I arrived Thursday -- after taking the train and the Silver line in to the convention center -- toget in line just as the doors we're opening. After a not too bad wait, I met up with Joshua and headed down to the booth. Said "hi" to everybody who was there and grabbed some table space for demos. After setting up I ran demos 'til about 4pm when I stopped to grab food at one of the food trucks. After a quick bite and a meet-up with another member of the Indie Bazaar to drop off a badge, I got back to demoing. After a couple more hours we broke for dinner. After dinner I headed home. I met Ben Platypus and Brantuan for the first time, and saw my friend Stevenik and his nephew again. All told, I think I ran 10 demos. That number may be a little high looking at my totals for the following days. I also started giving away participation packets this year, thirteen on the first day.
Friday's entrance was a little easier as I didn't have any bags. I also got in a little earlier and got to walk through the electronic games hall before the show started. The aisles seem wider this year, and the booths more spread out. I set up in a prime spot on the first table on the aisle and waited for the con to open. I ran a bunch of demos. Tom and GrafVonBarnes showed up and I corralled them in to helping out for a few. Kept going 'til about 2pm or so then went out to the food trucks again. Waited in line in the snow for half an hour and spent 45 minutes or so eating and chilling out. Back to the table for more demos, we knocked off around 7pm. I ended up giving out only seven participation packets this time.
Saturday I got in early again, went through the Exhibitor line, but still made it in quickly even with a bag check. I set up on the second row of tables and ran a demo for an exhibitor from another booth who was running demos of his own game on an adjacent table. Had a bit of down time before the maddening crowd made its way back to us so I set off for the Chessex booth on the other side of "the wall". After that I started running demos. Like the day before I ran until 2pm or so. This day featured my longtime con-friends Vlad and Ryan showing up and sitting in for a four player demo. Then I took a break and went into Chinatown for some food. After that I came back and ran a few more demos before knocking off around 7pm again. I gave out fourteen participation packets this time. I also sold out of Rulers sometime in the afternoon on Saturday.
Sunday was another early morning. I set up on the first table again then walked around and took a bunch of pictures before the con opened. I managed to get Vincent to sit in on one of the four demos I ran that morning. I also gave away the remaining six participation packets. One o'clock rolled round really quickly and I started setting up for a full scale game. Only Vlad and Ryan showed up for this so we got right to work. Three and a half hours later the smoke cleared -- hopefully I'll have the battle report done by Friday -- and I was completely spent. Vincent ran a few quick demos for a few people then we cleaned off the table and called it a day. I grabbed a quick bite, finally, and then hung out in the booth and wandered around for a little bit until the con closed. Then I helped to take down the booth and pack things into people's cars. A short wait at the train station, an hour train ride, a fifteen minute walk home, and PAX East was done for another year.
Some random thoughts:
- I saw a lot more cosplayers this time around. I'm not sure if it was because I was there for the entire con this year but it seemed like the cosplay presence was greater.
- It seemed like there were less smaller booths this time. Especially on the Tabletop side.
- The same standard question, "How do I get the pieces to play?"
- I will make more Rulers for the next con, maybe twelve this time instead of nine.
- I will also make more participation packets, 50 instead of 40.
- As usual, I had a great time and look forward to the next PAX.
No comments:
Post a Comment