Not sure what I was expecting for the debut year of PAX Unplugged. I know our little corner of PAX East was beginning to get a bit small. Was that a hostile takeover? Were the boardgamers giving up?
The answer is a clear no. Board gaming is stronger than I’ve ever seen it. Walking around PAX I was constantly reminded of the good that gaming can do. There were people of every age, gender, ethnicity, all sitting around in every available space playing games. Interacting and talking, sharing what they found and what they love.
Sounds sappy, right? Well, in some ways it is. But in other ways it’s terribly exciting.
We might have gotten a bit carried away at our first PAX U. Because there was no need for expensive passes (gotta love the price this wknd!) and no need for a hotel (we were within easy commuting distance) we threw the coffers open a bit more than we might have normally.
Highlights for me all revolved around the guys from Shut Up & Sit Down. As great in person as you’d wish they’d be. Now if only they needed a female reviewer from the states…
Now for the haul:
Shut Up & Sit Down First Player token
Campaign Coins Dwarven Set (If you haven’t checked these guys out, I highly recommend them. Nothing like the feel of solid coins to make a game more fun)
Princess Bride:A Battle of Wits
Hardback by Fowers
Paperback expansion
Word Domination (plus playing mat)
Lovecraft Letter
Arkham Horror Card Game
Captain Sonar and Expansion (ok techinically, we ordered it while we were there but we were quite disappointed that we couldn’t find a copy for Matt and Quinns to sign so we improvised)
Paranoia
Savage Worlds box set for a sci fi story
Fiasco (which was a fiasco…I’ll tell that tale another time)
Rocket Dice
Call of Cthulhu book in the style of a Dr Seuss book (might be one of my favorite things we found this wknd)
Call of Cthulhu Five Starter Stories book
And we Kickstarted ROOTS
Whew. I think that does it. There might be something that I’m missing but you get the idea. We went a bit crazy. We’ve already played a few and congratulated ourselves on our spectacular choices. Reviews to come.
But for now, it’s back to making money to pay for this hobby.