How Exploding Kittens Revamped Its Popular Card Game For Homebound Players In Just Two Weeks
How Exploding Kittens Revamped Its Popular Card Game For Homebound Players In Just Two Weeks
How Exploding Kittens Revamped Its Popular Card Game For Homebound Players In Just Two Weeks
By Denise Power
April 9, 2020
Summary
Exploding Kittens, the Kickstarter wunderkind with more than 200,000 financial backers, did what it's always done: harness the creativity, irreverence and humor that rocketed its eponymous tabletop card game to success among those who enjoy gathering for game night.
Launched in 2015 and appropriate for players as young as 7 years old, the card game is described as a cross between Uno and Russian Roulette.
First, consumers self-isolating at home and families looking for kid-friendly entertainment placed Exploding Kittens game orders en masse, driving sales up 300% to 500% last week, depleting all inventory in the U.S. and Canada, Exploding Kittens cofounder and CEO Elan Lee told me in an interview on Tuesday.
At the same time orders were surging, Exploding Kittens fans who already own the game and regularly gather to play could no longer congregate in groups due to widespread "Stay at home" orders needed to contain spread of the virus.
The solution to keep consumers engaged, both longtime players and those new to the game, came last week with the unveiling of Quarantined Kittens, a free game whose development was fast-tracked big time.
While game development cycles typically span six to 18 months, Lee says, the new game went from concept to release in record speed.
While Lee was chief design officer for Microsoft's Xbox and created alternate reality games using multimedia, it's an old school, analog approach that Exploding Kittens embraces with games like Throw Throw Burrito involving a Nerf-like foam burrito players lob at each other across a table.
As Lee explains, the game is not about the game itself but rather about players interacting.
"What if we mixed Exploding Kittens with something new? What if we mixed Exploding Kittens with Three-Card Monte," the con game played on city street corners and subways.
Quarantined Kittens was unveiled April 2 and Exploding Kittens is already working on what it calls expansion packs, which are product extensions to enhance the new game.
Reference
Power, D. (2020, April 09). How Exploding Kittens Revamped Its Popular Card Game For Homebound Players In Just Two Weeks. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/denisepower/2020/04/09/when-isolate-means-iterate-exploding-kittens-regroups-when-gamers-cannot-gather/