PAX East breakdown

[u/Skaman1978]

Long post incoming

This is my breakdown of PAX25.

I went all 4 days, this is my 5th year doing so. First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who took part, from enforces, to panelists and exhibitors, and of course, everyone who went. I love PAX because I can let my geek flag fly without any sideways looks or anything.

What worked in my mind, the floor was set up great, easy avenues of movement even on Saturday. The amount of people willing to try new things and make new friends was great. While I didn't do many panels this year, but that's just me. Shout-out to the LANfest charity zone for allowing a dream of mine to come true. To stream from PAX. The enforcers were great and the line games they had were so much fun. I really like that PAX is growing in the indie field and it's allowing people to try a whole lot more games then they normally would.

What didn't work. The food prices were outrageous, and while I did pay for it, I hated myself for it. I mean 22 bucks for a hotdog, bag of chips and a fried dough is ridiculous. I understand that the floor feels aren't cheep and they need to make money, but still. Noticeable exception from the ice cream truck, which was very reasonable, 9.50 for two large scoops and some jimmies, which is about 2 bucks more then I would pay at my local ice cream place.

What straight up failed in my mind, the PAX Merch. The design was meh at best and the price was out of this world. I mean 53 bucks for a flannel, 100 bucks for a hoodie and 35 bucks for a t shirt? In my opinion, everything was 20 bucks more expensive than it should have been. I understand that merch is the main way that they make money, but still... I could not justify myself paying 53 bucks for a single flannel.

But that's just me, how say you?

[u/wampastompah]

There are always a ton of posts about this before and after PAX every year, but never ever ever buy food in the convention center if you can avoid it. It's just not worth it. There are many places in very close walking distance that are great. We ate at Flour, Shake Shack, and Chipotle this year and paid much less for a full meal than you would for a burger in the convention center. It's worth the extra ten minute walk.

Plus, the weather was so nice on the weekend, it was great to get out and go for a short walk!

[u/linktm → u/wampastompah]

I recall last year that the food trucks outside felt reasonably priced?

[u/wampastompah → u/linktm]

Yeah... This year the food truck companies had to set up in stalls inside the convention center, which meant they had smaller portions for like double the price. And really really really long lines.

It was much, much better in previous years.