Exploding Kittens
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Exploding Kittens: Elan Lee. How cat-themed Russian Roulette changed game night forever
- Published
- December 22, 2025
- Duration
- 1h 27m
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Apr 17, 2026
Discusses business.
Summary
Exploding Kittens began as a jerry-rigged version of Russian Roulette — a deck of cards hastily modified with a Sharpie. But what happened next is one of the most improbable success stories in the creator economy: a $10,000 Kickstarter goal that ballooned into nearly $9 million, a community that rewrote the rules of crowdfunding, and a company that has no…
Show notes
Exploding Kittens began as a jerry-rigged version of Russian Roulette — a deck of cards hastily modified with a Sharpie. But what happened next is one of the most improbable success stories in the creator economy: a $10,000 Kickstarter goal that ballooned into nearly $9 million, a community that rewrote the rules of crowdfunding, and a company that has now sold over 60 million card and board games.Co-founder Elan Lee shares the story behind Exploding Kittens — from dismantling his brother’s toys
Themes
- business