Rules to Zombie Kittens

zombie KITTENS
THE RULES
players: 2 - 5
contents: 61 cards

2 Players
No adjustments are needed to play with
2 players, but for an enhanced 2 player
experience, please visit
www.ekzombiekittens.com/how

IMPORTANT!!!
We know you’ve been playing Exploding Kittens for years and
think you know all the rules, but you don’t. When it comes to
this new game, you’re a dumb adorable kitten…
let’s make you undumb...please read these rules.
(Don’t worry, you’ll still be adorable no matter what.)

How it works

In the deck of cards are some Exploding Kittens. You play the
game by putting the deck face down and taking turns drawing
cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten.

When that happens, that person explodes and they are
out of the game (for now).
All of the other cards will give you
powerful tools to help you avoid exploding!
This process continues until there’s
only 1 player left who wins the game.

Basically

If you explode, you lose.
If you don’t explode, you win.
And all the other cards will lessen your chances
of getting exploded by Exploding Kittens.

For Example:

If it were your turn to draw, you could play
a See the Future Card to peek at the top
few cards in the Draw Pile before drawing.
If you saw an Exploding Kitten, you could
then play a Skip Card to end your turn
without drawing a card instead of exploding.

Setup

To start, remove all the Exploding Kittens (4)
from the deck and set them aside.

2. If you are playing with 2 PLAYERS: Use only the cards
WITH a Paw Print symbol in the corner (24 cards).
Remove the other cards from the game.
If you are playing with 3 PLAYERS: Use only the cards
WITHOUT a Paw Print symbol in the corner (33 cards).
Remove the other cards from the game.

If you are playing with 4 or 5 PLAYERS: Use all of the cards.

3. Remove all of the Zombie Kittens from your deck
and give 1 to each player. Insert the extra Zombie
Kitten(s) back into the deck.

For a 4 PLAYER game, there will be 1 extra Zombie Kitten. Shuffle it back into the deck.

Zombie kittens

The Zombie Kitten is the most powerful card in the game. These are
the only cards that can save you from an Exploding Kitten. If you
draw an Exploding Kitten, instead of dying, you can play the
Zombie Kitten and reinsert the Exploding Kitten back into the Draw
Pile anywhere you’d like in secret. If any of the other players are
Dead when you play a Zombie Kitten, you have to choose
one of them to bring back to life.
Try to get as many Zombie Kitten cards as you can.

4. Shuffle the deck and deal 7
cards face down to each player.
Everyone now has a hand of 8 cards
total (7 cards + 1 Zombie Kitten).
Look at your cards but keep them secret.

5. Insert enough Exploding Kittens back into the deck so
that there is 1 fewer than the number of people playing.
Remove any extra Exploding Kittens from the game.

For example

For a 4 player game, insert 3 Exploding Kittens.
For a 3 player game, insert 2 Exploding Kittens.
This ensures that everyone eventually
explodes except for 1 person.

6. Shuffle the deck and put it face down in the middle of
the table.

This is your Draw Pile.

(Be sure to leave some space for a Discard Pile as well.)

7. Pick a player to go first. (Some sample criteria: most
excited to go first, tastiest brainz, etc.)

Taking your turn

1. Gather all 8 of your cards into your hand
and look at them. Do one of the following:

Play
Play a card by placing it FACE UP on top of the
Discard Pile and follow the instructions on the card.

Read the text on a card to
learn what it does.

After you follow the instructions on the card, you can play
another card. You can play as many cards as you’d like.

Pass
Play no cards.

2. After either playing as many cards as you’d like or
passing, you will end your turn by drawing a card from
the top of the Draw Pile into your hand and hoping it’s not
an Exploding Kitten. (This is different from most games in
that you END YOUR TURN by drawing a card.)

play continues clockwise
around the table.

Remember

Play as many or as few cards as you’d like, then draw a card to
end your turn.

DYING
If you draw an Exploding Kitten and you don’t have a Zombie
Kitten (or have one and choose not to play it), you are Dead.
Put the Exploding Kitten that killed you face up in front of you
and keep the rest of your cards in your hand. If you draw an
Exploding Kitten, you DO NOT have to play a Zombie Kitten
even if you have one. You might choose to intentionally die
to avoid drawing cards for a while and to shield yourself from
other players. Just hope another player will eventually bring
you back into the game!

There is no limit to the number of times you can die.

BEING Dead

Dead players don’t take a turn, but they can still play any card
from their hand with NOW in the title or a Nope Card to affect
the game (because these cards can be played even when it’s
not your turn).

You cannot steal cards from Dead players unless a card
specifically allows you to (i.e., you cannot play a Favor or Pair
of Cat Cards on a Dead player).

COMING BACK TO LIFE

Whenever a player chooses to play a Zombie Kitten to save
themselves from dying, they must bring a Dead player
(if there are any) back to life. If they choose to bring you back
to life, they will put their Zombie Kitten in the Discard Pile
and then take their Exploding Kitten and the Exploding Kitten
in front of you and put both of them separately back into the
Draw Pile anywhere they’d like in secret. (The two Exploding
Kittens can be put in two different locations.) You are now a
Living player and must take your turns as normal.
If you play a Zombie Kitten and there is more than one Dead
player, you can choose any one of the Dead players you’d
like to bring back into the game, but choose carefully... they
can only win if they eventually outlive you!

ENDING THE GAME
The last Living player wins the game.
You won’t ever run out of cards in the Draw Pile because you
inserted enough Exploding Kittens to kill all but 1 player.

Three more things

A good strategy is to save your cards early in the game
while your chance of dying is low.

You can always count the cards left in the Draw Pile to
figure out the odds of dying.

There is no maximum or minimum hand size. If you run
out of cards in your hand, there’s no special action to take.
Keep playing. You’ll draw at least
1 more card on your next turn.

Stop reading! go play!

If you have questions about specific cards, continue reading

Exploding kitten 4 cards

You must show this card immediately. Unless you have a Zombie
Kitten Card, you’re out of the game. Put this card face up in front
of you and keep your hand of cards hidden.

zombie kitten 5 cards

If you drew an Exploding Kitten, you can (but do not have to) play this
card instead of dying. Place your Zombie Kitten Card on the Discard
Pile. If there are any Dead players, you must choose one of them and
bring them back into the game.
Next, take the Exploding Kitten and, without reordering or viewing the
other cards, secretly put it back in the Draw Pile anywhere you’d like.
If you bring another player back from the Dead, you’ll do the same
thing with the Exploding Kitten Card face up in front of them.
(This means you’ll be putting 2 Exploding
Kittens back into the deck at once, each in
its own secret location.)
Your turn is over after playing this card.
You can still play this card if there are no Dead players.

Want to hurt the player right after you? Put the Exploding Kitten
right on top of the deck. If you’d like, hold the deck under the table
so that no one else can see where you put it.

Attack 2 cards

Do not draw any cards. Instead, immediately force the next player to
take 2 turns in a row. Play then continues from that player. The victim
of this card takes a turn as normal (play-or-pass, then draw).
Then, when their first turn is over, it’s their turn again.
If the victim of an Attack card (Attack (2x), Attack of the Dead, etc.)
plays an Attack card on any of their turns, the new target must take
any remaining turns plus the number of attacks on the Attack Card just
played (e.g., 4 turns, then 6, and so on).

For all attacks (Regular, Personal, and Targeted), if you Defuse an
Exploding Kitten, it only ends ONE of your turns.You must still take
any remaining turns after defusing the Kitten!

nope5 cards

Stop any action except for an
Exploding Kitten or a Zombie Kitten Card.
Imagine that any card beneath
a Nope Card never existed.
Any cards that have been Noped are lost.
Leave them in the Discard Pile.
You can play this card at any time, even if
it is not your turn. Dead players can also
play this card.

A Nope can also be played on another Nope
to cancel it and create a Yup, and so on.

Clairvoyance - now 2 cards

Play this card when another player is putting an Exploding Kitten
card(s) back into the Draw Pile (ie, when they play a Zombie Kitten or
Defuse). You get to watch where they insert the Exploding Kitten(s).
You can play this card at any time, even if it is not your turn.
Dead players can also play this card.

You can leave your seat and walk over to the player putting the
Exploding Kitten back into the Draw Pile to see where they secretly
place it.

Skip 3 cards

Immediately end your turn without drawing a card.

If you play a Skip Card as a defense to an Attack Card, it only
ends 1 of the 2 turns. 2 Skip Cards would end both turns.

Super skip 2 cards

Immediately end your turn without drawing a card.
If you’re supposed to take multiple turns, end them all.

See the future (3x) 2 cards

Privately view the top 3 cards from the Draw Pile and put them back
in the same order. Don’t show the cards to the other players.

Shuffle 2 cards

Shuffle the Draw Pile thoroughly.
You can play this card at any time, even if it is not your turn.
Dead players can also play this card.

A great way to use this card is right after someone plays a
“See the Future” but before they draw a card!

Feed the Dead 2 cards

Pick a Dead player. All Living players with cards (except you) must
pick a card of their choice and give it to that player. You cannot play
this card if there are no Dead players.

Now You can play this card at any time, even if it is not your turn.
Dead players can also play this card.

Clone 3 cards

Play this card onto the Discard Pile and it becomes whatever card is
beneath it and adopts the rules of that card.
You cannot play a Clone on top of another Clone.
You cannot play a Clone Card when it is not your turn or if you are
Dead―even if you play it on top of a card with the now symbol
(because at the time you played it, it was still a Clone Card and can
only be played on your turn).

You can play a Cat Card with a Clone to create a pair and steal
a card (because the Clone becomes the same card as the Cat
Card you put beneath it). This only works if you are the player who
played both the Cat Card AND the Clone―you could not play a
Clone on top of a Cat Card played by another player!

GRave Robber 1 card

All Dead players with cards must choose one card from their hand
to shuffle into the Draw Pile. You cannot play this card if there are
no Dead players.

This is very useful near the end of the game when you need
a better chance of avoiding an Exploding Kitten.

Favor 3 cards

Force any other player to give you 1 card from their hand.
They choose which card to give you.
You cannot play this card on a Dead player.

Dig deeper 4 cards

Draw the top card from the Draw Pile, look at it, and decide if you
want to keep it. If so, put it in your hand. Otherwise you MUST draw
the next card in the Draw Pile no matter what it is. (Then put the card
you decided not to draw back on top of the Draw Pile). Your turn is
now over.

This card is a great way to mess with the heads of other players.
If you decide not to keep the top card, everyone will drive themselves
crazy trying to figure out why you didn’t want it!

attack of the Dead 3 cards

End your turn without drawing a card. Force the next player to take
three turns for each Dead player.
If the victim of an Attack card (Attack (2x), Attack of the Dead, etc.)
plays an Attack of the Dead card on any of their turns, the new target
must take any remaining turns plus the number of attacks on the
Attack Card just played.
You cannot play this card if there are no Dead players.

The more Dead players there are, the Deadlier this gets.
Just don’t wait too long to use it or you might not get a chance.

Cat cards 16 cards

These cards are powerless on their own, but if you collect any 2
matching Cat Cards, you can play them as a Pair to steal a random
card from any Living player.
You cannot play this card on
a Dead player.
They can also be used in
Special Combos.

Special Combos
(read this after you’ve played your first game)

Two of a kind

Playing matching Pairs of Cat Cards
(where you get to steal a random card
from another player) no longer only
applies to pairs of Cat Cards. It now
applies to ANY pair of cards with the
same title (a pair of Nope Cards, a
pair of Skip Cards, etc). Ignore the
instructions on the cards when you
play them as a combo.

Three of a kind

When you play 3 matching cards
(any 3 cards with the same title),
you get to pick a player and name
a card. If they have that card, they
must give one to you. If they don’t
have it, you get nothing. Ignore the
instructions on the cards when you
play them as a combo.

You cannot target a Dead player with combos.

© 2023 Exploding Kittens | Made in China
7162 Beverly Blvd #272 LA CA 90036 | Imported into the UK by Exploding Kittens
Oceana House, 1st Flr 39-49 Commercial Rd, Southampton, Hampshire SO15 1GA, UK
Imported into the EU by Exploding Kittens | 10 Rue Pergolèse, 75116 Paris, FR
www.explodingkittens.com | support@explodingkittens.com | LONS-202306-61