PAX East

The ultimate worship to the geek gods. The ultimate power of gamers and game makers unite. The ultimate celebration of the rise of the nerds. In 3 letters — PAX.
I’ve always been a giant geek and save for the college that I absolutely loved, PAX was the second place where I felt absolutely at home. From its inception, PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) has evolved into a community, thanks for the driving force behind it — the founders of PA artist/​writer combo Mike/​Jerry and the executer who made PAX an reality — business mastermind Robert Khoo. PAX has hence expanded from a thousand people attendance to 4 PAXes hosted around the world with ~ 100,000 attendance at each of the con, it has became a phenomenon.
PAX East was my first PAX (where I didn’t know what it stood for or who PA was) to a screaming appreciating fangirl who looked forward to the 3 day event right after it ends. It takes place at the BCEC venue of Boston, a large, glass encased venue with all the space in the world that seem to be tailor made for an event like PAX: a large expo hall to host the exhibitors with their gigantic banners and elaborate setups, the attendees with their random-​places-​to-​ds-​and-​eat, the competitions/​wars of the consoles/​handhelds, and the many conferences rooms to host panels and forums big and small.
My most intense memory about PAX is the first year, when I sat in the main auditorium listening to people Q&A-ing with Mike/​Jerry, their humble and witty banter, the audiences’ personal stories (more than Q) of how PA has changed their lives, I was impressed with the founders before I even knew their names. I have attended 4 contiguous years of PAX East, while it is getting harder and more difficult to obtain tickets each year due to its popularity, and the proportion of waiting in line for any given event is getting longer and longer, a girl has to believe in her love at first sight. The feeling of drowning in a community larger than imaginable solely because of their passion for video games and its affects on society — the one point of convergence is intoxicating.
Come to the nerd side.

I went to PAX in 2013 and 2014. I loved my experience the prior year — tons of free swag and I actually got to go from stand to stand with ease. I got a MOGA controller, Plants vs. Zombies plushies, high quality posters, cute keychains, lanyards, reusable bags, T-​shirts, and way more! I got to participate in CS GO and Marvel vs. Capcom tournaments. And of course, I got to try out new games and play games on cool PCs and the NVIDIA Shield (it was cool at the time. er there is currently a recall in case you were unaware).
Unfortunately, I cannot say I had a good experience the latter year. Holy crap, the amount of people… There were so many more cosplayers. While that is to the delight of some folks, there were so many of them. People kept stopping to take pictures/​selfies with them, so they blocked the paths. As a result of this increased capacity, the lines were capped! There was masking tape to create lines to avoid clusterf***s of people (*cough* the LoL exhibit — I am a DoTa person)… Hungry to try Oculus VR, I hovered like a creep to wait for an opening. I got scolded at over and over for standing aoound, but I did not give up. I probably had to shove someone to get in line, but I made the cut after many failed attempts. For a two to three minute demo of Couch Knights, I had to wait thirty to forty minutes. Worth it? Surprisingly, yes… But that was one of the few exhibits worth such a long wait. I waited an hour to try out Wolfenstein at Bethesda. Being a PC person, I waited one hour to struggle to use the XBOX controller to aim without a Logitech or Razer mouse. At least I made the crowd laugh? Everyone was watching me die over and over until I rage quit. The most disappointing part of my experience that year had to be the fact that I could not even get in line to see what Blizzard had to offer. I freaking circled the area at least ten times, no joke. I COULD NOT get in line even though I was there from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The amount of free stuff was SO disappointing. I either had to fill out of a survey or go through some stupid tour (which required a thirty minute to one hour+ wait). And for what? A freaking lanyard. I think I got fifty lanyards this year, and some XXXXXL shirts that are designed for Jabba the Hutt. Alright, you get the point. PAX is just far too crowded now. I did not go in 2015 due to some bad planning, but I heard first-​hand experiences from friends and it certainly seemed to be disappointing. Look, a lot of people want to go to PAX and I know the managers want to fulfill as many of those needs as possible, but the overcrowded WTC makes it a mediocre experience for all PAx-​goers!
Advice for noobs, be prepared by bringing pitch forks, charged portable phone chargers, and food! The food there is SO overpriced. An italian sausage with a soda and bag for chips is nearly $ 15… You are allowed to go in with a backpack and purse (though you have to lug them around with you all day), but it is worth saving money! Wear your lightest running shoes because you will need to RUN to get in those capped lines.

PAX East is an interesting convention, even for a girl who only plays side-​scrollers or Katamari games. I had a friend working a merch table so I slipped a pass on and checked out all the booths. It’s neat to see the variety at the show from virtual reality headsets, portable games, card games and even furniture. The women’s restrooms have no wait and don’t smell as bad as the convention hall full of un-​showered gamers. My favorite part of PAX was the Saturday night concert with Bit Brigade who played metal along to a game played live on stage and MC Frontalot.
I’m taking away one star for the smell of PAX.

PAX east is a place to be for video game and computer enthusiasts. I’ve gone to PAX East twice now, and the second time around was much better. The first year I was just trying to take in everything and try to do everything, as I had a one-​day pass. That was a mistake. You will need a three day pass if you haven’t been here before. The event was well organized given the size. Upon entering, you show the security your badge and open your bag/​backpack. Once inside, you can make your way to panels where guest speakers gives you an update in their field. Or you can get in line to the expo floor for freebies and demos. Video game companies range from small independant companies to giants like Microsoft, Capcom, and Blizzard. On top of trying demos, getting free stuff, and panels, there are raffles you can enter to get even better free stuff! These raffles are organized by the vendors at their booths and they are usually very poorly organized and happen at the same time as all other vendor raffles. If you’re in a raffle, make sure you get there early because once they start and you’re not around to claim your prize, it will go to the next person. One big raffle is nVidia. Get there early!
Lunch time is a pain. There are restaurants in the downtown and chinatown within walking distance, but going means you lose out on game/​freebie time. So everyone clutter in the food court. My advice is eat a big breakfast and snack during lunch. But if you must, bring your own foods/​snacks. Also, don’t bring little kids. I brought my 4 year-​old here and it was terrible. Constantly getting out of line to go bathroom or getting drinks.
Great event, but only if you plan accordingly.

This place is nerd central. I was not into or even knew what ¾ of the stuff at pax east was. I am a big fan of PS3/​PS4 and thought this would be great to check out new games that are going to come out. Went with a few friends who go every year. This place was sooo packed and it was fun to see all the different cos play, game booths and free stuff.
I only went on friday this year so i cant judge the whole event. You spend most of you time in line watching some take forever to try and get their turn on demos. I wish there were more consoles/​stations to try out games. Other than that not really my thing but was a fun afternoon, not something i would spend 3 days doing.

PAX East vs. PAX Prime:
PAX East has a better layout in general. This is largely due to Seattle’s inability to plan *anything* worthwhile in terms of growth and forward thinking.
PAX Prime has a bigger LoL area. They get the entire 6^th floor main room in the convention center, and they set up a seating area.
PAX East has a great trolley system to get people to and from some of the local restaurants. I’ve never seen/​heard of such a thing at PAX Prime, but this is probably because it’s seated very central to a lot of eateries in the area.
PAX East now does bag checks — per the Boston Police Department’s policies. What a crock. One day, I walked through with a large rolling duffle bag. I opened up the main pouches to show the board games contained inside, and they let me go along my merry little way. The next day, a more «fervent» inspection was requested and they made us open up every. single. board game. Just imagine what this does to the morning lines to get in the building. Yuck.
PAX East ends up with a lot more of the gaming companies that are based on the east side of the country vs. the west due to travel costs. With a mirrored effect, PAX Prime ends up with more of the companies based on the west side of the country due to travel costs.
PAX East BYOC was an epic JOKE. Apparenly in 2013, someone had a laptop stolen, and it’s still TBD about 2014 (I haven’t looked at the forums yet). Seriously PAX, you need to get your *#$^ together in this regard. «Oh yes, it’s fully secure!» SHENANIGANS! I call complete and total shenanigans! Someone’s head would have rolled if one of the laptops disappeared this year. With a BYOC badge this year, I could have *easily* stolen a laptop and never would have been caught. I won’t go into details about how easy it would have been to get away with such a terrible thing, but if someone from PAX wants to reach out to me to discuss it, feel free. Oh, and if you would made the mistake of telling me you were confiscating my super expensive toolkit because it had a *suuuuper* dangerous … SCREWDRIVER (!!!), then you would have seen flames coming out of every orifice in my face. Be very glad I wasn’t there for that little incident, PAX. Pro tip: Bring one of the securing locks if you plan to bring a computer to BYOC. Oh and the «We cannot inspect bags without a police officer.» Again, I call shenanigans. They inspect bags just fine at the BYOC in PAX Prime, and if you were able to get police officers to inspect bags at the door, then you can get another one to INSPECT BAGS AT THE BYOC.
The tabletop playing area at PAX East is much better than Prime. For one, it’s all gathered in one central area. The area inside PAX East main hall is much bigger than the PAX Prime area. However, PAX Prime’s tabletop areas extend out to the neighboring hotels, so it is more extensive. It’s just not all lumped together (as it should be) like it is in PAX East. Though I think it surprised a few that the TableTop stuff was so wildly popular this time! They need to figure out a way to expand it just a little bit more to allow more tables.
As with both PAX Prime and PAX East, those lanyard they give out are simply awful. I lost my badge this last weekend, but it wasn’t an issue for me since I had a work around. Do yourself a favor and just loop the cloth around your badge and don’t rely on those awful clips to keep it in tact.

More nerds than a Microsoft office…
More brief and wondrous than the life of Oscar Wao…
More Skyrimming than the AVNA…
There’s no place like PAX East! There’s no place like PAX East!
(Except maybe PAX Prime)

For my sweetheart I went, and with a non-​geek friend in tow I survived! I had been to other geek type events in the past and found them to be over crowded and unable to enjoy any of the events, but with PAX East I was able to talk to vendors, play games and convince my friend that I dragged along with me to try some of the arena type event games. I met new people and found a renewed interest in some old and new games. Thanks for a great time PAX East, perhaps I shall visit your people in Australia next.

Alot to see in 3 days. between comp turneys, panels, events, the showroom, consol play. The list goes on

Where do I even begin? What will keep me coming back every year?
Is it the confusion that sets in when you realize you are suddenly in the middle of a LARP drama? Is it the random conversations I am thrust into? Is it the discussion panels? Is it the excessive compulsive adoration of all things Settlers of Catan and Portal? Is it the undeniably large variety of video, tabletop, and card games? Is it the Beautiful Katamari tournament? Is it the fact that I can bring Pogs and make infinity friends instantly only to absolutely crush their souls when I inevitably destroy their hopes of winning (Pure Poison Slammers, you dig?)? Is it the fact that everyone is friendly and welcoming? Is it the insanely well done cosplay costumes people come up with? Is it the unreleased game demos? Is it the unbeatable people watching? Is it the $ 6 genetically enhanced turkey legs everyone seems to be inhaling?
Yes.

Take a deep breath, now insert hyper fangirl screams. This might seem like normal teenage behavior but I’m in my 20s. I’m a gamer and to me PAX East is the greatest show on Earth. Sorry Ringling Bros. but there’s a new circus in town. Well not really a circus PAX is more like a zoo. A zoo of multiple games and people, gathered all in one place celebrating something we all know and love, video games. As crappy the weather is outside it’s like Disney World in here.
And it’s not all about video games. PAX has literally something for everyone.
— Got AAA game titles on the consoles? Of course! It wouldn’t be a video game convention without it.
— Casual games for the iOS and Andriod platforms? Hell ya, they’ve got plenty of games for people with low attention spans… what was I saying?
— Table top dice RPG games? Dungeons and Dragons are a household name to some people.
— Card games? No level 10 battle mage in Magic will feel out of place here.
— Tournaments of every shape and form? Healthy competition makes the world go round.
— Small indie games you’ve never heard of? Absolutely!
This was my first time at a game convention and it was an incredible 3 days filled with games, tournaments tons of things to do, play and see. And the convention center makes it so convenient that you don’t even need to leave for a bite to eat. So much free swag to be had in the exhibit space. I can dress a kid for a week (if they don’t wear pants) with all the shirts I got, Plenty of demos and free games given out as well.
This was the most comfortable convention I’ve been to. My main gripe would be that the names to the rooms was a bit hard to find without a map. Sure you made up some cute special names for all the places where speaking panels were held and that’s adorable but next time PAX needs to add numbers to those things. Staff rarely knew where the rooms were and permanent BCEC signs sport numbers so it’d just be a lot easier in the future if the snazzy room names came with snazzy ballpark number so people wouldn’t need a treasure map all the time to follow. Other than that I had a blast and can’t wait for next year’s.

Attended the 2012 event and had a great time. I was a first-​time attendee but I’ve been to e3 and several expos.
I think there was a hell of a lot of gamers in attendance. But unfortunately, I found the workshops somewhat industry-​focused and only medium-​level speakers. I also think the game play area had a few standouts but nothing mind blowing. On the upside, I was blown away by the wide range of table-​topping. Also, the only workshops I thought were standouts were ones specifically for gamer consumers :) There were also a wide range of gaming instead of just heavy-​duty console games.
Good or bad, the PAX events are the only super large events that focus solely on gamer stuff. I’ve never been to an event like that and I think all gamers should attend a PAX at least once.

First off I would like to say that I’m a non-​gamer. I play a few games but I am not a full out gamer. I bought a Saturday badge for my boyfriend for his birthday.
He had a great time, he was pretty much like a kid in the candy store when we were there.
It was a bit difficult for me because I had a hard time understanding the ‘language’. I at first had a hard time having fun but I got into it. They have things like Rock Band and Dance Central which were great. The ONLY problem is that it’s crowded and there are a lot of lines you have to wait in.
Then there was a concert in the Main Theater that was a lot of fun!
Overall it was a pretty cool experience very different from anything I’ve gone to before.

2012 Review #100:
I think events like PAX are immeasurably important. To an outsider, «Penny Arcade Expo» is a sort of confusing title. In reality, Penny Arcade is the name of a Comic, which focuses on video games and the culture surrounding them. PAX East is the East Coast conference/​convention that celebrates that culture.
Conferences, in general, seek to bring together and educate people interested in a common idea. At PAX this goes one step further, and creates a sense of community among these people. Over 20,000 people attended this year’s PAX east, and the variety is huge. I saw kids with patient parent chaperones, I saw older gamers with their young children, I saw a lot of normal teens, 20-and-30-something’s, but throughout I also saw a lot of people who clearly need this sort of environment.
I’m not going to propose that all gamers are fully adjusted human beings. There are definitely some people in this community who clearly have issues with socializing in the normal world. For those people, and for that person in all of us, PAX is essential, because it is welcoming and accepting, and *no one* is going to call you a nerd unless it’s a complement.
There are issues, mostly with organization. The lines were long, which makes sense, but the timing of panels was pretty awful. The enforcers were not well trained: I asked a guy at the Tournament sign-​up room where a tournament was and he had no idea, and clearly didn’t care; I asked someone in charge of a queue to tell me where the queue began and he couldn’t; I asked someone in charge of a gaming room what games were available and he couldn’t tell me. Additionally, the signage was nowhere near plentiful enough. On the other hand, PAX got incredible hotel rates at a lot of great hotels, paid for shuttles and trolleys to take us to/​from destinations all over the city every 15 minutes, and paid for our wifi.
We participated in tournaments, we met many of our idols in game development, and most importantly, we were made to feel like the norm. That is the most important part of this event: to know that when 25,000 people come together to celebrate something they’re passionate about, there’s no way they are anything but normal.