PAX, 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 is 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 an event that focused only on gaming. The festivals include speeches by people who work in the gaming industry, concerts inspired by gaming culture, discussions about games, booths where companies show their games, setups for playing games with many people at once, competitions 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 (2004-08-28 – 2004-08-29) at the Meydenbauer Center and had about 3,300 people attending. 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 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 on August 30–September 2, 2013 (2013-08-30 – 2013-09-02). Tickets sold out in six hours.

In 2010, the first PAX East was held at the Hynes Convention Center on March 26–28, 2010 (2010-03-26 – 2010-03-28) and had 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. A 2012 agreement confirmed Boston as the location for PAX East until 2023.

The first international PAX event was PAX Australia, held July 19–21, 2013 (2013-07-19 – 2013-07-21) at the Melbourne Showgrounds. In 2014, it moved to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, where it remains.

The first PAX South was held in San Antonio, Texas, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on 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 canceled in October 2021.

From 2011 until 2020, Penny Arcade held PAX Dev, an annual event for game developers to discuss their work without press. 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, 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 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 have additional tournaments organized by companies.
• "Bring Your Own Computer" (BYOC), a LAN Party where attendees connect computers to play games together.
• Panels, talks, signings, and similar events.
• Concerts.
• PAX Arena, a competition for video game players (eSports).
• The Omegathon.
• An Exhibition Hall, which includes game companies, merchandise, and the Indie Megabooth.

Each PAX event includes an activity called the "Omegathon", a competition that lasts the whole event. A group of randomly chosen attendees compete in a game bracket for a grand prize, which has included a large collection of games, 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 of the Omegathon have included Tetris, Pong, Halo 3, and skee-ball.

Events

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

• PAX South took place every year in San Antonio, Texas, United States, from 2015 to 2020.
• PAX Dev took place 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.