Rochester Institute of Technology has named Elan Lee, the creator of the massively popular card game Exploding Kittens, as one of its 2026 Outstanding Alumni. The honor recognizes graduates whose careers are defined by creativity, and Lee’s trajectory from a playful idea to a cultural phenomenon fits that description squarely.

RIT awards the Outstanding Alumnus designation each year to a select group of former students who have made significant contributions in their fields. For 2026, Lee joins a list of recipients chosen for their professional achievements and the way those achievements reflect the spirit of the university. The school has not yet released the full roster of 2026 honorees, but Lee’s inclusion was confirmed in a brief announcement highlighting his career marked by creative risk-taking.

Lee is best known as the co-creator of Exploding Kittens, a tabletop card game that became one of the most backed projects in Kickstarter history when it launched in 2015. The game, which blends strategy, luck, and absurd humor, has since sold millions of copies worldwide and spawned expansions and a Netflix animated series. While RIT’s announcement does not include sales figures, the game’s cultural footprint is hard to ignore: it sits on shelves from college dorms to suburban living rooms, and its irreverent cat-based artwork is instantly recognizable to a generation of board game fans.

Before Exploding Kittens, Lee had already built a career in interactive entertainment. He worked on alternate reality games, immersive experiences, and digital storytelling projects that blurred the lines between games and narrative. Those earlier projects earned him a reputation as someone who could turn unconventional ideas into widely shared experiences. That same approach — treating play as a serious medium for connection — is what RIT’s citation appears to celebrate.

RIT’s Outstanding Alumni program is an annual recognition that dates back decades. Recipients are nominated by faculty, staff, and fellow alumni, then selected by a committee that looks for individuals whose work brings distinction to the university. For a school known for producing technologists and engineers, honoring a game designer whose primary tool is a deck of cards signals a broader definition of innovation. It is a statement that creativity — not just technical prowess — is a value the institution wants to hold up.

Lee’s recognition comes at a time when board games and tabletop experiences are enjoying a renaissance. The industry has grown steadily in recent years, fueled by crowdfunding, social media word-of-mouth, and a pandemic-era hunger for in-person activities. Exploding Kittens was a catalyst in that shift, proving that a simple concept executed with sharp design and a dose of internet humor could break out of the niche hobbyist market. RIT’s nod to Lee can be seen as an acknowledgment of that shift — and of the kind of lateral thinking that the school wants to encourage among its current students.

The details of the 2026 award ceremony have not been announced. RIT typically holds an annual event to honor outstanding alumni, often during homecoming or commencement weekends. Lee’s involvement — whether through a keynote, a panel, or a more informal meet-and-greet — remains unconfirmed. But for a creator who built a career on community and participation, the chance to engage with the next wave of RIT graduates is likely part of what makes the honor meaningful.

For RIT, the choice of Lee also helps the university connect with a younger, culture-savvy audience. Exploding Kittens is a property that students and recent graduates know and love. Seeing its creator celebrated by their own alma mater reinforces the idea that a degree from RIT can lead to careers that are both successful and surprising.

Lee’s career is not limited to one game. He has continued to develop new tabletop titles and digital projects, and his studio, Exploding Kittens LLC, has published games by other designers as well. The company has grown into a small publisher with a distinct brand identity: irreverent, colorful, and unafraid to be silly. That ethos runs through everything Lee touches, and it is exactly the kind of creative confidence that RIT’s Outstanding Alumni award is meant to highlight.

As the 2026 honorees are announced in the coming months, more information about Lee’s specific contributions and his connection to RIT will likely emerge. For now, the takeaway is straightforward: one of the most recognizable names in modern tabletop gaming has received a formal nod from his alma mater, and the recognition is a reminder that creativity, when paired with execution, can be as powerful as any technical skill.

Elan Lee’s story is one of a RIT graduate who took an improbable idea and made it real. The 2026 Outstanding Alumnus honor is the university’s way of saying that kind of work matters.