Intro
Welcome to this week’s gaming post! This past weekend I attended my first ever large board game convention: PAX Unplugged. I attended all three days with friends and was at the convention center every day essentially from open to close, only stopping briefly for food breaks. Since there is a ton about my experience I want to cover, I’ll be breaking the content out into two posts. This first post will largely be dedicated to talking about my experience and highlights as a whole, while the second one next week will cover the games I played in more depth. So without further ado, let’s talk about PAX Unplugged 2024!
Overview
If you’ve never attended or heard of PAX Unplugged, it’s located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is one of the largest board game conventions in the world, and the second largest in the U.S., only behind Gen Con. The convention lasts three days from Friday to Sunday and usually takes place either in late November or early December. Badges for the convention can be purchased for either the full three days or for individual days.
The largest part of PAX is the expo hall, which contains hundreds of booths ranging from both big to small publishers, who are all competing to show off their games and products. I recognized many of the largest publishers, like AEG, Czech Games, Capstone, and Stonemaier, but there were also plenty I’d never heard of before.
In addition to the expo hall, there’s also a big Trading Card Game (TCG) section, and Magic: The Gathering, Disney Lorcana, and Star Wars: Unlimited all had large dedicated sections for open gaming and tournaments. There was also a large section for general freeplay where you could play any of the games you bought or brought, as well as any from the very well stocked library.
Even if you’re not a fan of board games, there’s still plenty to see and do. If you’re into Dungeons & Dragons, miniatures, or role-playing games, there are areas for each. There’s even a big Crokinole and Mahjong area with dozens of sets that we spent a fair amount of time playing Saturday night after our long day of heavier games. There were also a ton of scheduled events and panels throughout the weekend that we barely saw. Overall, there were tons of things to do and explore, and regardless of the type of gamer you are, there’s likely a community of similar gamers at PAX.
A Few of the Games I Played and Bought
Of course, the number one thing I wanted to do at PAX this year was play as many games as I could, and it certainly lived up to my expectations. I had a fairly long list of games I wanted to check out, and I’m happy to report that I got to see almost all of them over my three days at the convention.
I managed to pick up SETI, Arcs, and Black Forest, as well as demo Andromeda’s Edge, Civolution, The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game, Shackleton Base: Journey to the Moon, and Revenant. Our friends also bought Unconscious Mind, and I’m looking forward to playing that this weekend. The only game that I’m disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to demo was Galactic Cruise, as there were only two copies in the First Look area that were always booked.
In next week’s post, I’ll go into more detail on each of the games I played throughout the convention, but of the demos above, Civolution was a bit of an unexpected surprise. The game is certainly heavy, and it took us almost an hour and a half to get through the rules teach and another 2+ hours to play through three of the four rounds, but I actually really enjoyed the gameplay and mechanisms. On the other hand, while Revenant is still in development, the one round of the game I got to play ended up feeling a bit flat. Overall though, I really enjoyed the chance to play a bunch of different games, many of which I likely never would have had the chance to play, and I look forward to talking about them all in more detail in next week’s edition.
Highlights: Designers & Food
First off, it was really cool to be able to meet a few designers at the convention. We had a chance to briefly talk with Luke Laurie, who is best known for his designs like Dwellings of Eldervale, The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, Whistle Mountain, and now Andromeda’s Edge. He was really friendly and down to earth, and I thought it was cool that his son was also involved in design for Andromeda’s Edge. We also met Ryan Laukat who was at the Red Raven Games where we chatted about a few of his designs. I had no idea that he had developed an RPG set in his world of Arzium. Finally, we ran into Fabio Lopiano when he kindly offered to teach us Shackleton Base after he noticed us looking very confused during our self-taught demo of the game.
Besides playing a bunch of games and getting to meet a few designers, the other big highlight for us was the food. I know this is a board game blog, but I’ll admit, I’m also a bit of foodie, and we got to eat a bunch of really great food over our three days in the Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Convention Center is conveniently located in heart of city, next to Reading Terminal Market and Chinatown, so there were a ton of great food options within a short walking distance. Below are a few of the highlights from the trip.
Hershel’s East Side Deli – best known for their house-cured pastrami, their pastrami Reuben did not disappoint, and it was stacked high with enough meat to even give Katz’s a run for their money. It’s also located in Reading Terminal Market, so we barely had to step outside the convention center to get our sandwich and come back.
EMei – a Chinese Szechuan style restaurant located in the nearby Chinatown. Every one of the dishes we tried were delicious, but their Chongqing Spicy Chicken and Whole Steamed Sea Bass were the highlights.
Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House – also located in Chinatown, their Braised Sliced Beef Noodle Soup with shaved noodles was the perfect meal to warm ourselves up.
Ocean Harbor– another Chinatown staple, be prepared to be bombarded by servers rolling carts around the restaurant, but every dim sum dish we had there was outstanding.
Tips & Tricks
While this was only my first PAX Unplugged adventure, I want to wrap things up by covering four tips that I learned throughout my experience that I’ll be taking with me next year.
1. Be Prepared and Plan Ahead of Time
I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a game plan going into a large convention like this. As I briefly mentioned above, there’s so much to see and explore that it’s impossible to get to everything. Make a list games or experiences that you know you want to check out and prioritize those early in the convention. Some of the games will sell out, and while some publishers do allocate stock for each day, if you know there’s a game you have to have, get it early. I heard from a couple of the exhibitors running demos that The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game sold out within the first 30 minutes each day. I made sure to buy the games I knew I wanted on Friday, so I wouldn’t have anxiety worrying about when the game might sell out. I did notice that some games were discounted late Saturday and on Sunday, and one retailer had a decent discount section that even included a few copies of newer releases like Arcs, Black Forest, and Endeavor: Deep Sea if you’re on the hunt for a good deal. On a similar note, the crowds on Friday and Sunday seemed way less busy than Saturday, so just be prepared.
2. Don’t Forget to Take Advantage of the Freeplay Library
Even though the expo hall closes at 6pm every day, on Friday and Saturday the convention center stays open until midnight, so we would often use the freeplay area after dinner to play a few games from the library. You are welcome to check out games from their library on hand, just make sure to bring them back at the end of the night. The library generally had a very good selection of both new and older titles, including even some of the newest releases from earlier this year like multiple copies of Arcs. On Sunday morning, we played a two-person game of Last Will, and we were able to learn the rules, setup the game, and play the game in under and hour, and it was probably one of my favorite games I played during the entire convention. I know it’s always tempting to go for the newest thing, but there were also plenty of older gems in the library that were free to check out.
3. Leave Yourself Time to Explore
I know I said that you should have a plan going in, but that plan should also leave yourself enough time to explore. For us, this meant wandering the expo hall and checking out publishers and games we’d never heard of. You’ll never know when you might wander into a hidden gem. And if you get tired out from the crowds and hordes of gamers, there’s plenty of things to do in the city outside of the convention center. This year, there happened to be a holiday market close by at City Hall that we ended up checking out one day. So have a plan, but make sure you build in some buffer time to just enjoy the experience.
4. Remember to Take Breaks
Finally, remember that it’s okay to take a break from time to time. I’m still recovering from the stamina hit, but for us, we opted to use meals as our breaks. I know there are food places inside the convention center, but for us, taking the time to go enjoy a nice meal away from the commotion allowed us to recharge.
Closing
With that, I’ll wrap my part one of my PAX Unplugged 2024 trip, and stay tuned for next week’s post where I’ll talk through the games I played in more detail. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the games I’ve mentioned, future content, or format in the comments section below, and let me if you attended PAX Unplugged this year and what your highlights were. Happy gaming!
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