Are you allowed to play a 5 of a kind in Exploding Kittens to add an Exploding Kitten to your hand?

Question

My friend discarded 5 different cards to add a card from the discard pile to his hand, but he chose the Exploding Kitten. Is that allowed, and what happens to it after?

Answer 1

In the rules,

Five Different Cards

If you play 5 different cards (any 5 cards with different titles), go through the Discard Pile to take any single card you’d like. (Grab the Pile quickly to choose your card so that you don’t get “Noped!”)

So you could probably grab an exploding kitten. But why should you:

Exploding Kitten 4 Cards

You must show this card immediately. Unless you have a Defuse Card, you’re dead. Discard all of your cards, including the Exploding Kitten.

So two things can happen:

1. You have a defuse card. Use it and put the kitten back in the game.
2. You don't have a defuse card, you are out of the game.

The second option is a creative way to leave the game early. The first is possible a valid option if there is only one player left and you know for sure your defuse card was the last in the game and all attack and skip cards are gone. So by putting the kitten on top of the stack, you force him to draw and explode resulting in a win for you.

Answer 2

Taking an Exploding Kitten from the discard pile should have the same effect as drawing it. You explode unless you defuse it.

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Let's consider what the rules say on the subject:

• By the rules as written, you could take an Exploding Kitten from the discard pile.

• By the rules as written, it could even be considered safe to do so because it could be understood that an Exploding Kitten only triggers when you draw it.

• The rules as written don't specify what happens when you play an Exploding Kitten. It doesn't seem to consider this a possibility.

So you could allow taking the Exploding Kitten harmlessly. But if you do so, you end up with a card in your hand with no value (at best) or that you can't play (at worse). There's no point in allowing this; it only adds confusion.

Instead, taking an Exploding Kitten from the discard pile should have the same effect as drawing it. You explode unless you defuse it. This is probably what the rules were meant to be.