World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment has launched a new initiative for its free-to-play card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, that encourages players to leave their homes and meet up with other gamers in the real world.

The initiative is called Fireside Gatherings. By meeting up with other players in places like coffee shops, book stores, or dorm rooms at college, you can show off your deck, trade strategy secrets, or host tournaments, Blizzard says. If you participate in a Fireside Gathering, you'll earn a new "Fireside Friends" card for your collection. To get the card, you'll need to play three matches of Hearthstone against another player on the same network using this criteria:

• At least three people (including yourself) must be logged into Hearthstone on the same subnet.
• Each match must be played against a player that is playing on the same subnet as you.
• These matches can be played against your friends or using the Player Near Me feature, as long as the above two criteria are met.

You can find a Hearthstone get-together near you at Blizzard's Fireside Gatherings website. Blizzard has even partnered with schools like the University of California Irvine, University of North Texas, and University of North Carolina Charlotte to hold the events. But if you can't find a location near you, you can host your own and Blizzard has even put together a document with some tips and tricks about how to do so successfully.

Hearthstone is available today for PC and iPad. It's on schedule to arrive for Android sometime later this year.