The rules, step by step
- Everyone starts holding eight cards, one of which is a Squeaky Bone.
- On your turn, play as many cards as you like — or none at all.
- Then draw one card, and that ends your turn.
- Draw an Explosive Dog and you are out — unless you spend a bone, and then you hide that bomb back in the deck wherever you like. Nobody sees where.
- Skip and Attack end your turn without drawing one. Attack makes the next player draw twice.
- See the Future shows you the next three cards. Favour takes a card off somebody. Shuffle buys you a fresh deck.
- Two matching mutts steal a card at random. Three let you ask for one by name — and you get nothing if they have not got it.
- Nope cancels any card just played — from any seat, the moment it lands. Another Nope cancels the Nope.
- There is one fewer bomb than there are players, so the game only ends one way: last dog standing.
- A turn clock runs by default. Go quiet and the table draws for you — the host can lengthen it or switch it off.
- The Imploding Dogs expansion is off until the host switches it on. It adds Reverse, Targeted Attack, a wild mutt — and one dog no bone can save you from.
Scoring and the fiddly bits
The deal
Eight cards each, one of which is a Squeaky Bone. The bombs and the spare bones are shuffled in after the deal, so nobody can start the game holding one.
Ending your turn
You end your turn by drawing one card. Skip and Attack end it without drawing at all, and Attack makes the next player draw twice instead of once.
The bone
It answers one Explosive Dog and is then spent. You put the dog back into the pile yourself, at whatever depth you like, and nobody is told where.
The Nope window
Every played card sits in the open for a few seconds so any seat holding a Nope can cancel it. Nopes stack, and an odd number of them means the card never happened.
The turn clock
The host sets 30, 45 or 60 seconds a turn, or no clock at all. When it runs out the table draws for whoever has gone quiet, so a phone in a pocket cannot end the evening.
Questions about Explosive Dogs
Is Explosive Dogs free?
Yes. Every game on Table Party is free, with no accounts, no adverts and nothing to buy.
How many people do you need for Explosive Dogs?
Between 2 and 8. Below 2 there are not enough of you for the game to work.
Do we need to download anything?
No. One person opens the site and starts a room; everybody else joins by typing the room code on their own phone. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
Can we play Explosive Dogs over a video call?
Yes. Share the room code in the chat and play with the call running — everything private stays on each player’s own phone.
Play Explosive Dogs online
Free, in the browser, with everyone on their own phone.