We are Matthew Inman, Elan Lee, and Shane Small, creators of the card game "Exploding Kittens." Ask us anything.

Are you sick of people thinking you're millionaires because they forget you have to deliver over 200,000 rewards?

I love you. Please come with me everywhere I go for the rest of my life.

how is it that you so severely underestimated the internet's interest in the combination of cat + game + BOOM!? $10,000 seems adorable at this point.

we're pretty adorable.

If we have an Exploding Kittens tournament at our animal shelter will you guys come?!?

Invite us! If we're around, we'll be there!

What do you guys believe the reason is behind the GIANT success? The fact that it's an awesome game or that Oatmeal is a part of the team?

Honestly, this is a giant success because of you guys. The fans and the community made this thing real, and then made it amazing.

Oh stop....

Seriously, did you see those Batmans in a hottub??

POW!
https://twitter.com/thetinomen/status/564297527948611587

@thetinomen

2015-02-08 05:39:49 UTC

@gameofkittens Here is some Bat Soup for #update9 #explodingkittens 10 Batmans in One Hot Tub http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9TJnIkCUAAuPBv.jpg

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the 100+ kitten ears was pretty jaw dropping too.

But you had to know that you'd get more interest than your initial funding level. Didn't you?

We certainly hoped so, but the text on the field reads "minimum funding" so we took that seriously.

Where do you plan to sell the game after it's Kickstarter début is complete?

We don’t have a retail plan yet. We made a promise to more than 200 thousand people to ship them this game. That’s our highest priority right now.

We don't know yet. There's so many things that have to happen between now and then. For now, the only thing we can tell you for sure is that if you want the game, you have 28 minutes to get it.

Is it disappointing to have such a poor turnout on kickstarted?

edit: Is it just me, or is iOS8's autocorrect super aggressive?

Ya, the audience for kickstarted is non existent.

How did the conversation that made Exploding Kittens happen go down?

Wasn't really a conversation, but Shane came up with the original game, and we both worked on developing it for a few weeks until we had a great game mechanic. Then Matt came on board and it was one of those chocolate/peanut butter moments.

"Chocolate/peanut butter" moments are the best kind of moments -- If you think about it, and aren't allergic to nuts, but whatever. This is going to be awesome.

mmmmmmmmmm.....choCoLate

I love the new 'NOPE!' cards -- are you guys still actively developing the game, and will you have beta-testers?

If by "actively developing" you mean "obsessively pestering all our friends to constantly play with us instead of eating, sleeping, or working" then yes, yes we are.

How do you plan to produce the nearly over 23 million cards ordered (I think I did the math right), when you originally only asked about doing 1000?

We have a special red batphone that pesters Max Tempkin at any hour.

Is it hard to be as amazing as you guys are?

Also, Matthew, how perfect is your Tesla?

it's a struggle....every. damned. day.

Kickstarter backer here. What amount of money did you expect to get for Exploding Kittens before launch? For Matt, mantis shrimp, japanese giant hornets, or the red velvet mite? Congrats on the success, you still have 90 minutes to go before the campaign ends, are certainly the third most funded campaign ever by the time you read this, and at the current rate you might break 9 million!

Before we started the campaign, I called a number of fulfillment houses and asked for quotes to package and ship a card game based on our estimates. Two weeks ago I got a return call from one of those houses, “Hi Elan! Just wanted to follow up on your inquiry and see if you were still interested in that order for 500 decks of cards?” I had flashes to that scene in JAWS where Roy Scheider sees the immense great white for the first time and says in a stupor “you’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

Who wants to help us count down to zero?

How are you going to meet the demand? Do you guys have production already lined up? Have companies made you an offer to buy your game idea yet?

Max Tempkin from Cards Against Humanity is in here somewhere...Max, want to grab this one?

How many people will the production and distribution of the game likely employ?

Dunno, right now there's just four of us. So we probably need more than that.

Who is number 4? Is it Mr. CAH himself?

Number 4 is Bella, who runs our social media. You should all definitely shout out a hello to her!

HI BELLA WE LIKE YOU LOTS

she's currently manning the @gameofkittens twitter account, so you can sing her praises there :)

When are you guys going to be on the Daily Show?

Ask them!!! We want it sooooo bad!

Hey guys, I work as an event coordinator at a Seattle board/card game store called Card Kingdom. Any chance you'd want to do a launch party for the game when it comes out?

Will there be pizza?

You guys recently announced that you upgraded the regular deck to 5 player support. Does that mean there's a 4th exploding kitten card? If so, can we see a photo of it, or will it remain a mystery for a long time?

Yup, a fourth kitten! That also means by combining two decks, you can play with up to 9 players!

Can I get a prize if I am successfully the last person to back the game before the Kickstarter is over?

Yes, but it's one of those special prizes that you have to believe really hard in, for it to exist. If you find it doesn't exist, you just didn't believe hard enough.

Hi! Looks like you guys are on track to being the third-most funded kickstarter! I'm pretty damn excited to get my copy of Exploding Kittens. Can we get any hint as to what the special surprise in each box is supposed to be?

We just hit it! You guys are amazing!

Did you have any idea that this was going to be this big?

NOPE

1. How much of the past month have you spent just watching the kickstarter page update with more and more support?

2. At what point did you start to panic and realize that this was going to be serious work to organize sending out hundreds of thousands of boxes?

3. Any regrets yet?

1) None. I spend all my time under my desk cowering in fear. 2) See #1 3) Writing answer #2

Given the large number of backers do you think that production will be on time? How do you plan to start production?

We are doing everything possible to ensure everything stays on schedule. It's really important to us.

Question for Elan: I once saw a picture of you on the Wipeout course. Were you actually a contestant (and did the episode ever air?) or were you just one of the black & blues for a day?

How did you find that!?!?! Get out of my hedges!!!

Hey guys! Been a big fan along the way so thanks for everything. So why kittens? And how stoked are you guys right now?

I think Matt put it best when he said, "we have to call this exploding kittens because, the internet"

What was your reaction when you got to a million dollars? How much did you NOT expect that??

We didn't expect that about 990,000 worth

How long ago did you come up with the idea?

Just a few months. Keep in mind our entire company has only existed for a bit over 30 days!

Hi Exploding Kittens team! I just want say thank you for creating something original, creative and an amazingly fun idea for a card game.

My Question for all 3 of you, Which is your personal favorite card in the game?

Quick thanks to Elan for replying to my inquiry about the picture of my cat waiting with my son for the bus. Wouldve loved to get a card like that made in their likeness, cant blame me for trying considering the $500 deck of legends was sold out and I didn’t have the opportunity :(

I have a huge crush on Tacocat

First off, I am a big fan. Now that I have said something cliche...

Since the funding and creation of this game has been such a clear success, have the three of you discussed any future projects together?

Yes, it's called...."shipping all these cards out"

Is there anyone on your team who actually dislikes kittens?

Ya, but we keep him locked in the basement.

So guys 2 questions for all 3 of you exploding triplets , what is your favourite video game of all time? and what board game should I buy other then your own one?:)

Portal is my favorite of ALL TIME. Board game - try either SET, Cards Against Humanity, or Monopoly Deal.

Did you guys deliberately undervalue the game in order to generate such a massive percent funded figure?

Not a grumpy question either, I'm in for $35 and I'm really looking forward to it!

Nope. We honestly asked for the minimum amount we needed to fund 500 decks of the game. If we got less than that, we would not have been able to produce any decks at all. I was originally thinking I'd buy some friends pizza and beer and do the fulfillment in my garage.

What was the most common topping request from the RSVPizza parties yesterday?

you can put toppings on a pizza?

Many tabletop gamers dislike elimination games because it's boring to lose them. How long should we expect a game to last? Is it enough time for the losers to go buy more beer?

Games last anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes depending on how many players there are. We tinkered a round with a few variants to avoid elimination or give the eliminated players something to do, but none were as much fun as just cheering on your friends during the final few minutes of insanity.

When will we be able to purchase shirts!!??

Not for a long long time. We have a lot of cards to make for you people.

I love that you're here! What, ultimately, lit the fire under your asses to make this awesome game? Thank you for all of the laughs!

Personally speaking, I lost my job and had to find SOMETHING to do...

What card in the game is each of your favorites?

I continue to have a crush on Tacocat! That dude rulez.

What was the hardest part about creating this game? Was there anything that made you guys want to quit or at least slow down?

The bar is set pretty high with the kickstarter campaign. We all now the game is great, but I constantly work to make sure it's as good as the promise of the campaign.

Will there be an "Imploding Puppies" version down the road?

I think "Imploding Llamas" roles off the tongue a bit easier don't you?

Does it feel odd to already have such a dedicated fan club for a game that has yet to be released?

We didn’t put this game on kickstarter to make money. We put it there to make a game with a community. We listen to your mails, your tweets, and your posts. We test everything, run prototypes, and create new art. The game is good because we made it that way, but the game is great because of you.

Considering what an immense success this project has been, do you guys plan to work together on any other projects in the future? That is, after you overcome the feat of shipping Exploding Kittens packages to 200 thousand backers. It seems like you three are somewhat of a game-creating dream team.

We're jealous that you have a version of the future that can extend out that far.

What's the plan after the Kickstarter closes?

That's actually the best part. The kickstarter campaign is only half of this. The other half is the actual game. In about 40 minutes, we get to shift over to making our awesome game real!

How did you guys all meet? What brought you together to work on this game?

I've been working with Shane for about 10 years. I met Matt in October. The three of us have never all been in the same room together.

In your project plan you mentioned building a community, did it surprise you to see a community such as Kitten Corps arise from the comments section?

We hoped it would be there. Once we hit our funding goal, the campaign was no longer about money, it was about a community. We decided that everything we did from that point on would be to celebrate you guys, and help you celebrate each other.

Are you guys floating any particular ideas for expansions? I'm really excited for my decks, and would love to see some crazy editions.

We have a notebook full of expansion ideas. But first we gotta get this game in all your hands!

Hey guys, Thank you so much for doing this ama. I was wondering when we are going to get an extended look at the NSFW Pack?

We'll post updates even after the campaign is over to show you our progress.

Was there ever a moment when you pressed F5 and the numbers didn't change? How did you feel at that exact moment?

I have nothing witty to say here. You hogged all the wit with that comment.

How have you guys dealt with all of the whiny doucheknobs crying about your amazing success?

IRL NOPE! card

How long was the game in development before being unleashed on the world via Kickstarter?

A few months, but we've been playtesting non-stop since then.

What are the resources you rely on the most when designing a game and determine that it will be fun and fair?

I'm like a 7 year old trapped in a 40 year old body. Usually when I think something is fun I'm right because I'm so bad at being an adult.

How will you eventually get the game into stores? Will you partner with a game company, or start your own?

Our focus is on shipping all of you the game you ordered. We'll come up with a plan for retail, but not until we fulfill our promise to you.

What's your guess for the final total raised on Kickstarter?

I think we'll get fully funded.

What about your Kickstarter campaign most surprised you?

It was non-stop. At one point I was sitting on the joco cruise in the middle of the atlantic ocean…in a shopping mall…at a coffee shop…with Matt…trying to write an update. Nothing about the last month of my life makes any sense.