Boardgames

A Very Underprepared PAX Unplugged 2024 Experience

Andrew Ku

07 Dec 2024 — 2 min read

PAX Unplugged 2024 was my second time at PAX Unplugged (my first time being PAX Unplugged 2022). I just arrived back home from two weeks in Chile and with no bus ticket booked from New York City to Philadelphia, I decided to wake up early and drive to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Introduction:

PAX Unplugged is the premier board game event on the East Coast of the United States that has been occurring in Early December for years now.

I am a big proponent of board game conventions because you get to interact with other folks from all walks of life that enjoy board games like you and me, but play very different ones. You can play games that you would have never encountered in your lifetime otherwise, play games that aren't even out yet, or even be the best at playing a game that everyone else that signed up to play.

This year, I was very under prepared. I did not do homework about the vendors or the booths, I did not do any research on what talks there were going to be, I did not know what the current up-to-date topics in the board gaming world were.

Convention Day:

I woke up and left the house around 7AM, knowing the drive was going to be about one and a half to two hours. And my check engine light came on.

I arrived in Philadelphia just a little before 9 AM mainly because I got gas before I met up with my friends that were there all weekend. I explored the expo hall and then made my rounds to other parts of the convention center. Before heading out to lunch, I went to the `Looking For Group` section, because I wanted to play a game. There were not that many options, so I decided to join an open table of Pipeline. No one at the table knew how to play, so it was a pretty lengthy game.

I headed out to Shay's Steaks for lunch, and a local Vietnamese coffee shop for an iced coffee.

After lunch, I met up with the friends that I came to see. They were in line at the Games Workshop paint and take section, so I decided to conduct a more in depth examination of the booths and vendors at the expo hall while they were painting.

We ended the night with a game of Captain Sonar, Mysterium and some Chinese food. Back to Queens I went.

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