Intro
Welcome to this week’s gaming post! This past weekend I attended PAX Unplugged for the second year in a row. While it wasn’t the same “new” experience I had last year, I still had a ton of fun wandering the expo hall and trying plenty of games. So without further ado, let’s talk about PAX Unplugged 2025!
General Thoughts on the Convention
Last year felt like there were a lot of heavy hitters like SETI, Andromeda’s Edge, Civolution, and Arcs; however, this year didn’t feel like there were as many games that stood out from the pack. That’s not to say there weren’t popular ones; I saw wrap-around lines at the Asmodee booth each day with people lining up for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Trick-Taking Game. There just wasn’t a hugely anticipated release this year when compared to last year.
On a similar note (while I don’t have any stats to back this up), it felt like there were fewer new releases, with more publishers promoting either older titles or future games. Part of this could be the result of tariffs impacting the industry. Additionally, with PAX occurring a few weeks earlier than last year and only a few weeks after Essen, many of the games that were released outside the U.S. weren’t available for sale yet. This included games like Orloj, Recall, and Feya’s Swamp.
On a positive note, while Saturday was by far the busiest and both 3-Day and Saturday passes were sold out, the crowds still felt very manageable, and I was able to navigate the Expo hall relatively seamlessly. The one caveat to that was the First Look area, where you can demo some of the newest releases like those mentioned above, was generally very busy throughout the day. On Saturday, I managed to get to the First Look area before it opened and there was already quite a long line to get in. If you wanted to guarantee yourself a chance to try any of the most anticipated games, I suspect you’d have needed to get there quite early. Even then, I was still able to demo a few games in the First Look area, and I appreciate the number of games that were there.
New Games I Played
Pulitzer – I was able to play a full game of this investigative journalism-themed game. This was one of my anticipated games going into the show. First off, the game is quite striking on the table as each player has their own investigation board where they get to place thumb tacks and connect them with a piece of string. Overall, while I enjoyed the game and would happily play it again, it did run a bit long, had a fair amount of luck, and I think there were some missed opportunities to tie the theme and mechanisms together a bit better.
ANTS – the next game on the list is themed around running a colony of ants. The core of the game revolves around sending out your ants to dig rooms, explore regions, and gather resources. There’s also an interesting mechanism where sending out more ants/workers increases the strength of the action. Players will have to manage the life cycle of their ants through an incubation period, meaning that it takes time before the ants are grown enough to send out on actions. I didn’t play a full game, but there were enough interesting elements that I would consider trying it again.
Magical Athlete – I’ll be the first to admit that the retro art in this game is not my style. While it’s essentially just taking turns rolling dice, the silliness from the racers’ abilities was quite fun. I probably wouldn’t choose to play the game very often as it’s almost entirely luck dependent, but it did offer a nice change of pace. If you’re into lighter, more playful games, then I could see you enjoying this one.
L’oaf – in this card game, players are employees at a French bakery, and the goal is to stay employed, but contribute as little as possible. At the beginning of game, players will have the same hand of cards that are numbered from zero to eleven. Each round, there will be an order that specifies a value that the collective group will need to meet by simultaneously and secretively playing a card from their hand. Once all players have selected a card, the values are revealed, and depending on whether the order succeeded or failed, players will either gain or lose reputation. The game ends when either five orders have succeeded or five orders have failed. If the group succeeds, then the player with the most value leftover in their hand wins, but if the group fails, then all players with negative reputation are fired before final scoring. Overall, I enjoyed this light, bluffing card game, but I don’t think I would seek it out in the future.
In addition to the games I got to demo and play, I am also very grateful to the publishers who were generous enough to provide review copies, and you can expect reviews of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Trick-Taking Game, SETI: Space Agencies, Lightning Train, Echoes of Time, and Emberheart in the near future.
Highlights
Although not a 2025 release, I was able to play a full game of River of Gold via the library of games in the Freeplay area. I had heard positive things about the game going in, but honestly the game far exceeded my expectations. The game is stunning on the table, plays in about 90 minutes with four players, and while the rules are fairly straightforward, there’s enough depth to keep more “serious” gamers interested. While it was only one play, this game appears to fit nicely in that “gateway+” genre, and I would seriously recommend it to gamers looking for that next step up from games like Cascadia or Ticket to Ride. I would go so far to say this was my favorite game that I played at the convention.
A trip to PAX wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some of the food I ate in Philadelphia. There were a lot of great eats, like Hershel’s East Side Deli and Ocean Harbor, but the standout for me was Angelo’s Pizzeria. Their cheesesteak absolutely lived up to the hype and was my favorite bite of the trip.
Finally, another highlight from the convention was being able to meet with publishers. Promoting the channel is not something that comes natural to me, but I was honestly taken back by how genuinely friendly everyone was. At the end of the day, this channel is something I do because of my love for board games and it was great to see that support.
Closing
With that, I’ll wrap up my thoughts on PAX Unplugged this year! If you attended the convention, I’d love to hear about your experience and the games you played. And as always, feel free to share your thoughts on any of the games I’ve mentioned or future content suggestions in the comments below. Happy gaming!
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