Wednesday, December 6, 2023

PAX Unplugged 2023 Report

Another year and another con in the books.

Day 0: I met Joshua in the mid-morning and we drove down together.  Arriving mid-afternoon, we ended up waiting in line with all the other vendors looking to get into the conference center and set up.  After getting through the line we set up, found out hotel rooms, then had dinner -- Megumi Ramen & Sushi.  Afterwards I did some exploring and bargain shopping.  A little later I met Dom, one of my booth-mates, and gave him his badge.  I then settled in for the night.







Day 1: I managed to get into the con sort of early, after a quick breakfast we reset the booth layout a bit.  After the con opened I ran multiple demos -- in the booth -- before lunch, which was a new experience for me.  I had lunch at Oishii Poke again, then did some shopping at Ebisu.  Came back and ran more demos until the Vendor Hall closed.  I sat outside the Vendor Hall for a while and decompressed, met Dom and Joshua for dinner at Ocean City, went to Target for a few things I forgot to pack, then called it a night.  I gave out 13 participation packs and ran seven or eight demos.

Hotel view.
Hotel view.










A different House of Dragons.

Day 2: I slept in by accident -- always check your alarm boys and girls -- had leftovers for breakfast, and still managed to make it in to the con early-ish.  I demoed for two hours which seemed to go by in an eyeblink.  Ed and his niece showed up so we went over to the Miniatures section in the main hall and started setting up for a full scale game.  I wasn't expecting anyone to show so this was a nice surprise.  We played until 4pm or so -- that's set-up to tear-down -- as there were a lot of people asking questions and we had a new player.  Then I went back to the booth for the final two vendor hours.  After hall close I tried to visit Fat Jack Comics but got blocked by a parade.  I managed to make it to Pho Mi Rittenhouse for dinner, then limped back to the hotel on tired, aching legs.  I only gave out 4 participation packs and I'm not sure how many demos I ran.
























Day 3: Got up on time, packed up, then went to the con.  Found the "Fantastic Knickknackery" booth that I was looking for last year.  Con opened.  Had an excellent conversation with one of the creators of an "Infinity of Ships".  The rest of the day was kind of a blur.  I know I ran a few demos and talked about MFZ a fair amount.  Lunch was Crown Fried Chicken.  The con closed, we broke down the booth, loaded the car, had dinner at Terakawa Ramen -- which is always pretty busy -- then headed home.  I gave out 5 participation packs.




Con loot (pictures taken at home).
d20 from Fantastic Knickknackery.

Out of Con Purchases.








The Lazer Blocks and Mega Bloks sets are from
Burlington.  The others I bought at Ebisu.


Post Con Thoughts:
  • The lead up to this con was stressful, and I know that I was not the only one that felt that way.
  • It was nice to meet Dom from the Xenophilia discord for the first time.
  • I sold 11 Rulers, 8 copies of Dinosaur Planet, 5 Starter Kits, and 4 Dice Kits.
  • I gave out 22 participation packs.
  • I quickly lost track of the number of demos I ran.
  • I didn't see much of the con, I spent most of my time in the booth.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good con!

    What was so stressful in the lead up?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It had been four years since I'd made any of the Starter Kits, so getting that done on time was stressful. Along with all the other minutia of attending a con as a vendor.

      Delete