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The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX as it is more commonly called, is a multi-city celebration of all things gaming and nerd culture. I attend PAX East, the second-oldest iteration of the conference, in Boston every year and continually get blown away by the community, the games, the vibe and in particular this year the comfy weather of a May setting in Boston.
Running from May 8-11 this year, PAX East is a mult-tiered event that brings together panels, community events, videogames, tabletop games, e-sports and so much more. The tagline for the show is “Welcome Home” and for many of us in the gaming and nerd/geek worlds that simple statement carries a lot of meaning.
PAX East is tough to truly describe unless you are there, but I will attempt to lay out what the conference is all about and what can be experienced there. A walkthrough of the expo hall floor goes a long way, but going through the high points paints a clear picture and could help you decide if you want to experience an upcoming PAX, whether at East, West, Unplugged or Aus, for yourself.
The Expo Hall
The main draw for many people attending PAX East is the bustling, loud, oftentimes crowded and potentially overwhelming Expo Hall. This is where games by the dozens are shown and are available for hands-on demos. Sometimes the larger games will have presentations, but there is plenty to get your hands on.
This year at PAX East there were no huge AAA playable games. Instead the biggest-profile hands-on experiences were titles like Dune Awakening, Crimson Desert, and Pokemon Lab featuring the Pokemon TCG. The largest presence at the show was Elden Ring: Nightreign, but that was a live playthrough by developers and was more of a presentation.
Despite the lack of the big players, there were so many medium and small game developers in the expo hall that there were many varied and exciting games to try out. From Cat Secretary and Goblin Town to Mind Diver and Ra Ra Boom, the show floor was packed with must-see experiences.
The Expo Hall can be overwhelming, so my advice for PAX East (or any PAX) is to take the first day, which is typically less crowded, and scope out the Expo Hall floor and try to remember what you want to check out. See some of it that day, but then spread out the experiences over the next few days.
The Tabletop Section at PAX East
While there is a dedicated Tabletop PAX experience called Unplugged, PAX East has a massive tabletop section packed with tournaments, board game demos, hands-on sessions and more. I always like strolling through this area and checking out the new TCG, roleplaying, and board game experiences when I hit PAX East.
Designed to offer a ton of options, the Tabletop area is rooted in the freeplay, tournament, pickup sessions and demo areas. These consist essentially of rows of tables curated by various groups. The setup gives people a vast amount of choices and the ability to play games with varied levels of organization.
You can join Magic The Gathering quick sessions, Commander tournaments or one-on-one ad-hoc games in freeplay. Dungeons and Dragons sessions are running around the clock as are Crokinole matches, freeplay board games and so much more.
The truly magical part of the Tabletop area is how many people are packed into this section day after day for hours at a time. With attendees playing board games they borrowed or hardcore Magic tournaments, or learning Dungeons and Dragons for the first time in a guided playthrough, it was a varied and beautiful ecosystem.
The Tabletop area keeps getting denser and more interesting year after year, and the surrounding vendors, demo stations and geek-paraphernalia vendors help to make the experience richer. If you are an existing Tabletop fan, or are curious, running through that section is a great way to check many things out and give them a try.
The Panels, Concerts and Experiences
While the Expo Hall and Tabletop sections occupy the largest footprint at PAX East, there is always something to check out while wandering the halls or surrounding rooms in the conference center. From open to close each day there are rotating panels, small- and large-scale concerts, and e-sports and events happening in various nooks and crannies all around PAX East.
Panels both large and small are the mainstay of the core PAX experience outside the Expo Hall. These panels could be from massive titles like Mafia or Borderlands to smaller ones on topics like “Romance and Intimacy in Games” and “Streaming for Fun and Rarely Profit.”
The panels are a way to learn about new games, the industry, gender and LGBTQ+ issues in gaming, streaming, and so much more. I often concentrate on interviews and demos but try to get to a few panels as well. They really make the experience better.
Besides the concerts, live roleplaying sessions, and e-sports tournaments, there are Make-a-Strip shows and live Q&As, fun ways to spend an hour or two sitting and laughing as the talented speakers and players do their thing on stage.
One of the joys of the conference is just wandering around and checking things out. This year I watched a bunch of the almost-pro Tekken tournament at the PAX arena, played some Jackbox in one of the hallways, checked out the Arcade Freeplay room, and watched the Bioshop Infinite barbershop quartet do their melodic thing.
There is always something fun or interesting going on outside of the Expo or Tabletop halls. There is even a Voodoo Ranger beer lounge and food trucks in the Expo Hall floor so you can drink and eat while exploring.
PAX East is chock full of amazing experiences for gamers, nerd culture enthusiasts, cosplayers, TCG fans, and frankly anyone who just enjoys a fun and varied experience in this rich ecosystem. If you have not been to a show like this before I encourage you to check out one near you, or even better, meet me at PAX East when it returns to Boston next year from March 26 to 29, 2026.
