PAX (first called Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of festivals that celebrate gaming culture, including tabletop games, arcade games, and video games. PAX is held every year in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. Earlier, it was also held in San Antonio.

PAX was started in 2004 by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the creators of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend an event focused only on gaming. Events include speeches by people in the gaming industry, concerts inspired by gaming culture, discussions about games, booths where game developers and companies show their work, areas for playing games together on computers, competitions for tabletop games, and spaces where people can try video games for free.

History

The first Penny Arcade Expo took place on August 28–29, 2004, at the Meydenbauer Center. About 3,300 people attended the event. It was later renamed PAX and became an annual event. Attendance increased quickly, reaching 9,000 in 2005 and 19,000 in 2006.

As the event grew, it moved to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Attendance reached 39,000 in 2007, 58,500 in 2008, 60,750 in 2009, and 70,000 in 2011. In 2011, the event stopped sharing attendance numbers because it was difficult to count people at a multi-day event.

In 2009, Penny Arcade partnered with ReedPOP.

PAX Prime 2013, the first four-day PAX event, was held from August 30 to September 2, 2013. Tickets sold out in six hours.

In 2010, the first PAX East was held at the Hynes Convention Center from March 26 to 28, 2010. It had 52,290 attendees. The first PAX Prime event in 2010 had 67,600 attendees. In 2011, PAX East moved to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. An agreement in 2012 confirmed Boston as the location for PAX East until 2023.

The first international PAX event was PAX Australia, held July 19–21, 2013, at the Melbourne Showgrounds. In 2014, it moved to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, where it continues to be held.

The first PAX South was held in San Antonio, Texas, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center from January 23–25, 2015. It had the highest attendance of any PAX event in its first year. However, attendance did not grow much in later years, and the event was canceled in October 2021.

From 2011 to 2020, Penny Arcade held PAX Dev, an annual event for game developers to share ideas without press involvement. Unlike other events such as GDC, PAX Dev did not allow reporters. In 2011, 750 people attended.

At PAX South 2017, Penny Arcade and ReedPOP announced a new event called PAX Unplugged. It was held November 17–19, 2017, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. This event focused on tabletop games, which were only included in other PAX events as a small part.

The event was originally called the "Penny Arcade Expo" but became known by its acronym, "PAX." Seattle's PAX was renamed PAX Prime in 2010 and PAX West in 2015.

Activities

PAX includes the following activities:

• Freeplay, divided into: Console, Classic Console, Handheld, PC, VR, and Tabletop.
• Tournaments, divided into: Console and Tabletop. Some PAX events include extra tournaments organized by companies.
• "Bring Your Own Computer" (BYOC), a party where people use their own computers to play games together.
• Panels, talks, signings, and similar events.
• Concerts.
• PAX Arena, a competition for video game players.
• The Omegathon.
• An Exhibition Hall, which includes game studios, merchandise, and the Indie Megabooth.

Every PAX includes an event called the "Omegathon", a long festival tournament where a group of randomly chosen attendees compete in a game bracket for a grand prize. The prize has included a large game bundle, a trip to Japan, or a trip to any PAX event. The final round of the Omegathon is part of the closing ceremonies of PAX. Past games used in the final round include Tetris, Pong, Halo 3, and skee-ball.

Events

• PAX West (formerly Penny Arcade Expo, PAX, and PAX Prime) has been held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 2007 (formerly in Bellevue, Washington from 2004 to 2006).
• PAX East has been held annually in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, since 2010.
• PAX Aus has been held annually in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, since 2013.
• PAX Unplugged has been held annually in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, since 2017.

• PAX South was held annually in San Antonio, Texas, United States, from 2015 to 2020.
• PAX Dev was held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, from 2011 to 2019.
• PAX Online was held virtually in 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.