Exploding Kittens creator Elan Lee receives RIT’s prestigious 2026 Outstanding Alumnus honor

Rochester, New York – For Elan Lee, success did not arrive in a neat, carefully planned sequence. It came through unexpected turns, risky choices, and moments of uncertainty that eventually led him to build one of the most recognizable tabletop gaming brands in the world. Now, years after graduating from the Rochester Institute of Technology, the creator of Exploding Kittens is returning to his alma mater with one of the university’s highest distinctions attached to his name.

Elan Lee has been selected as the 2026 Outstanding Alumnus by Rochester Institute of Technology, an honor established by the university president’s office in 1952. The recognition is considered the top award the university can grant to a graduate, celebrating both professional achievement and dedication to the institution.

The award will officially be presented during Academic Convocation on May 8, marking another milestone in a career that has rarely followed a predictable script.

“Being asked to come back like this is really meaningful to me, especially because nothing about my career has been a straight line,” said Lee. “I hope to share the lessons I’ve learned from falling on my face repeatedly, and the tools we need to get back up afterwards.”

Lee graduated from RIT in 1998 with a degree in computer science. In the years that followed, he steadily built a reputation in the gaming and technology industries, eventually rising to become chief design officer for Xbox at Microsoft. But instead of remaining in a secure executive role, he made a decision that many would have considered dangerous at the time — he walked away.

What was supposed to be a one-year pause to rethink his future quickly transformed into something much larger. Only weeks after leaving Microsoft, Lee teamed up with cartoonist Matthew Inman, creator of The Oatmeal, to create a card game built around absurd humor, exploding cats, and fast-paced chaos.

That game became Exploding Kittens.

Launched through Kickstarter in 2015, the project exploded almost immediately. The campaign generated nearly $9 million in just 30 days, setting records on the crowdfunding platform and surprising even seasoned observers in the tabletop gaming industry. The concept itself was intentionally unconventional — essentially a game of Russian roulette reimagined with cartoon kittens — but its humor and simplicity struck a chord with players around the globe.

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What started as a single quirky card game evolved into a much larger entertainment business. Over the past decade, Exploding Kittens has sold more than 60 million games worldwide while expanding into digital gaming, merchandise, and streaming entertainment, including a Netflix adaptation.

The company’s influence within the gaming world has continued to grow. In 2026, The Toy Association recognized Exploding Kittens: The Board Game as Game of the Year, adding another accolade to an already crowded shelf. Other titles released by the company, including Throw Throw Burrito, Poetry for Neanderthals, and A Game of Cat and Mouth, have also become popular staples at family gatherings and party nights.

Despite the commercial success and growing brand recognition, Lee continues to describe his path in surprisingly grounded terms. Rather than framing himself as a uniquely gifted creative visionary, he points to the technical and organizational skills he developed during his time at RIT as the real foundation of his career.

“My creative abilities are on par with everybody else’s,” said Lee. “But, when something broke, I could function as a one-person IT department. I could write budgets and spreadsheets and manage schedules and large teams. I think that was very unique to my training and time at RIT.”

That blend of technical understanding and creative storytelling has become a defining characteristic of Lee’s professional identity. Throughout his career, he has worked across multiple forms of entertainment and interactive media, often bridging the gap between artistic concepts and the systems needed to bring them to life.

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RIT has recognized Lee before. During the 2020-2021 academic year, he received the Distinguished Alumnus honor from the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. The new Outstanding Alumnus recognition, however, places him among a select group of graduates whose impact extends far beyond their professions.

Today, Lee is based in Toronto, while Exploding Kittens operates from headquarters in Los Angeles. Yet his connection to RIT remains deeply personal.

For students preparing to enter industries that can change overnight, Lee’s story may resonate precisely because it lacks a smooth trajectory. It is a career built on uncertainty, reinvention, and persistence — proof that setbacks, unexpected detours, and unconventional ideas can sometimes lead to extraordinary outcomes.