Our Family is Obsessed with Games from the Hysterical Exploding Kittens Brand!

Exploding Kittens is an awesome brand that I want you all to know about. We first learned about it when one of our friends had us over for dinner and we spent the evening playing it. We had a lot of fun!  A few years later, my oldest son told us about the game and that he wanted it for his birthday.  This was one of his all-time favorite birthday gifts!  We still play it on a regular basis.  In today's post, I will tell you about Exploding Kittens and some of their other fun games.

You may have heard of Exploding Kittens because they have raised over $8.7 million on kickstarter and have sold over 10,000,000 games!  If you check out the Exploding Kittens reviews on Amazon, there are over 39,000 reviews.  Their iconic game has a large following. When I had the opportunity to learn more about their brand and products at the Toy Insider's Holiday of Play Toy Fair, I was thrilled because I already knew that I loved Exploding Kittens. I couldn't wait to learn about their other products!

Let's start with the iconic Exploding Kittens game that put this company on the map. Here is a quick overview:

A card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats.
Ages 7+ • 2-5 Players • 15 Mins to Play

Personally, our children have a large age gap. My oldest son and husband are on their own teams. My youngest teams up with me since he isn't able to read yet.  However, he has quickly memorized what the different cards mean because the graphics are memorable!  Cat lovers will enjoy the sense of humor that is woven throughout the game.

We already loved this game and didn't think that it could get any better, but thanks to expansion packs, it truly is more fun!  We tried a couple of expansion packs. Let's start with Barking Kittens. Here is a quick overview:

This expansion pack will boost, bolster, and barkify the rules of the original game. It includes 20 new cards that refresh gameplay and add new cutthroat strategies. It also includes a wearable headpiece that allows you to hold a secret stash of cards on your head. It forces others to steal cards not from your hand, but draw from the depths of your gigantic cat crown, which is filled with stash cards.The Barking Kitten cards can either help you or hurt you -- when played properly, they'll steal half of your opponent's hand. When played badly, you lose half your hand.

Our family had a blast with this expansion pack! We were already familiar with Exploding Kittens, so it was fun to develop new strategies when we used the Barking Kittens expansion pack. It was also fun that they include a wearable headpiece to liven up the game.

Another expansion pack that allowed us to develop new strategies is the Imploding Kitttens expansion pack. Here is the quick description:

This game includes 20 new cards illustrated by The Oatmeal and expands the core deck from 5 to 6 players. It includes a human sized "cone of shame" turn indicator. It is compatible with all Exploding Kittens Decks EXCEPT FOR the Party Pack!

This expansion pack offers another opportunity for your family and friends to adapt their strategies. This game elicited many giggles from our boys. Watching each other wear the "cone of shame" was a lot of fun.   We also love that this expands the core deck to accommodate 6 players for fun holiday family parties.

The next game that I want to share is Bears vs. Babies.  You read that right -- Bears vs. Babies! It contains a dark sense of humor and comical illustrations like you would expect from the Exploding Kittens team.  Here is the description:

This is a monster-building card game. Play cards. Create monsters. Try to defeat an army of babies.

This game was on our oldest son's wishlist because he loves the humor behind this game.  His little brother is adorable (or so I think), but sometimes annoying (or so my oldest son thinks). The humor in this game was appealing to my oldest son.  This game is fun for everyone, but families with siblings will especially love this game!

Finally, my Texas heart loves Throw Throw Burrito. In a nutshell, it basically combines a strategy game with dodgeball! Here is the description:

This family-friendly party game accommodates 2-6 players and is recommended for ages 7+. The game includes 120 cards, 7 tokens, and 2 foam burritos soft enough to throw them at your Great-great Auntie Marlene without having to feel guilty. The game includes hilarious illustrations by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal.

Similar to other games from Exploding Kittens, this game is very well thought out and includes humorous artwork.  When I was at the toy fair, I had the opportunity to talk to Exploding Kittens employees. I learned an interesting fact -- they spent a lot of time researching different types of materials for the burritos that you throw in the game. They wanted ones that were heavy enough to really throw, but also that wouldn't hurt too badly.  (Their jobs sound fun, right?!). 

As a Texan and Boy Mom, they won me over with this burrito themed game that merges a board game with dodgeball.   It's the ultimate game.  They also have an outdoor version of this game with bigger burritos, so look for that game too!

If you already have all of the games above, check out A Game of Cat & Mouth. I saw a quick demo of this game at the toy fair. I know that my boys would love this high energy game!  As a parent, I also love that it's easy to clean up as the board and pieces quickly fold back into the box.

I hope that you enjoyed this glimpse into our family's obsession with Exploding Kittens. I also hope that you have the opportunity to order some of these games to play with your family over the holidays!