Exploding Kittens to Reimagine “Top Ten” from Cocktail Games for English-Speaking Markets

The 2022 Spiel des Jahres Nominee for Best Game of the Year Will Take on New Game Mechanics, Title, and Packaging

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#explodingkittens—Exploding Kittens, the leading game and entertainment company, today announced that it secured the rights to recreate the English-language version of Top Ten from Cocktail Games, the French party game and board game publisher best known for classics such as Hanabi. The reimagined game with an Exploding-Kittens twist will feature new game mechanics, title, and packaging, and is expected to be released in 2024.

“I’ve been watching how Top Ten has captivated players throughout Europe, and it’s pretty exciting to get the chance to adapt it for English-speaking players,” said Elan Lee, Co-Creator and CEO of Exploding Kittens. “We’ve built an incredible pipeline for developing and publishing new games and we see a lot of potential in Top Ten to become a new household favorite in the U.S. and other countries around the world.”

Since its release in 2020, Top Ten has been a favorite party game in the European market. This party game puts all players on the same team as they each invent answers to simple questions like “What’s the best single sentence to end a job interview with?” then have to rank those answers from “most likely to get the job” to “least likely to get the job.” Each player was secretly told where they should fall in that ranking before the round and if the group’s collective ranking matches the secret rankings, they win! The game celebrates creativity, humor, and teamwork as players try to communicate secret levels of intensity in the answers they make up on the fly. Exploding Kittens’ team of designers will build upon the game’s existing fundamentals and update the mechanics to appeal to English-speaking markets, leaning on their experience in building easy-to-play, interactive party games that make players more entertaining.

“Exploding Kittens has a fantastic understanding of English-speaking audiences and their love of party games, and Top Ten is a great fit for their library,” said Matthieu d’Epenoux, Owner of Cocktail Games. “We can’t wait for Exploding Kittens’ new version to be played in all of the English-speaking countries around the world.”

The current version of Top Ten is best for those ages 12 and older, accommodates four to nine players, and takes 30 minutes to play. For updates on when the new game will be released, visit Exploding Kittens’ website.

About Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens is a leading game and entertainment company with a mission to inspire people to connect, laugh, and play fun games in the physical world. After initially seeking to raise $10K through Kickstarter, the Exploding Kittens campaign raised $8.7M in 30 days from 219,000 backers. To date, Exploding Kittens is the #1 most-backed project in Kickstarter history and has sold over 20 million games.

Started by former Xbox game designer Elan Lee and The Oatmeal’s founder Matthew Inman, Exploding Kittens and its family of games seek to reshape traditional game night into an entertaining person-to-person experience. Today, there are nearly 30 games available for purchase, an exclusive Exploding Kittens mobile game for Netflix subscribers, a free-to-play app, Kitty Letter, and an Exploding Kittens mobile app available on iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch as well as an animated Netflix series titled ‘Exploding Kittens’ launching later this year.

About Cocktail Games

Cocktail Games was founded in 2001 and is a recognized publisher of party games in France. Originating as pocket games that are quick to play over a cocktail to get the party started, the company has emerged as a leader in the card game world, managing over 100 board games and has sold millions of games over the years in France and abroad. Cocktail games is best known for Hanabi, a team game where the players work together to create a beautiful firework display and winner of the “Spiel des Jahres” in 2013.

Contacts

Sean Funkhouser

sean@jsapartners.co