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Jimmy Sorel
United States
Providence
Rhode Island
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My second ever PAX experience has come and gone after this year's PAX East came to a close last week.
I really enjoyed my time this year. The board game area was greatly improved; last year's dedicated board game hallway and cramped conference rooms were expanded to a tabletop area seating around 3000 gamers. Tournaments, new-game demonstrations, and free-play all in one big area. The board game library in the center fueled the hours of gaming that were had all weekend. The library was stocked with games lent and donated by game companies as well as local gamers.
I played 16 total games over the three days at PAX; and thanks to the library, 12 of those plays were for games I've never played before {some games repeated}.
GOOD New-to-me games:
Long Shot - felt like a horse race should, the table had cheers and yells, and the overall feel was exciting.
Castle Panic - was a great game on the easier side of the difficulty spectrum, but it still managed to keep the table engaged and add fuel to my gaming group's love of co-ops.
Tsuro was a neat puzzle game that perfectly fit its role as a filler, and it looked really nice.
These games aren't brand new, but they were games that I would not have bought without playing them first. That being said, within the week after PAX, I have made two trades and one OLGS order that will add these games to my personal library.
MEH New-to-me games:
Wasabi! - the game play felt slow and the decisions felt unimportant.
Ricochet Robots - I like the idea of the game, but not as a board game, this would make a perfect solo flash game online.
Innovation - I always feel like I should like civilization building type games, but I usually get bored playing them.
Hey, That's My Fish! - I didn't mind this one, but the fun wasn't enough to keep me going. This would be great for younger kids.
I don't want to call these games "bad" because I can see the merit in these games, but they just didn't find any needs of mine. I would probably be willing to try these games again, but I am not going to go out of my way to do so.
In my mind, PAX is geared towards video gamers. Making sure they get to see the latest and greatest in their hobby is top-priority. All the while us board/tabletop/rpg gamers should be happy to not be in a hallway this year.
While the library was able to introduce me to some very fun games, I still feel like it was lacking both is quantity and quality. I never felt like the games were enough to accommodate the number and type of gamers present. While there was always a game available to be checked out; more often than not, the available games were along the lines of Apples to Apples or Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit. The better games were few and far between, and they didn't really represent this past year of new games. Other than a few key titles, the older and respected games weren't very much available either.
I don't want this to sound like I had a bad time; I had a fantastic weekend, I gamed with my friends, I gamed with my girl, and I gamed with new people; all fun things. I really hope that tabletop can upgrade next year as much as it did this year, and the key to that is a better stocked library that better represents the hobby.
Other than the Tabletop area; I saw the keynote speech of my geek-crush Jane McGonigal's {check out her book Reality Is Broken}, I geared up and ventured through the expo floor crowds, and I went to a paper gaming panel {but that is something for a different post}.
Whether it be PAX or something more board-game-centric, I can't wait for my next gaming convention.
If you were at PAX East 2011, please share any stories or comments.
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