Burning Cat, a new IRL gaming event by the creators of Exploding Kittens

The creators of the Exploding Kittens game wanted to make an event to "fix the things that were wrong with traditional conventions," that was "actually fun," and had a "giant cat that explodes."

Enter Burning Cat. A two-day event at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland that will feature guest speakers, a giant "ring," an enormous cat statue that will eventually burn, and, of course, lots of games.

About it, in their words:

We've attended a lot of gaming conventions. A lot of them. There are things we like. We like the fans. We like the games. We like the creativity. But there are many things that we don't like. We don't like that most conventions are basically glorified shopping malls. We don't like that despite being a gaming convention, very few people play actual games or have actual fun.

So, we decided to reboot the idea of a convention. We decided to build something new from the ground up. We decided to focus on a core philosophy: this is a con you attend if you want to have actual fun. This is a place to observe and/or participate in games, comedy, and creativity. This is a place for tabletop gamers, card game players, casual party game players, families who love games, game makers, or anyone who ever hosted a game night.

Burning Cat is an event for people who are tired of screens and want to have fun face-to-face.

If this sounds fun to you (and why wouldn't it?!), better get your tickets now - this thing is definitely going to sell out. It happens on May 16 and 17. Passes are $80 to attend both Saturday and Sunday, $45 for one day, and $15 per day for kids 12 and under.