Raindrops and roses and exploding kittens, these are a few of my favorite things. Apparently, these are a few of the world’s favorite things. Exploding Kittens, a simple card game about, you guessed it, exploding kittens, has become the number three ranking Kickstarter project of all time. The card game raised an astounding $8.8 million dollars, trailing only behind the Coolest Cooler and the Pebble Watch which raised $13.2M and $10.2M respectively.
What’s even more incredible is that the project’s initial pledge goal was a lowly $10,000 dollars. This goal was achieved the day the Kickstarter campaign went live. Money aside, this project holds the record for the highest number of backers with 219,872 people donating towards the project.
After hitting their pledge goal, the creators of the card game wrote the following in an update:
On the very first day of this campaign, we hit our funding goal. That was a big deal.
But after that, the campaign stopped being about money, and started being 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.
In the last 30 days, you’ve broken a lot of records, but we wanted to highlight our favorite one: you made this the most fun Kickstarter to run of all time.
By being altruistic (or extremely smart and strategic) the creators were able to create a social movement that generated donations exceeding the creator’s wildest expectations. This social phenomenon generated over 100,000 Facebook likes and shares, over 50,000 Facebook comments, and tens of thousands of shares on other social media platforms. Take a look at the share numbers below:
Courtesy of ShareTally
While the game likely appeals only to a niche market, by focusing on celebrating the community, the makers were able to create a social media phenomenon to break into and target that niche. It’s widely apparent that the strategy worked by the resulting donations. For more information about the game, you can view the Kickstarter Pledge Page or view their video below:
This is a beautiful demonstration of how Kickstarter provides an incredible platform to raise funds for projects that would otherwise be challenging to obtain investors. Can you imagine Mr. Wonderful’s response to investing in a card game about exploding kittens? Neither can I, but I can foresee the term “cockroach” being referenced. However, this is one of those instances where nobody could have guessed the outcome, not even the creators; as is apparent by their initial pledge goal.
What are your thoughts on Exploding Kittens? Are you interested in buying the game? Did you back this project? Tell all in the comments below.