SEATTLE — Exploding Kittens, a game that bills itself as “a kitty-powered version of Russian roulette,” spent years ranked as one of the most popular card games on Amazon’s store. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, sales doubled week after week, as families looked for distraction while hunkering down.

But just as orders came flying in, Amazon began prioritizing products like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The retailer stopped ordering more supply of Exploding Kittens, and the most popular version of the game soon fell out of stock. Tens of thousands of customers a day were searching for the product but couldn’t buy it.

The topsy-turvy nature of those sales points to the chaos behind the scenes of Amazon’s store.

Since the coronavirus outbreak reached the United States, Amazon — a company built on the promise that people will always want more items, more quickly — has struggled to respond to a surge in orders. Sometimes products are in stock. Sometimes they aren’t. Its popular page featuring Deals of the Day, once a prominent feature, has been buried. The company is even trying to tamp down demand.

Amazon has had to adjust to sales growth in one month that usually would take years, said Guru Hariharan, whose company, CommerceIQ, advises large consumer brands with their Amazon business.