back to article What gets the internet REALLY excited? Kittens? No. EXPLODING Kittens

Let the internet run amok for long enough and you'll eventually find someone making millions with exploding kittens. Curious? Well look no further, because the internet has delivered! As of the time of publication, Exploding Kittens: The Card Game has achieved $3,207,001 of its $10,000 goal with 27 days left to go. Exploding …

  1. Mark 85

    The perfect Monday morning story,...

    Facing Monday and wondering what brilliant idea management has spent the weekend thinking up, coffee in hand, and El Reg puts this story in my face... Restores my faith that there's a world out there that is just as nuts and irreverent as most of us in IT are. I'm ordering at least 3 decks and will keep one at work on my desk for impromptu stress-relief.

  2. Sebastian A

    Unfortunately...

    it reads like something written by someone in a Sunday-evening alcoholic stupor. "no example of the project slowing down"? "14nd"?

  3. Len Goddard

    A long way to go

    Not a kickstarter, but Star Citizen has crowdfunded itself to the tune of more than $70M and 736k+ backers. I could give more accurate figures but they would be out of date by the time you read them so why bother?

    1. NumptyScrub

      Re: A long way to go

      Betcha I get my copies of "teh kittehs asplode" game before Squadron 42 is playable though. I keep hoping I am wrong and just being a stupid butt, however I can't help but get a Duke Nukem Forever (or Daikatana) vibe out of the rate of development progress for Star Citizen. :'(

      Full disclosure: I've played more Chris Roberts games than I care to count and I was all up for getting the Cutlass (or Freelancer) package back when both this and Elite: Dangerous got announced. I thought I would be sensible and wait until there was a bit more functionality before dropping monies on either game (rather than my usual impulse buying everything in sight). I didn't buy in to E: D until after I played the alpha at a friends, and could see the flight model, basic trading mechanics etc., then I dropped £100 on the beta because I could see the game I'd be getting.

      Elite: Dangerous is now released (opinions vary on whether it is in a releasable state, but still), and Star Citizen still only has a Hangar module where you can see your ship(s), and an Arena module where you can fly one of those ships in a couple of pew pew missions. I haven't seen any estimates on when even a beta of Squadron 42 (the single player / co-op game mode) will be released, although since I still haven't backed, I may just not be privy to super secret internal comms. Still, the fact remains that Star Citizen made over 10 times the backing the E: D did whilst simultaneously being the least visibly developed of the 2 titles.

      I'm just waiting for Sq. 42 to drop (even in beta) and I'll happily cough up the readies. Unfortunately I've already been waiting a couple of years for that, and still no estimated date in sight :(

      1. Oninoshiko

        Re: A long way to go

        Apparently we're following different projects.

        FD deceived their supporters about the status of development right up until a week before release, where they dropped the bombshell they would be dropping promised features, not because they weren't possible, but because it didn't "fit his visions," and no refunds on the bait-and-switch. Personally, I think DB should be a bit more like Stevie Nicks and keep his visions to himself, and instead fulfill his promises.

        OTOH, CIG puts out information at such a rate it's almost impossible to keep up on it all. Seriously, if you aren't on their site at least once a day, you miss things. While their site redesign sucks, there is a ton of information about all levels of development there. Systems, programming, debugging, lore... that's just in the official planned announcements, devs are in the forums every day responding to the community. I keep seeing this complaint, but short of putting the code on Github, I don't see any way for them to be more open. I have not seen anywhere NEAR the openness from FD.

        As to S42 it's been made episodic and the first episode is scheduled to drop this year. This was announced.

        1. NumptyScrub
          Happy

          Re: A long way to go

          Elite: Dangerous - 3 (4?) million quid and the persistent universe, multiplayer game has been playable for the last 12 months, although many are arguing that it is not in a release state and should still be qualified as a beta.

          Star Citizen - 40 million quid and the persistent universe, multiplayer game is "in design" (not "in production", note, still being designed) and the only playable module is an arena shooter

          I tend to agree with most concerns I see raised about E: D (although I have literally zero care about offline mode, I purchase games to be able to play them with my friends) but the fact remains that 10% of the budget has, on the face of it, apparently provided an order of magnitude more playability for backers in the last 24 months.

          Wasn't aware that Sq.42 was being made episodic, nor that episode 1 is due this year though, that is good news :). Just to ensure I'm not being a total dumbass, Sq.42 is co-op capable story-mode play, right, and not solely single player? It's the co-op multiplayer experience I'm most interested in for Star Citizen ^^;

    2. Afernie
      Coat

      Re: A long way to go

      "Not a kickstarter, but Star Citizen has crowdfunded itself to the tune of more than $70M and 736k+ backers."

      Don't they make dot-matrix printers?

  4. Zog_but_not_the_first
    WTF?

    Monkey tennis

    Getting ever closer by the day.

    1. Cipher
      Trollface

      Re: Monkey tennis

      Yes, maybe the Michael Jackson Orangutan tapes will inspire an new generation of game developers...

  5. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Bloody internet is too good

    That was on my 'send it to El Reg' list for this morning!

  6. jzlondon

    What is a holiday gift? Is that like a Christmas present?

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Yeah, but for people who aren't religiocentric dicks. War on christmas? Drafted? Hell, I volunteered.

      1. Cynic_999

        "Yeah, but for people who aren't religiocentric dicks. War on christmas? Drafted? Hell, I volunteered."

        I agree. Whoever invented sodding Christmas ought to be bloody crucified.

        1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

          I don't know that christmas was "invented". It sort of accreted from a bunch of different holidays/celebrations/festivals/religious rites into one thing. Saturnalia comes to mind as one component, but not remotely the only one. A lot of celtic traditions got wrapped up in it, and I am sure that Hanukkah had more than a little influence on the creation of christmas, given that christianity derives from Judaism.

          And, ultimately, which christmas are we talking about? Observation rites for this particular bit of religiosity vary massively around the world. Even if we set aside people who are in fact celebrating other faiths (or have no faith to celebrate) at that time of year, christians the world over are massively diverse. The variety of rites, rituals and amount of religious involvement (and what form that religious involvement takes) isn't consistent even within individual cities, let alone nations or across the scale of the world.

          1. Nolveys
            Headmaster

            I don't know that christmas was "invented". It sort of accreted from a bunch of different holidays/celebrations/festivals/religious rites into one thing.

            I thought they were all the winter solstice dressed up in different hats, fake glasses and moustaches.

            1. LaeMing

              Or in this case, a fake beard!

          2. MrZoolook
            Coat

            I see what you did there

            Christmas... wrapped...

  7. M7S

    Another fine cat related find from El Reg

    I am reminded of the fun I had reading the comments on Bonsaikitten.com many years ago following coverage on this esteemed organ. I am delighted to see it is restored to its former glory.

    More please

  8. Dick Pountain

    This has inspired me to launch my unicorn milking machine Kickstart, and I've got The CornedBeef on board!

  9. jake Silver badge

    You crack me up, Mr. Pott

    When you put your opinion into the public domain, you should have the cajones/backbone to back up that opinion when someone calls you on it.

    Or you can simply nix this post (as you did the other two), bury your head in the sand, and try to convince yourself that you actually know what you are talking about.

    ElReg? How about not allowing authors to moderate posts to their own articles?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You crack me up, Mr. Pott

      Perhaps you could tone down your invective..btw Trevor does not moderate any posts.

    2. NumptyScrub

      Re: You crack me up, Mr. Pott

      When you put your opinion into the public domain, you should have the cajones/backbone to back up that opinion when someone calls you on it.

      Well, I'm willing to back up my opinions on the internets, and I've decided I like this asploding kittehs game enough to have just backed it myself. I'm also old, and have several decades of experience in games of board, card and dice.

      So, what opinion of Senor Potts was it that you took umbrage with, so I can attempt to debate by proxy?

      1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

        Re: You crack me up, Mr. Pott

        Someone is whinging about me on the internets? Hunh. As I don't see their post it must me one of the few people I have on ignore. In that case, for the record: smoochie boochies, whomever you are.

        And exploding kittens for everyone.

        1. JDX Gold badge

          Re: You crack me up, Mr. Pott

          Come on El Reg, at least tell us what he was banging on about - in a thread about a card game - that was bad enough to delete twice?

  10. TomChaton
    Headmaster

    14nd place?

    Is this a heretofore unknown numbering system?

    Possibly based on the number of sumo wrestlers it is possible to get into a mini?

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: 14nd place?

      I am pretty sure that when I wrote the original article it was somethong like 22nd place. Then I did some math for the latest numbers before submitting and just swapped out the 22 for 14.

      Now I think we should leave it because 14nd is amazing and hilarious.

      1. JDX Gold badge

        Re: 14nd place?

        They're in 14nd place with three million dollars. Where will eleventy million put them?

        1. NumptyScrub

          Re: 14nd place?

          They're in 14nd place with three million dollars. Where will eleventy million put them?

          ith place? Or maybe I'm imagining it ^^;

    2. mrjobby
      Happy

      Re: 14nd place?

      With what they call 'Minis' nowadays, you can probably get a hell of a lot of Sumo wrestlers in one of them!

      Not like in the old days when Minis were Minis and all this were nowt but fields!

  11. GregC

    Sol Trader

    It's a little frustrating to see this blasting through $3m in days, when Sol Trader (described as a "Fusion of Elite, Asteroids & Dwarf Fortress" by the developer, what's not to like..) is struggling along at under half of it's very modest £20k target with only 8 days left.

    Yes, this is a plug :) I really would quite like to see it getting made...

    1. NumptyScrub

      Re: Sol Trader

      The Sol Trader page could do with discrete pledge levels so people can "just click button" to pledge (even just "£X - one copy of the game", "£Y - 2 copies of the game"). As is, I'm assuming that any pledge here is simply to fund the developer, and if it is produced I would then also need to purchase a copy of the game separately.

      You'll note that all the big projects have a pretty obvious tiered pledge system, and that pledging for the big packs is not always cost effective, but does usually have some extra (even a trivial extra like "£200 - includes one copy of the game, and one crayon drawing made by my 2 year old").

      You can see what you are getting for your money, and easily decide if it is worth it to you. People will happily pay over the odds for dumb stuff if it also supports a game they like the look of; I paid $90 for alpha access to Planetary Annihilation, £100 for beta access to E: D, and I'm considering paying $115 for a Cutlass / Freelancer pack for Star Citizen, and that is well over the odds considering $35 is all I would actually need to pay for the game.

      1. GregC

        Re: Sol Trader

        Really? I thought the tiers were pretty clear - £10 gets you a copy of the game on release, from there up through the usual beta/alpha access options and then the expensive name-a-city and so on at the top end.

        1. NumptyScrub
          Facepalm

          Re: Sol Trader

          So this is where I prove that NoScript can make you look like a tard on the internet; apparently the tiers are only visible when you allow scripts from kickstarter.com

          I have no-one to blame but myself :'(

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    It'll never replace Kickstarter potato salad in my heart...

    Because I love me some good tater' salad!

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  13. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

    Tesla

    the closest person to a modern Nikola Tesla currently living

    Except Musk has multiple significant, concrete achievements.

    You do know that the Internet's collective hard-on for Tesla is completely unjustified by the actual man's actual life, right? You're not just jumping on some stupid bandwagon because Matt Inman tells you to?

    Yes, the induction motor and transformer are important. Someone else would have come up with the same design shortly if Tesla hadn't done so; neither design was revolutionary. Westinghouse already was manufacturing Gaullard-Gibbs transformers. Most of Tesla's other efforts were toys or pipe dreams.

    I don't mind Inman's museum; people can do what they like with their disposable income, and Tesla is an important figure in the history of science for a number of reasons. It certainly doesn't hurt kids to learn about him, not least because so many of his ideas were ill-founded and unproductive, and hearing about the feud with Edison is an important life lesson too (i.e., that you may run into some real bastards in life). But we might try to tone the nonsense down just a bit for the Reg.

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: Tesla

      Actually, I've studied the life and times of Tesla rather extensively. He has quite a few concrete achievements. Many of which Edison flat out stole. Just because other people like something (or someone) doesn't mean you have to hate it. Mind you, if you haven't learned that by now, you probably never will.

  14. Mark 85

    It's hit $4,4xx,xxx and climbing (numbers were changing as I was at the page, thus the x's)

    Another 1M in two days. I suppose that some will be appalled (I'm wondering why PITA hasn't screamed yet), but I think it's marvelous.

  15. Mastro2k

    Cats, Blenders and Knives, oh my

    I have a similar project on kickstarter but it's a mobile game with cats exploding, getting sliced and more. Cat Escape - Cats, Blenders and Knives, oh my! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/FredMastro/cat-killer-cat-escape/

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