PAX Unplugged is a three-day convention focusing on tabletop gaming. Board games, card games, role-playing games, and all the surrounding peripherals can be found. Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX, was created by the creators of the Penny Arcade webcomic, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. The conventions are centered around gaming culture with the Unplugged version, first run in 2017, being entirely based on tabletop gaming. PAXU 2023 was held at the beginning of December in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, as it always is. The folks at Penny Arcade first came to Philly in 2017 and apart from 2020 (you know why) have been back every year. This is the second year I’ve attended as a “Content Creator” for all three days and every year, I go home amazed, exhausted, and excited about the board gaming hobby.
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PAX Unplugged 2023 Day 1 - https://www.comicbookyeti.com/post/pax-unplugged-2023-day-1
It's Day Two of PAX Unplugged 2023 and as always on Saturday of the convention a few of my friends make the trip up to sunny Philadelphia to walk the floor with me. This year fellow CBY contributor Jimmy Gaspero and our gaming buddy Hook tagged along. The plan was to just sit and play anything that was open!
One of the first places we hit was a demo of the game Sage Stones by TNT Laser Works. The boards were gorgeous and expectedly very pricey. Roll dice and place your stones. Surround your opponents stones or if your stones get surrounded they are removed from the board. First person to place all their stones wins. This was a fun game to demo and I wish there were cheaper options for purchase. I could see this being played a lot.
Jimmy poses behind his Catapult Feud construction
The Vesuvius Media booth for Catapult Feud grabbed our attention right away and how could it not? With nostalgia bubbling over you, you must build your castle, set up your troops and get to catapulting! Expansions included a ship, a volcano, and even a hydra!!!! Really cool, fun things—and you walked away laughing and very interested in the game.
Super Show is a wrestling card and dice game that has one hell of a showman running demos. With my daughters both into professional wrestling these days (in fact, we were heading to a WWE live show the next day) I was very interested to find a game with this theme. I apologize for not remembering the name of who ran our demo (pictured above) but he was great. He added the perfect vibe — made us feel like we were wrestling each other and not just playing cards. As with any card game, there is a base set and tons of add-ons.
After making our way through the Exhibitors Hall, we decided to browse the First Look games. Faraway by Catch Up Games and distributed in the US by Pandasaurus Games is a brain-melting game. Region cards are drafted and played in a line of 8 cards left to right. The cards have various conditions for points or provide those conditions. Once 8 cards are played you score, but from right to left. It's a fun twist and the choices you make or strategies you pivot to and from make this game a must-play.
Tabletop Express co-conductor Chris Barrows (left) with Rock Manor Games for StarDriven: Gateway
Next, I met up with Chris Barrows from the Tabletop Express for a special look at Rock Manor's new game, StarDriven: Gateway. At PAXU in 2022, Chris and I first met at the table in Rock Manor's private room to showcase some of their games. We decided to keep the tradition going and do our demos together. StarDriven: Gateway will be on Gamefound and its preview can be found here!
As they were in 2022, Mike, Todd and Sam were on hand to provide the demo and it really is interesting to have followed this game from its early stages to this full prototype demo. They really want the input you can provide, and the three of them almost on the spot go into the history of anything you are asking about or analyze your thoughts and suggestions. I haven't done much gaming in the space 4x world, but the way you crew your ship and use dice to power actions was not all that foreign. It furthered my interest even more and, as a Rock Manor fan, I will not be missing out on this.
"And after the party, it's the hotel lobby" Sorry. I hate to do it, but I had to quote R. Kelly.
Saturday night was not spent gaming in the convention hall, but gaming in the hotel lobby. I met up with the guys from Tabletop Express and finally got to meet face-to-face with people I have been interacting with online through YouTube channels or Discord chats. It was great to play a game with them all! Please check out: Arwen over at Carboard Time, Squirrel with the Level Up Board Game Podcast, and mrcoaster1's YouTube.
An intense game of Everything Ever
Yura Yura Penguin