PAX Show Impressions, Part Deux

In part 1 of this post, I talked about the exhibition floor at PAX this year, but the real reasons that you should go to PAX are here in part 2. What makes PAX stand out from all of the other gaming conventions in my mind is that it is the only convention that has a solid, well attended exhibition hall and several gaming areas replete with almost any game that you can think of, in both traditional and digital formats. While the exhibition hall floor was certainly exciting, I had more fun meeting people and playing games in the console and boardgame freeplay areas.

In both areas, the order of the day is to find something to play and someone to play with, sign out a game and/or some controllers, and go have fun playing whatever the heck you want. In the boardgame area, I had the opportunity to play several different boardgames, mostly with complete strangers. Nevertheless, I had a great time. The game that I probably enjoyed the most was FFG's Battlestar Galactica, an epic game in which some players, who turn out to be Cylons, are working against other players who are trying to navigate the ship through 4-6 rounds of play. I was playing with a group of four players who had travelled up to the convention together, and another player who, like myself, had never met them before. Ultimately, BSG ends up being a very social game; and although I'd never met any of the other players before, we still ended up having a blast (I lost).

The console free play area had a few copies of basically every non-portable system, from the NES to the Playstation 3, hooked up to 30-something inch HDTVs. After walking around the floor for a bit, a game of Halo 3 caught my attention in which two players were playing with max movespeed, minimum gravity, and the spartan laser cannon. Although I'd never met either player before, they invited me to grab a controller and join in on the action. A few hours and several game modes later, we found ourselves calling it quits for the day. Other notable games I played were Smash Bros. and Goldeneye on the N64 (which I remember being a little bit faster than it actually was).

If you've never been to PAX, I heartily recommend you do so. The tickets are cheap, the hotels are reasonable (if you have family in Seattle or Boston, even better), and the other attendees are great. I, for one, will definitely be going back again.