawaiian Shirt

If your group plays more than one game, our game night style guide covers what holds up across a longer tabletop session.

Deal In with Geek Tropical

Winning at Exploding Kittens takes some luck and a bit of nerve.

And the ability to keep a completely flat face after putting a kitten back into the deck.

So we're not saying the shirt will change your odds. But it will make the night (and the next day) all that much more memorable.

Browse the Exploding Kittens collection and pick the one that matches how you play.