As you may remember from last month, we are part of the summer Bloggers Board Game Club with Asmodee and had so much fun with our Who Did It? Game Review last month. This month we're playing Exploding Kittens and it is another hilarious and fun game to play as a family.
This is a review post and also contains affiliate links
Exploding Kittens is a game that comes in a small box and without any small pieces, so it's perfect for travel and taking with you out and about. It is aimed at children from age 7 and up and can be played by 2 to 5 players at a time. Inside the box you will just find the instructions and the cards, no small parts to lose (which is another huge plus for us!)
I had a quick read of the instructions and realised that it could be a bit complicated to start with, especially for Ivy who is only 5 (but of course wanted to play!) so we simplified by playing with open hands so that everyone could see each others cards and I could help them both. As we progress I am sure that we'll be able to play properly.
You start by sorting out the cards and removing the exploding kittens and defuse cards to distribute them properly.
Then you hand out 7 shuffled cards to each player and 1 defuse card each (the exploding kittens go back in the deck, 1 less than the number of players). The aim of the game is to not to get an exploding kitten, but if you happen to have a defuse card you can use it and then not explode and lose the game at least once.
Each player then takes turns either playing a card (or combination of cards) or passing and then picking up a card from the middle (hoping it's not an exploding kitten).
There are several different types of cards which all work in different ways. There are cats that can be used to get a card from another player (your choice), and favours which work similarly but it's the card holders choice. There are also cards to skip a turn, to attack another player into taking two turns, to shuffle the deck and to cancel another players card.
The children liked the 'see the future' cards as when this card is played they can then have a little peek at the top three cards in the pile. This is one of the ways that Ethan started to think about strategy, as when he peeked he saw that the third card was a spare defuse card, so he skipped the rest of his turn to avoid picking up, so that he would get it on his next turn. (It is also great for avoiding exploding kittens!)
However if you don't have a defuse card you are then out of the game. I can see how this is another game that will be brought out again and again and how the children will become more and more strategic about how they play. It's definitely a keeper!
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* This is a review post, we were sent the Exploding Kittens game as part of the Bloggers Board Game Club, to play with and review all opinions are our own.*
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