I’ve been radio silent on this blog for a while, largely due to the busy-ness of real life. Work has been fairly intense, there has been an inordinate amount of yard work, and my wife has had mono, leaving me with a lot to do and few hours to do it. Gaming has been something I’ve done in the few spare minutes I’m able to eke it out. Lately, I’ve been making my way through Icewind Dale 2 and doing a bi-weekly Dungeons & Dragons game. More on those later, perhaps.
Right now, I suppose I’ll talk a bit about PAX Unplugged. I’ve gone for the past two years to this board game convention in Philadelphia, and this year was my third time. It’s not a solo venture – there’s a good friend who has gone with me each year. This year, though, neither one of us were terribly enthusiastic about it. We both bought three-day passes, and today is the third day – and we simply skipped it.
The first year was exciting: we’d never been to a convention of this sort before. The designers of one of our favorite games were all there promoting their newest game, and we got to go out to dinner with them. At that point, the event was large, and yet small enough to feel a little cozy – you could typically find things to do without too much trouble or competition. The exception was the board game library, which had a very long checkout line – this allowed you to borrow a game with your badge for a while (unlimited time, I think, although they probably charged you if you kept it).
The second year, the crowds were much more dense. Finding things to do – especially on Saturday, the busiest day – was a little more difficult. We did get to play our favorite card game with the designer that year, and that was the highlight. Other than that, we kind of found a place to play games and hung out with some friends. There was also the introduction of the dreaded security line. While ostensibly about having the security guards check people for weapons and contraband, I suspect that some union decided that they deserved a cut of the action. This resulted in an enormous line of people waiting out in the cold every morning to enter the Philadelphia Convention Center.
This year, the crowd was even more gargantuan – if someone told me that PAX Unplugged had 30,000 unique badge holders across the three days, I wouldn’t bat an eye. Events were difficult to get into, requiring wait times of an hour or more. We did have fun doing a few unique things, like a demo of the Apocalypse World RPG, but on the whole we sat down and played board games with friends.
That in itself is the kicker, because playing board games with friends is something I can do at home. Playing board games at home gives me access to food both inexpensive and good, it doesn’t require me to drive long distances, there are no exorbitant fees for parking, and above all it doesn’t require a $30 per day entrance fee. The only cost is a bit of time and effort calling people and comparing calendars to organize a get-together.
Next year, my friend and I are going to skip the convention unless there is an event of superlative value that we consider worth it. Our favorite card game is the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, but Paizo doesn’t run any convention events for it at PAX Unplugged. We would buy a one-day pass for that…but we’re not buying a one-day pass to paw through a disorganized (but large) library of games and sit down at long, crowded tables with friends to play board games. It’s just not worth it; I can think of a lot better uses for $60 that won’t involve long lines, sweaty body odor, surly union workers, and pounding cold pavement as you navigate parking garages whose stairwells smell like urine.