9 Games Like Exploding Kittens (Ranked by How Chaotic They Get)
Short answer: If you love Exploding Kittens, start with Throw Throw Burrito (same creators, more physical chaos) or Unstable Unicorns (same push-your-luck backstabbing, bigger player count). If you've already worn those out and want something with sharper teeth, Eat Your Neighbor is a new card, dice, and board game built specifically for people who thought Exploding Kittens was a little too polite.
Here's the full breakdown, ranked by chaos level, not alphabetically — because "best" depends entirely on how unhinged your group wants to get.
Quick comparison
| Game | Players | Price | Chaos Level | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exploding Kittens (Original) | 2–5 | ~$10–15 | 🔥🔥 | The baseline everyone already owns |
| Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza | 2–8 | ~$12 | 🔥 | Kids, mixed-age groups, quick rounds |
| Throw Throw Burrito | 2–6 | ~$25 | 🔥🔥🔥 | Groups who want to actually move |
| Unstable Unicorns | 2–8 | ~$20 | 🔥🔥 | Bigger groups, longer play sessions |
| Eat Your Neighbor | 2–6 | TBA (Kickstarter) | 🔥🔥🔥🔥 | Groups who've outgrown "cute chaos" |
1. Eat Your Neighbor — for when Exploding Kittens feels too nice
If Exploding Kittens is "your cat might explode, whoops," Eat Your Neighbor is "your neighbor definitely got eaten, and everyone at the table is a suspect." It's a new card, dice, and board game where every player raises a family of small creatures called Nugs, and the entire rest of the table is trying to get those Nugs run over, roasted, buried, or shipped straight to the cemetery before yours does it to them first.
The mechanical DNA is genuinely close to Exploding Kittens — push-your-luck card draws, direct player-to-player sabotage, fast rounds — but the tone goes somewhere Exploding Kittens never does. We playtested it on actual neighbors before writing a word of this page. Several of those friendships did not survive the playtest. The game did.
- Players: 2–6
- Play time: About 20–30 minutes (longer if someone flips the table)
- What's in the box: 1 board, 6 Home cards, 45+ event cards, a pair of dice
- Where it's similar to Exploding Kittens: fast rounds, card-based sabotage, easy to teach in under 5 minutes
- Where it's different: direct, personal, dark-comedy targeting of other players' "families," instead of a shared shuffled-deck threat
See the full rulebook and card previews →
2. Throw Throw Burrito — for groups who want to actually move
Made by the same team behind Exploding Kittens, Throw Throw Burrito keeps the card-matching structure but adds foam burritos you physically throw at each other mid-round. 2–6 players, roughly $25. If your group's complaint about Exploding Kittens was "I wish this had more physical comedy," this is the direct answer.
3. Unstable Unicorns — for bigger groups who want to build something
Unstable Unicorns swaps "avoid exploding" for "build your unicorn army while sabotaging everyone else's." Same push-your-luck backstabbing energy, but supports up to 8 players and runs a bit longer per game. Around $20.
4. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza — for mixed-age or family game night
Not a direct mechanical cousin of Exploding Kittens, but frequently recommended alongside it because it hits the same "so simple a 7-year-old can win, so fast that adults still love it" niche. 2–8 players, about $12, and genuinely one of the cheapest entry points on this list.
5–9: The rest of the pack
- Muffin Time — unpredictable, trap-filled, first-to-10-cards format.
- Here to Slay — team-building card game, no player elimination.
- Bears vs Babies — same creators as Exploding Kittens, monster-building twist.
- Love Letter — much smaller footprint (16 cards), pure deduction, the "quiet, strategic" alternative on this list.
- Coup — dystopian bluffing game, less card-flow chaos, more social deduction.
Which one should you actually buy?
- Want the closest thing to Exploding Kittens, just darker? Eat Your Neighbor.
- Want more physical/active chaos? Throw Throw Burrito.
- Want a bigger group (7-8 players)? Unstable Unicorns.
- Buying for a mixed-age family game night? Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza.
Eat Your Neighbor is launching on Kickstarter — sign up to get notified the moment it goes live, before your neighbors do.