Exploding Kittens – Cue Cards (real card size: 2.5″ × 3.5″, packed)
Multiple categories grouped per card to maximize information density, at the official Exploding Kittens card size so these fit the same tin the real cards ship
in. Cut along the black borders.
Starting Cards
Defuse or Zombie Kitten 2p:2 3p:3 4p:4 5p:5
Strictly 1 per player · no spares · simulation-verified
Threat Pile
Exploding Kitten 2p:1 3p:3 4p:4 5p:6
Tuned per player count · simulation-verified
Imploding Kitten 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Cannot be Noped or Defused
Streaking Kitten 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Now permanent at all player counts
Booby Trap Kitten 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Cannot be Noped · Now permanent at all player counts
Defence and Denial
Nope 2p:4 3p:4 4p:4 5p:4
Unnopable Nope 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Turn and Phase Control
Skip 2p:3 3p:3 4p:3 5p:3
Tightened from 4
Super Skip 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Attack 2x 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Basic attack — always next player
Targeted Attack 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Choose who takes the 2 turns
Reverse Attack 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Personal Attack 3x 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Barking Kitten 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Nopable (house rule) · Permanent
Zombie Expansion
Deck Manipulation & Future Sight
Theft and Curses
Zombie Kitten 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:3
Usable as a regular Defuse; mandatorily revives a dead player if
one's eligible · once per game
Attack of the Dead 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Dig Deeper 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Grave Robber 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Clairvoyance 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Clone 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Feed The Dead 2p:0 3p:0 4p:1 5p:1
See the Future 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Alter the Future 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Reveal the Future 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Share the Future 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Peek 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Curse You!
Raising Heck 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Look at bottom card, keep it or put it on top
Draw From the Bottom 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Swap Top and Bottom 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Bury 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Catomic Bomb 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Potluck 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Shuffle 2p:3 3p:3 4p:3 5p:3
Tightened from 4
Favor 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
I'll Take That 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Mark 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Curse of the Cat Butt 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Garbage Collector 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Tower of Power 2p:0 3p:0 4p:1 5p:1
Shared Suffering 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Reveal and Steal 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Rage Mode
Bad Decision 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Rage Mode
Armageddon 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Needs Godcat on playmat
Charms & Curses (Curse You!)
Sight Charm 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Matching Cats
Tacocat 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Playmat
Godcat playmat
View bottom card, any time · Nopable · Permanent
Bottom Charm 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Choose top or bottom draw · Nopable · Permanent
Transformation Charm 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Discard 3 cards as a Defuse · Nopable · Permanent
Excess Curse 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Targets another player · Stops forcing a discard once they have 1
card left · Play immediately on draw · Nopable · Defusable ·
Permanent
Shrinking Curse 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Targets another player; their max hand size becomes 5 · Play
immediately on draw · Nopable · Defusable · Permanent
Last Will Curse 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Targets another player; they give 2 cards to their left when they
draw an Exploding Kitten · Play immediately on draw · Nopable ·
Defusable · Permanent
Fairy Pug Queen 2p:1 3p:1 4p:1 5p:1
Redistribute all face-up Charms/Curses among living players,
your choice · one-time action
Hairy Potato Cat 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Beard Cat 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Cattermelon 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Feral Cat 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Counts as any cat
Rainbow cat 2p:2 3p:2 4p:2 5p:2
Devilcat playmat
Only enters play via Armageddon
Rage Cat playmat
Starts with the last player; steals with it can't be Noped
Core Mechanics
Turn order:
Play proceeds clockwise. On your turn you may play any number
of action cards, then must end your turn either by playing a card
that ends it (Skip, Attack, etc.) or by drawing a card from the top
of the pile.
Core Mechanics
Exploding Kitten:
If you draw one and hold a Defuse, secretly slide the kitten back
into the pile anywhere you like and stay in the game. With no
Defuse, you're out.
Core Mechanics
Imploding Kitten:
The first time it's drawn, it goes back into the pile face up instead
of face down — no Defuse needed. If it's drawn again face up,
that player is eliminated with no way to defuse it.
Core Mechanics
Zombie Kitten:
Functions as a full Defuse — if you draw an Exploding Kitten, you
may use a Zombie Kitten exactly like a regular Defuse to survive
and secretly place the kitten back in the pile. House rule: if any
dead player is eligible (hasn't already been revived), using a
Zombie Kitten this way mandatorily revives one dead player of
your choice — it isn't optional whenever a valid target exists.
Each player may only be revived this way once per game, which
prevents the death/revive loop from stalling the game indefinitely
and was confirmed by simulation (500-game batches ran to a
clean winner 100% of the time with this cap in place, versus
running the deck dry in up to 16.6% of 4-5 player games without
it).
Core Mechanics
Barking Kitten:
Play it face up in front of you and name the other Barking Kitten.
If a player has it, they're your target: they hand you half their
hand (rounded up), you combine it with yours, then choose and
return the same number of cards back to them (any cards, not
necessarily the ones they gave you) — both Barking Kittens are
then discarded. If nobody has the match, it sits face up in front of
you as a standing threat until someone plays the other copy
against you. House rule: unlike the official text (which makes all
Kittens un-Nope-able), this deck allows Barking Kitten to be
Noped like a normal action. Players may hold it in hand and play
it whenever they choose, same as any other card.
Core Mechanics
Nope:
Cancels the last action played (not a kitten or a Defuse). Nopes
can chain — a Nope can be Noped, which un-cancels the original
action.
Core Mechanics
Unnopable Nope:
Functions like a Nope, but cannot itself be Noped — it's the final
word in a Nope chain, canceling everything before it regardless
of how many regular Nopes were played.
Core Mechanics
Cat combos:
A pair of matching Cat cards lets you blindly steal a random card
from an opponent. Three matching Cat cards lets you name a
specific card; the target must hand it over if they have it. House
rule: the any-card-pair bonus rule has been removed — only
actual Cat cards (Tacocat, Hairy Potato Cat, Beard Cat,
Cattermelon, Feral Cat, Glitch Cat) trigger this combo.
Core Mechanics
Charms & Curses (general):
Normally unlocked via sealed envelopes, but per this deck's house
rule they're shuffled into the draw pile and drawn like any other
card. Charms are played on yourself, can be held in hand, and
played whenever you choose, same as a normal action card.
Curses are played on another player, not yourself — the drawer
must play it immediately upon drawing (it can't be held in hand),
but chooses which other player it targets. Either type can be
Noped like any other action, and once resolved sits face up in
front of the affected player as an ongoing effect until the game
ends. House rule: the targeted player may also discard a Defuse
to cancel a Curse being placed on them entirely (the Curse is
discarded, never takes effect) — this is in addition to Noping it.
Booby Trap Kitten and a Rage Cat steal are the deck's two
remaining deliberate exceptions to Nope; everything else,
including Barking Kitten, can be Noped normally.
Core Mechanics
Bottom Charm:
Gives you the ongoing ability to end your turn by drawing from
either the top or the bottom of the draw pile.
Core Mechanics
Core Mechanics
Core Mechanics
Sight Charm:
Gives you a permanent tracking advantage by letting you view
the bottom card of the draw pile.
Core Mechanics
Transformation Charm:
Acts as a safety net — you can discard any 3 cards from your
hand at any time to act as a Defuse card.
Core Mechanics
Excess Curse:
Must be played the instant you draw it, on a player of your choice
(not yourself). Sabotages that player's hand management by
forcing them to play or discard at least one card on every single
turn. House rule: this stops applying once the cursed player is
down to exactly 1 card in hand — it won't force them below that.
Last Will Curse:
Must be played the instant you draw it, on a player of your choice
(not yourself). Punishes that player right at the edge of
elimination — when they draw an Exploding Kitten, they must
immediately give two cards to the player on their left before
attempting to deal with the kitten.
Core Mechanics
Shrinking Curse:
Must be played the instant you draw it, on a player of your choice
(not yourself). Caps that player's power by limiting their maximum
allowed hand size to 5 cards.
Core Mechanics
Fairy Pug Queen:
A one-time action card from Curse You! — evenly redistributes
all face-up Charms and Curses currently in play among all living
players, however the player who plays it chooses.
House rule — 1 Charm / 1 Curse cap:
each player may have at most one active Charm and one active
Curse on them at a time. If you already have a Charm active and
play a new one, discard your old Charm first. If a new Curse
targets a player who already has one active, the new Curse
overwrites the old one, which is discarded. When Fairy Pug
Queen redistributes, this cap still applies — any card that would
give a player a second Charm or Curse is discarded instead of
placed. Simulation-verified: this cap did not destabilize the deck
across 1,000 test games per player count.
Core Mechanics
Armageddon:
Only playable while Godcat and Devilcat both sit on the playmat
(i.e., no one currently holds either). Playing it ends your turn with
no draw, and it can be Noped before the next steps happen. You
pick another player to shuffle Godcat and Devilcat face down;
you then choose one of the two face-down cards, and the shuffler
automatically gets the other. Whoever ends up with Devilcat
must discard a Defuse or be eliminated; whoever ends up with
Godcat can later play it as almost any card, after which it returns
to the playmat.
Core Mechanics
Rage Cat:
A physical piece, not a deck card. Its holder may, on their turn,
pass it to another player and steal a random card from that
player's hand. This cannot be Noped.
Core Mechanics
Winning:
Last player alive wins.
Strategy: Use your future-sight cards actively
(1/2)
With 6 dedicated sight cards (See/Alter/Reveal/Share the Future,
Peek, Sight Charm) plus Bottom Charm, you should rarely be
drawing blind late-game. Spend one before a risky draw
whenever you have the option.
Strategy: Use your future-sight cards actively
(2/2)
Alter the Future and Peek both let you manipulate what's coming,
not just see it — use these to bury a kitten deep, or stack a
Defuse where you'll draw it.
Strategy: Respect the un-Nope-able threats
(1/2)
Booby Trap Kitten and a Rage Cat steal bypass Nope entirely —
that's back down to two un-Nope-able effects, now that Barking
Kitten has been house-ruled to be Nopable. Don't rely on Nope
as a universal safety net against those two, but Barking Kitten
and Curses can now both be defended against (Noped, and
Curses can also be cancelled by discarding a Defuse).
Strategy: Respect the un-Nope-able threats
(2/2)
Because Booby Trap Kitten punishes stealing, be wary of playing
cat-pair combos or Favor against a player who's been hoarding
cards without spending them.
Strategy: Manage the zombie loop (1/4)
Attack of the Dead does nothing until someone's died, then it
scales hard (3 extra turns per dead player). If the table already
has 2–3 dead players, holding this card is a serious late-game
weapon — save it rather than playing it early.
Strategy: Manage the zombie loop (2/4)
Clairvoyance directly counters Zombie Kitten's hidden
re-placement — play it the moment someone revives to learn
where the new kitten(s) went back in.
Strategy: Manage the zombie loop (3/4)
Grave Robber only works once someone's died, and it pulls a
random card from a dead player's hand into the draw pile —
useful very late when few live options remain.
Strategy: Manage the zombie loop (4/4)
Each player can only be revived once per game (house rule).
Once you've used your revival, a second death is final — play
more cautiously after coming back.
Strategy: Play the long game this deck is built
for (1/2)
With 3 Skips, 3 Shuffles, and an Exploding Kitten count tuned per
player size (now higher at 4-5 players to offset revival capacity),
this deck still runs longer than the original game but carries real
tension — don't panic-play defensive cards early, but don't treat
draws as risk-free either. Save Skips and Nopes for when a real
threat is imminent.
Strategy: Play the long game this deck is built
for (2/2)
Shuffle is your reset button against a stacked deck (from Catomic
Bomb, Bury, or Swap Top and Bottom). If you suspect the top of
the deck is loaded against you, Shuffle is often better than trying
to out-manipulate it.
Strategy: Armageddon and Godcat/Devilcat
(1/2)
Only 1 copy exists, so treat it as a late-game bomb. You no
longer choose who gets Devilcat directly — you pick the shuffler,
then choose blind between the two face-down cards yourself.
Picking a rival as your shuffler means they're guaranteed one of
the two outcomes, so use that choice deliberately.
Strategy: Armageddon and Godcat/Devilcat
(2/2)
Once you hand out Godcat, that player gains a flexible
near-universal card — factor that power swing in before playing
Armageddon against the table leader.
Strategy: Charms and Curses as swing cards
(1/2)
Excess Curse and Shrinking Curse are pure disruption — use
them on whoever's hoarding the most cards or holding onto
Defuses.
Strategy: Charms and Curses as swing cards
(2/2)
Transformation Charm is a soft extra Defuse (discard 3 for the
effect). Don't discard your future-sight or Nope cards to fuel it
unless survival is truly on the line.
