PAX Unplugged 2024 - Thursday Night & Day 1

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.

So, what is there to do at PAX? Well, first and foremost and most obviously, GAMES!

There is an entire floor just for vendors to demo, promote and sell their newest games. There are rooms where games under construction can be played, and you can give your feedback directly to the developer. The convention provides their own gaming library where games can be rented out and played all day and well into the night. RPGs aplenty, panels discussing all elements of game design, teaching how to play certain games and even how to tackle the tough issues you may be running into in your design, game night or roleplaying.

It also doesn’t hurt that right across the street is the Reading Terminal Market so you can find all kinds of delicious meals and treats! 

Thursday Night - Hotel Lobby

This year Chrissy and I made our return to PAX Unplugged and thanks to our friends at the Tabletop Express, we were able to get a hotel room with minimal walking distance of the convention center and one night earlier on Thursday! So what do you do on the night before the con? Games. You play games. A prescheduled Seas of Havoc, Regicide, Hamster Roll and Flip 7. More on Flip 7 later.

Seas of Havoc with ghost Anthony

Hamster Roll

Dead Alive Games

First meeting of PAXU was with Bernie Lin, one of the owners of Dead Alive Games. I was not familiar with DAG's games, but the games he presented had me interested. From miniature skirmish to co-op cyber pets to simultaneous-play Euro, the diverse range of games mirrors well to the diverse community of gaming.

Cyber Pet Quest was the newest game on display. A solo or cooperative game where you play as cybernetically enhanced pets looking for their owner in a apocalyptic city. The tactical element of the different pet characters and campaign style story are great gateway to similar more complex campaign games.

Rock Manor Games

Chris from the Tabletop Express and I met back in 2022 the Rock Manor Games demo and we quickly became friends. We make a point to schedule whatever Mike is showing at PAXU and this year it was their current in development game Disco Laundry Heist. Each player is a mob boss working to get their slice of the pie in Las Vegas. Running heists will get you the money, but can you launder it? And can you cool down the heat you are building with the police?

Flat River Games

Next up was a demo of a new game from Play Punk called Zenith. Play Punk is one of the many publishers under the Flat River Games group. This game was led by their Senior Marketing Manager, Danni Loe. Zenith is a two or four player game where you are trying to get influence on different planets through card play and tech tracks. The four player version we played was two vs two with each player on a team having their own hand and only being able to play cards to three of the five planets. Zenith, has since made it's way to Board Game Arena and I can say both player count versions are fabulous.

For lunch we walked over to Reading Terminal Market and got Central Amaerican street food at El Merkury. Salvadorian Papusas and Taquitos for our meal and Churro with Caramel and pretzels for dessert. You have to check this place out!

Walking the Expo Hall, I made sure to stop by Off the Page Games' booth. Jay Cormier's company creates great comics-based games such as Harrow County, Mind MGMT and the newly released Corps of Discovery based on Manifest Destiny. You can find CBY's review of Harrow County here. Be on the lookout for Grendel the Game of Crime and Mayhem making its way to Kickstarter soon.

Life sized dice tower from Harrow County game box.

Another of the big hits this year at PAXU was Flip 7 from the OP Games. A push your luck card game, branded as the Greatest Card Game of All Time. It certainly had the crowds loud and cheering and was good enough for Chrissy to make it her first PAXU purchase ever.

Chrissy with her first PAXU purchase FLip 7

The day ends back at the hotel lobby where we meet up with friends and discuss the days events. Saturday, day 2, my brother Nick and friend Kevin, will be here bright and early and we hope to get some games in. Spoilers we do. Seventeen of them...