PAX West, aka Penny Arcade Expo is a 4-day nerdfest of video games, board games, vendors, publishers, creators, cosplayers, gamers, media, and other awesome-minded folks who gather in downtown Seattle at the end of summer to crowd into a couple buildings and celebrate the things we enjoy together. This year marked the first time in over a decade that I was able to make it back to Seattle and enjoy the festivities, so here’s some of the highlights from my time spent there.
Most fun group activity/Tournament: PAX Triathlon
Listen, most of us going to nerd conventions aren’t going to be doing a real Triathlon anytime soon, but this one was way more fun: Three events, each taking about an hour each, where sixty-four competitors played three different unknown games trying to best each other. We played Flip 7 (tabletop), Wii Sports Bowling (console), and Super Avalanche 2 (PC). After a somewhat mediocre start on my home turf, I managed a respectable 3rd in bowling (muscle memory for the win), finishing overall solidly in the middle at 34th. Not bad for my first Tri. Whether you have a group of friends or you’re riding solo like I was, these group events are a great way to meet and get to know your fellow Con-goers better.
Coolest Game already released: World of Kylia TCG
Started as a film project, this card game evolved into something similar to MTG, but more accessible and less focused on the aftermarket. There are still shiny and holo cards, but they’re much more cosmetic and less focused on breaking the game. Players will play Arsenal and Stamina cards to their battlefield, and supplement them with rolls from a D20. Also in an interesting twist, cards are paid for by stacks of that card, so a card with a cost of 3 needs 3 copies in the stack in order to be activated.
Honorable mention goes to AEGIS Combining Robots 2nd Ignition, a Robots-meets-Chess game with a ton of replayability.
Best Preview Game: Cyberpunk Legends
I got to sit down with a few other gamers and the game’s designer and play through a few missions, and it looks like a lot of fun. It both scratches the futuristic/cyberpunk itch while also eliminating table quarterbacks through its use of cards. Players will flip through a narrative deck, and when they come up against an obstacle, they will have to take turns going around the table playing cards. You can’t say exactly what cards you have, and you’ll need to match either suits or poker hands to overcome the obstacles, while also using cards that have damage on the lower text as well. This push-pull balance started to get really interesting as the difficulty went up, and I would love to see what the challenge looks like once you start unlocking new cards.
Most Awesome, “Hey you got Peanut Butter in my M&M’s” Award: Sunderfolk
Imagine digital Gloomhaven mixed with Zootopia, but all your friends need to play is a phone. Whatever OS you get the game on, everyone will just use their smartphone or tablet to play this couch-coop dungeon crawler. Players choose a character from 6 presets, and will slowly get new cards and modifiers to make them more powerful as you investigate a creeping evil that is encroaching on your once-peaceful town. Really hoping to bust this one out instead of a physical board game at my next game night.
Excellent Indie Award: Aether & Iron
With strong noir vibes mixed with some Bioshock Infinite, this narrative RPG has you playing as a smuggler trying to make ends meet in an alt-future NYC. Of course, on your first mission stepping into the world everything goes sideways and you’re forced to shoot your way out. Dice rolls are performed with 2 D6’s, plus your skill D6 that will give you a small boost if you’ve put points into that part of the skill tree already. And the car combat feels like something straight out of Thunder Road or Fast & Furious Highway Heist, which one of the producers confirmed was where they got the inspiration.
Honorable mentions: A tie between Arcane Eats (Overcooked meets Slay the Spire), and Blocks for Babies (Tetris plus Doom).
So those were my highlights from the best 4-day weekend in Seattle, and I didn’t even get around to mentioning all the amazing panels, guest speakers, Omegathon rounds, free play opportunities, concerts, vendors, pins, swag, lines, and other awesome things that only happen when you get thousands of nerds together in one space for an entire weekend. Next year’s version will be September 4th-7th, 2026, and if you’ve never gone I would highly recommend checking it out.
Publishers did not ask for or give compensation for inclusion in this article; any publishers who gave review copies for their products will be mentioned in their respective reviews.