--- description: A card game that features exploding kittens and wise goats has raised an astonishing $8.78 million on Kickstarter. title: This 'Exploding Kittens' Game Just Raised Almost $9 Million image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta68c820e88f311ce/698780388e0601621145a69e/103131833.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This 'Exploding Kittens' Game Just Raised Almost $9 Million by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 20, 2015 3:26 PM CUT  Milly, a 13-week-old kitten waits with her brother Charlie (L) to be re-homed at The Society for Abandoned Animals Sanctuary in Sale, Manchester which is facing an urgent cash crisis and possible closure on July 27, 2010 in Manchester, England. Milly, a 13-week-old kitten waits with her brother Charlie (L) to be re-homed at The Society for Abandoned Animals Sanctuary in Sale, Manchester which is facing an urgent cash crisis and possible closure on July 27, 2010 in Manchester, England.Christopher Furlong—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 20, 2015 3:26 PM CUT A [card game that features exploding kittens](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elanlee/exploding-kittens "undefined") and wise goats has raised an astonishing $8.78 million on Kickstarter. With 219,382 backers, “Exploding Kittens” is the [most-backed](https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/exploding-kittens-is-the-most-backed-project-of-all-time "undefined") Kickstarter project ever. It’s also received more funding than any project from the Games category. Exploding Kittens was created by comic artist [Matthew Inman](http://theoatmeal.com/ "undefined"), as well as Elan Lee and Shane Small. The game consists of a deck of cards and is basically a non-deadly version of Russian Roulette: if you draw a card with an detonation-prone kitten, you’re out. The creators’ goal was a measly $10,000 in funding. Now, the game’s creators will have to ship card decks to more than 200,000 people, [Mashable reports](http://mashable.com/2015/02/20/exploding-kittens-8-7-million/ "undefined"). In a question-and-answer session on Reddit, a commenter asked, “Did you have any idea that this was going to be this big?.” Lee replied, “NOPE.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3716342/exploding-kittens-kickstarter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3716342/exploding-kittens-kickstarter/"},"headline":"This 'Exploding Kittens' Game Just Raised Almost $9 Million","datePublished":"2015-02-20T15:26:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:02.335Z","description":"The game that blew up on Kickstarter","url":"https://time.com/3716342/exploding-kittens-kickstarter/","keywords":["Tech","Newsfeed","Web"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta68c820e88f311ce/698780388e0601621145a69e/103131833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta68c820e88f311ce/698780388e0601621145a69e/103131833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Animal Sanctuary Needs £200,000 To Avoid Closure","caption":"Animal Sanctuary Needs £200,000 To Avoid Closure","creditText":"Christopher Furlong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3716342/exploding-kittens-kickstarter/","name":"This 'Exploding Kittens' Game Just Raised Almost $9 Million"}}]}] ```