TRIP REPORT – Last weekend I made my way to PAX East 2017 in Boston, held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. PAX is a game convention that pops up in different cities at various times around the country. At its core, it is a big, noisy celebration of everything gaming, and it is a whole lot of fun.
What is PAX?
Back in 2004, the people behind the Penny Arcade webcomic decided that games deserved a convention of their own. The first event took place in Bellevue, Washington, drew roughly 4,500 attendees, and centered on board, tabletop, card, arcade, console and computer gaming culture along with its community. From its start, the show doubled in size each year, and in 2010 it spread to Boston as PAX East. Today the Seattle and Boston PAX events stand as the two biggest gaming shows in North America.
At PAX, game developers, computer companies, toy manufacturers, gadget sellers and similar outfits gather to promote their newest creations. Booths range from one table to city-block-length builds with light shows and MCs working the crowd.
Large parts of PAX are blocked off entirely for networked play. Competitions run all weekend, and players are invited to bring their own PCs or sit down at one of the hundreds of high-end machines provided by manufacturers such as Intel.
Tabletop players get dedicated floor space too, whether they want to compete in tournaments or test some of the many new and soon-to-arrive games being promoted.
The demos cover a lot of ground, from VR car-racing rigs to PC cooling systems. New PC games often make their first public appearances at PAX, giving fans a chance to play upcoming titles before those releases reach store shelves.
Naturally, PAX has gadgets. For reasons I still cannot fully explain, mechanical keyboards were huge with the crowd, and several customizable models offered impressive features along with prices that made this lonely guy check his wallet twice.
The digital game industry did not have the vendor area to itself, since a sizable chunk of floor space was filled with tabletop gaming gear. Dice, towers, mats, spell books and all kinds of other apparatus were out for visitors to inspect.
A few vendors showed off luxury furniture built specifically for tabletop gaming. The design, quality and usefulness of some tables were genuinely impressive. The more elaborate versions can take up to a full year to design, customize and build according to a customer’s specifications.
Away from the exhibition floor, the convention center meeting rooms were packed with panels, discussions and presentations tied to gaming culture, personalities and the industry. I sat in on a fascinating talk about real scientific theories that appear in current game titles.
PAX East is a great time even for people with only a mild interest in gaming. The community, attendees, exhibitors and PAX volunteers were enthusiastic, helpful and generally nice, which is always appreciated when you are wandering around solo trying not to look like you are lost. This was my first PAX convention, but it will not be my last. I would love to visit PAX West in Seattle or PAX South in San Antonio and see what those shows have to offer too.
It was a packed weekend, and I left Boston already looking forward to another PAX trip.
