Top 10 Games like Exploding Kittens

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Referred to as a “strategic card game about cats & destruction”, Exploding Kittens was designed by Matthew Inman and Elan Lee.

It was initially proposed as a Kickstarter project that sought $10,000 in crowdfunding, an amount it exceeded in eight minutes.

Exploding Kittens is a fast, entertaining game which can be addictive.

However, you may get bored after playing it over and over again. In this post, we offer you great card games like Exploding Kittens to try your hands on.

Love Letter

This title is a thematic party card game and a highly rated alternative to Exploding Kittens.

Rather than having to contend with an impending explosion, you’re tasked with avoiding elimination.

However, in these two games, you’re concerned about gaining the best odds for yourself while also causing your opponents some damage whenever possible.

In Love Letter, the object is to ensure your love letter gets into Princess Annette’s hands while deflecting any letters from competing suitors.

Using a deck containing only 16 cards, each player will start the game with one card in hand and one removed from play.

When it’s a player’s turn, he will draw one card, and play one card in a bid to expose others and eliminate them from the game.

Stronger cards bring about early gains. However, such cards make you a target.

On the other hand, if you rely on weaker cards for too long, your love letter could be thrown into the fire.

Love Letter is a game of risk, of deduction, of luck — ideal for two – four players.

It is designed by Seiji Kanai and features simple rules creating dynamic and exciting player interactions.

Games last around 20 minutes.

Uno

You may be familiar with Uno during your family game nights.

However, if you’re keen about playing more card games like Exploding Kittens, then it’s worth giving a try.

Uno has a quite simple concept.

Also, its rounds can be completed in less than 15 minutes.

This feature makes Uno a perfect option if you need a quick and fun card game that’s also easy to play.

It’s an American shedding-style card game played using a specially printed deck.

Its general principles imply that the title belongs to the Crazy Eights family of card games.

Uno also shares similarities with Mau-Mau, a conventional European game.

One of the cool things about Uno is that it accommodates two – four players and is also suitable for ages six years and above.

It was originally designed by Merle Robbins in Cincinnati, US, in 1971.

The object of Uno is to become the first player that earns 500 points.

This goal is typically attained over many rounds of play by becoming the first person to play all your cards and earn points for the cards that are still held by the other players.

Jaipur

We feature Jaipur on this list of games like Exploding Kittens because the title is also an imperfect information card game that offer elements of “Take That”.

In Jaipur, you’re tasked with getting as many resources as possible.

And lots of shifting around of cards are involved in achieving this aim.

While camels can be a blessing or curse, the most crucial thing is to know how to stick your opposing players with them when you’re not opportune.

While you and one other player are the most influential traders in Jaipur city, only one of you can emerge as the best.

You have to be skilled at buying, exchanging, and selling at lower prices to become the best.

You can sell cards or take them when it’s your turn.

Taking involves grabbing one of many various configurations from cards you’ll see in the market area, while selling has to do with unloading an item at an opportune time.

When you make the right moves, you earn money and get awarded the highest count wins.

Jaipur takes around 20 minutes for two players.

Hanabi

If you find the explosion side of Exploding Kittens riveting, then you’ll surely love Hanabi!

It’s a fascinating and fast-paced game, which is ideal to play if you need something fun to whirl away time.

Unlike the other games like Exploding Kittens on this list, Hanabi is collaborative.

This means you and your playmates can either win the game collectively or lose it collectively.

Its premise is quite straightforward.

You and your teammates are required to put up the perfect firework show.

With each move, your teammates have to encourage you to select the right card (players are now allowed to check the cards they have at hand) and urge you to draw the right one and prevent a fatal explosion.

Though Hanabi’s concept is slightly different from other games, it’s also a cool card game, ideal for adults and kids.

It’s suitable for ages eight years and above. The game takes up to five players.

Sushi Go!

Sushi Go! is a super-fast card game involving players eating at a sushi restaurant and aiming to have the best combination of sushi dishes as they rush by.

You’ll earn points for grabbing the highest number of sushi rolls or for creating a complete set of sashimi.

To triple your favorite nigiri’s value, dip it in wasabi.

After eating everything, take the meal with all the pudding you have to finish the meal.

However, you have to be careful the specific sushi you allow your friends to grab since that could be just what they require to defeat you.

This game adopts the card-drafting mechanism of 7 Wonders and Fairy Tale, distilling it into a 20-minute game anyone can play.

You’ll notice the dynamics of “draft and pass” in Sushi Go! while ensuring the rules are kept to a minimum.

As you check the first few hands of cards, you have to quickly examine the round’s elements and make up your mind on the sushi type to choose.

During each turn, you’ll weigh the cards you’d like to keep and those ones you’d prefer to pass on.

Sushi Go! takes about five players. It’s ideal for all players aged eight years and above.

This makes it a great family-friendly card game to add to your collections.

Coup

Coup features on today’s list because it’s a card game that primarily has to do with deduction.

It contains more secret roles and objectives.

However, the game tasks you to use the available information and decide about what to do.

In the near future, the government is run by a new “royal class” of multinational business executives with the aim of making a profit.

Due to their greed and absolute control of the economy, nearly all citizens are now living below the poverty line.

An underground organization forming the resistance emerged from the oppressed masses intending to overthrow the powerful rulers.

Due to the valiant efforts of the resistance, discord, intrigue and weakness have arisen in the royal class’ political courts, which almost sounds the death knell on the government’s structure.

To be successful in Coup, you have to destroy your opponents’ influence and chase them into exile.

Players aim to become the last player with influence in Coup, and influence is represented by face-down character cards that you’ll see in your playing area.

Each player will start a Coup game with two coins & two influence.

Also, they’ll use a 15-card deck containing various characters.

Coup is suitable for two – six players, and games last 15 minutes on average.

Dominion

Each player makes use of a separate deck of cards.

This implies that they’ll draw their hands from their own decks, and not those of the other players.

With the cards at hand, players can either execute actions or purchase certain cards from a typical pool of card stacks.

When the game ends, the player that earns the maximum victory points becomes the winner.

Dominion has a “light” medieval theme, featuring card names referencing monarchical, pre-industrial, and feudal social structures.

When it comes to the feel of this game, it shares similarities with collectable card games like Magic: The Gathering.

But Vaccarino says Magic wasn’t the inspiration for creating Dominion.

Unlike Magic, Dominion players are tasked with building their decks as needed as the game unfolds, instead of bringing a pre-made deck to the table.

While Dominion represented the first game of its kind, it has spawned a broad genre of card-based games with similar features known as “deck-building games”.

After the public release of the game at Spiel 2008 in Germany in many languages, it was voted by the Fairplay polls as the “best game of the fair”.

Dominion takes four players.

However, it can be adapted to accommodate up to six. It’s ideal for ages 13 and above.

Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity is everyone’s favorite party game.

In this game, players use words or phrases to complete fill-in-the-blank statements.

The words or phrases used are often seen as offensive, politically incorrect, or risqué printed on playing cards.

Parallels have been drawn between Cards Against Humanity and Apples to Apples a 1999 card game.

Cards Against Humanity originated from a 2011 Kickstarter campaign. It’s an adults-only game which is among the most popular card games in the gaming world.

Cards Against Humanity is straightforward to play.

Each player will receive a hand of cards from the dealer with different words or phrases on it.

Each turn, alternating players assume the role of the “Card Czar” and draw from a different deck with a phrase that’s to be completed.

You’ll work from your own hand and choose the card of yours that you think completes the phrase most appropriately, be it for comedic or logical reasons.

Then, the Czar will select the card he/she sees as the most fitting and the player that picked that card earns the point.

When the game ends, the player that gets the highest points becomes the winners.

Catch Phrase

Catch Phrase is also a cool option when it comes to the top 10 games like Exploding Kittens.

The title has party vibe nature and is also a more refined take on hot potatoes.

In this game, rather than using strategic deduction, you’re giving answers to questions.

You’ll aim to pass the device with dexterity before time elapses.

Catch Phrase is played in two teams.

Each player aims to get their team to say the phrase or word shown in the disc.

One team member will start the timer and try to have his/her team guess the displayed phrase or word.

A clue-giver is allowed to give any physical gesture and provide almost all verbal clues.

However, he/she may not say a word rhyming with any of the words, say the number of syllables, say the first letter of a word, or give part of any word in the clue.

Catch Phrase allows 4 – 16 players, and games take around 30 minutes to complete.

Star Realms

Star Realms was designed by Darwin Kastle and Rob Dougherty.

It’s a spaceship combat deck-building game that began as a Kickstarter campaign in 2013.

Star Realms was published by White Wizard Games in 2014.

It’s a fast-paced game of outer space combat.

There are many decks of Star Realms and/or Star Realms: Colony Wars, with one for every two players, allowing up to six players to get involved in different scenarios.

In the newest variant of the game, there also are new ways to play allowing as many as six players, featuring modes such as Hunter, Boss, and Free for All.