Exploding Kittens doesn’t have enough bang as a mobile game yet

It’s worth playing repeatedly

Above: The interface for Exploding Kittens is really simple.

Image Credit: Exploding Kittens

In the digital title, the gameplay lasts for maybe five minutes, but the goal is to get people to play it over and over again. You can definitely play for hours at a time. It doesn’t take long to learn the rules, and you’ll figure out a strategy quickly. You can try different moves in different matches, and the outcomes will be different.

Some things are better in digital

The deck shows exactly what your odds are of drawing an exploding kitten. Each time someone draws a card, the probability recalculates and displays instantly. You can’t do that in the tabletop version. Some cards in the digital version aren’t in the board game. And you can easily extend your deck by downloading in-app content, such as additional cards. In this way, Substantial takes full advantage of the mobile app.

What you won’t like

Annoying technical glitches

Above: The digital version tells you what your odds are of drawing an exploding kitten and ending your game.

Image Credit: Exploding Kittens

On the first night we played, we enjoyed a handful of encounters. Then, it wouldn’t load. I could no longer create or join games, and the same went for my kid. We called it a day. We tried it again the next day, and we had the same problem. We closed the app and reloaded it. Finally, it started working again. I don’t know if this is because the app is so popular. But clearly, it came out before it was fully battle tested. I hope that the team releases a fix soon because it’s kind of maddening to see things work and then fail the rest of the time.

You’ll get tired of it

This sounds like a contradiction to the notion you can play Exploding Kittens repeatedly. You’ll be quite happy playing it for a few evenings. But after that, the jokes get old. The game isn’t infinitely replayable. The humor wears off after a while, and you start to see the cards more for their functions, rather than the funny art or jokes.

Sure, you could say it’s a cheap game at $1.99, with no fees for microtransactions. But if you have a five-player game, every player who doesn’t share the same iTunes account will have to buy it. Did you really get your money’s worth? If you lose interest after a short time, the answer is no.

Multiplayer could be better

The Exploding Kittens creators said they wanted to make it so you could play in the same room with other players because it elicits many whoops and hollers when it’s played that way. But Bluetooth is a bit of a finicky technology, and I still think they could find a way to add long-distance multiplayer, like it has been done with asynchronous titles like Words with Friends. I really hope that the response is strong enough for the team to add long-distance multiplayer, and I really believe that will expand the audience and replay potential enormously. After all, you don’t want to play only with your local friends or family. You’ll get tired of them and hunger for fresh opponents elsewhere.

Conclusion

Above: You can play with a basic deck or an expanded party deck in Exploding Kittens.

Image Credit: Exploding Kittens

I think everyone will get a lot of laughs out of Exploding Kittens. But it doesn’t have staying power to keep it going as a huge phenomenon. It’s hilarious, but it doesn’t feel like it’s done. I think it’s worth $1.99 already, but not everyone will agree. It has potential to be something that could stick around for ages. But, I worry that it won’t have lasting appeal without more depth. I’ll update my review score if there’s a significant update.

Score: 70/100

Exploding Kittens is out now for iOS.

Here’s a video on the mobile release posted by Inman.