Well, gamers, my short visit to PAX East has concluded, so I wanted to give some of my thoughts. As I expected, it was a very different vibe to PAX Unplugged, which is the only PAX I normally attend, but it also had some similarities. As someone who is definitely more in the board game sphere of things, but still enjoys an occasional video game (I am actually currently obsessed with Marvel Heroes Omega again) I definitely thought the show was interesting. But without further ado, here are my thoughts! Organized by 🟢Pros, 🔴Cons, and ⚫Neutral Thoughts

Video Games

🟢A lot of really cool booths visually. I loved the Nintendo set up, and Halloween house best. But there was also just a lot of things that looked cool because there were lots of things that lit up and just looked pretty
🟢There were also a lot of cool demos. I loved the Buckshot Roulette and No, I’m Not a Human IRL demos. I noticed a bunch of the demos also had swag/loot to give out which was neat
🟢The freeplay arcade games near the Voodoo Ranger lounge was super cool!
🟢Lots of variety in the “side rooms” for video game demos – Steel Battalion was one my group had fun with, but there was als0 a bunch of different console freeplay
🔴A lot of the demos were slow and/or did not take many people at once, which made lines longer and feel like you weren’t moving
🔴I wish some of the booths had more visuals of what types of games they were showing off. Like a sign to say “hey this is a narrative game” or a TV that was playing something to show passersby, rather than having to watch over someone’s shoulder or wait for a demo for something you might not be interested in

Board Games

🟢The First Look area was less crowded than Unplugged, so I was able to get to a few games I missed previously
🟢The library was also less crowded, which meant I could look at the options a bit more and could find freeplay seating more easily
⚫I thought it was interesting that a lot of the board game vendors were placed closely together, but a few were scattered around amongst the other vendors. I wasn’t sure if there was a reason for this.

General (Expo Hall / Other)

🟢Free Red Bull in the expo hall, maybe the best marketing idea ever
🟢I loved the media hour at the beginning of the day. Being able to get in at 9 was awesome to be able to see things without crowds, take some pictures of booths before they were crowded, and have quick chats with vendors before they were busy. I really wish Unplugged would do this too
🟢Good variety of food choices right in the expo hall, which was especially appreciated because it was a rainy day when I was there
🔴Why were all the lights off??? Even early in the day, I felt like it was really dark in the expo hall, with only some of the lights on, and it got more evident later as well. I felt like on my last lap through, around 5:00pm, I was walking past some booths that were trying to show off product in such darkness, and it felt wild to me
⚫I noticed about the same amount of dice/RPG vendors as I usually do at PAXU. Not to say that’s good or bad, but I guess I was expecting less of that because I expected more room being needed for videos games

Final Thoughts

For me, I think PAX Unplugged is still my convention of choice, because it is focused on board games, and that’s definitely more my speed. I had fun and was grateful I got to attend East this year, just to experience it. I did have some fun with the video game stuff, as well as still having the chance to try some new board games. Only being there for one day, I won’t say that I saw everything in great detail, so I definitely hope to see more of it in the future and – of course – attend PAXU in December!

Additional Information:
PAX Website