PAX, which was first called Penny Arcade Expo, is a series of festivals that celebrate gaming culture. These festivals include tabletop games, arcade games, and video games. PAX has been held each year in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. It was also held in San Antonio before.

PAX was started in 2004 by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, who created the Penny Arcade webcomic. They wanted to make a place where people could gather for events focused on gaming. The festivals include speeches from experts in the gaming industry, concerts inspired by gaming culture, discussions about games, booths where companies show their games, areas for playing games with others on connected computers, competitions for tabletop games, and places to try video games for free.

History

The first Penny Arcade Expo was held on August 28–29, 2004, at the Meydenbauer Center, and about 3,300 people attended. 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 larger, it moved to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Attendance reached about 39,000 in 2007, 58,500 in 2008, 60,750 in 2009, and 70,000 in 2011. In 2011, the organizers stopped sharing attendance numbers because it was hard to count people at a multi-day event.

In 2009, Penny Arcade partnered with ReedPOP.

PAX Prime 2013, the first four-day PAX event, took place 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 26–28, 2010, with 52,290 attendees. The first PAX Prime event in 2010 had 67,600 attendees. PAX East moved to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in 2011, and Boston remained its home until 2023.

The first international PAX event, PAX Australia, was held July 19–21, 2013, at the Melbourne Showgrounds. The next year, 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 grew slowly in later years, and the event was cancelled in October 2021.

From 2011 until 2020, Penny Arcade held PAX Dev, an annual event for game developers to "speak freely and focus on their work." Unlike other events like GDC, PAX Dev did not allow reporters. In 2011, 750 people attended.

At PAX South 2017, Penny Arcade and ReedPOP announced a new event, PAX Unplugged, which took place 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 later changed to PAX West in 2015.

Activities

PAX includes the following activities:

• Freeplay, which includes: Console, Classic Console, Handheld, PC, VR, and Tabletop.
• Tournaments, which includes: Console and Tabletop. Some PAX events also include tournaments organized by companies.
• "Bring Your Own Computer" (BYOC), a LAN Party where people connect computers to play games together.
• Panels, talks, signings, and other events.
• Concerts.
• PAX Arena, an eSports competition.
• The Omegathon.
• An Exhibition Hall, which includes game studios, merchandise, and the Indie Megabooth.

Every PAX event includes an activity called the "Omegathon", a long tournament that lasts the entire event. A group of randomly chosen attendees compete in a game bracket to win a grand prize. The prize has included things like a large game collection, a trip to Japan, or a ticket to any PAX event worldwide. The final round of the Omegathon is part of the closing ceremonies at PAX. Games used in the final round have included Tetris, Pong, Halo 3, and skee-ball.

Events

• PAX West, which was previously called Penny Arcade Expo, PAX, and PAX Prime, has been held every year in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 2007. Before that, it was held in Bellevue, Washington, from 2004 to 2006.
• PAX East has been held every year in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, since 2010.
• PAX Aus has been held every year in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, since 2013.
• PAX Unplugged has been held every year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, since 2017.

• PAX South was held every year in San Antonio, Texas, United States, from 2015 to 2020.
• PAX Dev was held every year in Seattle, Washington, United States, from 2011 to 2019.
• PAX Online was held online in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.