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 takes place every year in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. It was also held in San Antonio in the past.
PAX was started in 2004 by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, who created the Penny Arcade webcomic. They wanted to make an event that focused only on gaming. The events include speeches by people who work in the gaming industry, concerts inspired by gaming culture, discussions about games, booths where companies show their games, LAN parties for multiplayer games, tournaments for tabletop games, and areas where people can play video games for free.
History
The first Penny Arcade Expo was held 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 people in 2005 and 19,000 in 2006.
As the event grew, 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 event stopped sharing attendance numbers because it was difficult to count people at events that lasted several days.
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 26–28, 2010, with 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, PAX Australia, was 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 event took place in San Antonio, Texas, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center from January 23–25, 2015. It had the highest attendance for a PAX event in its first year. However, the event did not grow much in later years and was cancelled in October 2021.
From 2011 until 2020, Penny Arcade held PAX Dev, an annual event for game developers to share ideas without press. 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 not the main focus of other PAX events.
The event was originally called the "Penny Arcade Expo" but became known as "PAX" quickly. Seattle’s PAX was renamed PAX Prime in 2010 and PAX West in 2015.
Activities
PAX includes an event called the "Omegathon," which is a tournament that lasts the entire festival. Attendees are chosen at random to compete in a game bracket for a grand prize. The grand prize has included items such as a large game bundle, a trip to Japan, or a trip to any PAX event worldwide. The final round of the Omegathon is part of the closing ceremonies at PAX. Previous games used in the final round have included Tetris, Pong, Halo 3, and skee-ball.