What is PAX? It stands for Penny Arcade Expo, Penny Arcade is a web comic but the two guys who started it, plus some other guys, created this convention about all things game and comic/manga related. This means video games, board games, cards games, Dungeons and Dragons, model making, merchandise, hardware, software and more.

More than 80,000 people attended over three days in Melbourne’s massive convention centre at Southbank. I had never been before but some of my friends go every year, some work there too.

Izaac (my nephew), Nikki and Tim came down from Orange for the three days. Tim got a one day pass but Izaac and Nikki came to all three days. Kat kindly let us use her apartment in Fitzroy so we got to stay pretty close by.

They arrived Thursday night and stayed at our place then I had a day of leave on Friday so we went into the city, dropped our stuff at Kat’s and then caught the tram to the event.

The event space was two aircraft-hanger sized rooms plus three big theatres and a bunch of smaller rooms. The first talk/panel we attended was called ‘Creating Games’ but it was more about creating interactive experiences and the people talking about how simple games can be and how they personally got into making games. It was ok, I think I found it more interesting because it was the first one.

Next up, Izaac entered a Fortnite tournament. It took a while to get started.

While we waited, I managed to have a chat to the guy in the armour who was with friends who were also in the tournament. Having previously made costumes, I was blown away by his efforts and the amazing array of costumes on display everywhere. His name was Lance and he showed us photos of other things he’d made. A great chat!

Izaac was hoping to come in the top 20 and ended up placing 9th in the tournament out of 66 people.

There were video game, board game, card game and DnD tournaments going on continuously throughout the weekend. Also Dodgeball in a big netted area with a touch sensitive floor. Very futuristic!

We ran into Twigz and Ash soon after, friends of ours who were in the play testing area. This is where people with new games can get people to have a go and get feedback.

We had a look around some of the stands. So many things for sale!

We bought a mystery box and so did Nikki and Izaac. Each box came with three games, one big, one medium and a card/tin-sized game. Our two boxes had completely different games in them. I didn’t take photos of many of the stall but they sold everything from dice to weapons, wigs to Pokémon terrariums.

Later that afternoon, Luke and I watched a TTRPG (table top role playing game) called ‘Call of Cthulhu Live’.

The story was about a mad scientist who had cut a body into pieces then brought it back to life, whereupon it had tried to kill him and the goal of the players (four others with their own back stories) was to capture the runaway body parts and try to destroy them or save them, depending on their own motivations. The person running the game did a great job of describing the gross aspects and the players were very humorous.

Most of the rest of the day was spent walking around taking photos of people.

That evening we went out for ice cream on Brunswick St before heading to bed.

The next morning Luke caught the train home because I forgot to pack his bag… he had caught the train in early with Izaac and Nikki because I’d woken up with a migraine and threw up (which made me glad I already had the day off but also annoyed because I had fun plans) so Tim offered to wait for me to sleep some more then drove us both in. Somehow I managed to forget Luke’s bag in all the hurry, so he went home for it the next morning super early. I ended up heading into PAX by myself to let the others take their time getting ready, so I walked around alone for quite a bit of the day. I spent most of the time asking for photos of people and writing down ideas for future storylines.

The first talk I went to on Saturday ended up being the highlight of my festival. It was an introduction to Dungeons and Dragons for beginners. The speaker was fantastic – everyone in the room played along and he explained it all so well. I run games for my friend’s young daughter but I really have no idea about some of the key aspects of the game and this taught me how to run the fighting part of adventures. I’m pretty good at making up stories and including interactive elements like puzzles and challenges, but all the technical dice-rolling that is intrinsic to real D&D is a bit of a mystery to me.

I came away from the session buzzing with ideas and went to a nearby cafe to start writing them out.

After some more photo-taking I met up with Luke and we walked around some more.

We looked at lots of stuff, ate more food, then went to a panel called ‘Yes And – Why TTRPGs Should Take Improv Classes’, which really should’ve been called ‘why developing good social skills and confidence helps you be a good role player‘. It was ok.

After this panel we went to see ‘Trope RPG’, where a panel played a superhero based story. One of the people on the panel was a member of Aunty Donna, the comedy group. It was kind of funny but I don’t think watching people role play is generally that entertaining.

Well, unless it’s everyone in a huge auditorium playing ‘The Dark Room’

We had this show recommended to us earlier in the day and it was on very late – from 9pm to 11. Nikki and Izaac had gone back to the apartment for a rest but came back in for this and were very glad they did.

The host was a manic rock-god type personality and the crowd seemed to be mostly made up of people who had been there before. The host pulled people from the crowd and made them choose options from a screen with the premise that they had awoken in a dark room. Every time the crowd chanted ‘YOU AWAKE TO FIND YOURSELF IN A DARK ROOM’ and the choices inevitably led to the character dying and everyone chanting ‘YA DIE, YA DIE, YA DIE, YA DIE’ while violent red lights flashed. It sounds weird but it was really funny and madly energetic. Even the very laconic Izaac was waving his arms in the air, hoping to be chosen.

Needless to say, the room was dark so apart from the first photo I don’t have any others.

On the walk home Izaac wanted his photo taken. But not his face!

Sunday was a bit more laid back. Luke and I went in a bit earlier, grabbing crepes on Brunswick St.

The weather had been lovely throughout and Sunday was warmer still. We had a wander and tried out a new game from an Australian designer.

Despite looking like a game for little kids, it was quite strategic and challenging. Simple rules but an interesting depth of play was available. When it comes out we might buy it.

Nikki and Izaac also did some play testing.

One of the last things we saw was a live role playing game where there was no dice rolling, the people playing the game had to do a physical challenge instead.

Luke and I headed home mid afternoon, leaving Tim to drive Nikki and Izaac when they were done and bring the box of games we’d bought. Despite the weekend being kind of hectic I felt really energetic when I got home. Being surrounded by people with such positive vibes and enthusiasm for the things they loved was really uplifting.

Part of the enjoyment of the event was seeing how well it was run. Queues were kept out of everyone’s way, crowds weren’t too noisy and there were lots of food vans and everything was open really late. Even getting in was super quick, I don’t think I queued for more than 30 minutes for anything.

We loved it so much we’re already planning our trip back next year!