The Creators of NSFW Card Game Exploding Kittens Are Bringing a Gaming Convention to Portland—And It’s Weird As Hell

A new gaming convention is coming to Portland in 2020—and the organizers promise this one won't suck.

Burning Cat is the brainchild of Elan Lee and illustrator Matt Inman, the creators of Exploding Kittens, a strategic and decidedly NSFW card game described as a "kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette."

The event aims to mend all things wrong with current gaming conventions— namely the glorification of expenditure, lack of actual gameplay and the overall absence of fun.

"We think we have good ideas for how to fix these things and they all revolve around getting in a room together and just having fun," Lee says.

Alongside casual play of their notorious card game, the convention will feature vendor booths encircling what has been dubbed The Ring, a gladiatorial space in which stunts, sports and other bizarre endeavors will occur. Scheduled events so far include cat-themed take on American Gladiator, dodgeball with balls covered in hair (fittingly dubbed Hairball), a dunk tank full of La Croix and the world's largest game of freeze tag.

(Social media influencers, meanwhile, will be directed to meet "in the Applebee's parking lot located near the I-5 offramp, approximately 45 miles south of Portland."

But perhaps the most enticing aspect of the convention will be the actual Burning Cat, a wooden effigy—modeled, naturally, after Burning Man—featuring a countdown timer that's slated to go up in flames at the conclusion of the two-day event. They admit don't quite know how that's going to work yet, but promise it'll happen somehow.

As for why the creators chose Portland to host the convention, Inman, who lives in Seattle and created the popular webcomic The Oatmeal, says, "The city has a huge population of nerds that are underserved and Portland consistently has the biggest turnout of people at my book tours. I had this kinship with Portland and that's why we chose it."

Burning Cat is scheduled to take place May 16-17, 2020, at the Oregon Convention Center. Join the waitlist for more information.

Related: Portlander Sean Äaberg Created a Crowdfunded, Cartoon-Punk Dungeons and Dragons.