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There a bakery in Chinatown that my dad goes to every time he visits and picks up a bunch of special steam buns to take back. It has meat and egg in it and it's about three times the size of a fist. It's basically enough for a meal. Idk what he says to order them because he asks in Chinese, but this is the bakery: https://www.yelp.com/biz/asia-bakery-philadelphia Pick up a half dozen or so and that can last you a few days without ever leaving. A testament to its quality is how long it's been there since it was around when I was a kid.
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Nov 8, 2019 11:33
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Xelkelvos posted:There a bakery in Chinatown that my dad goes to every time he visits and picks up a bunch of special steam buns to take back. It has meat and egg in it and it's about three times the size of a fist. It's basically enough for a meal. Idk what he says to order them because he asks in Chinese, but this is the bakery: https://www.yelp.com/biz/asia-bakery-philadelphia Pick up a half dozen or so and that can last you a few days without ever leaving. A testament to its quality is how long it's been there since it was around when I was a kid. Can confirm, this tiny place is good.
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Nov 8, 2019 11:40
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Gotta figure out if I can justify this to the wife. Crotchfruit 2: Electric Boogaloo is set to arrive about a month later, and I get the feeling that "it's only 2 hours back from Philly" isn't going to cut it.
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Nov 12, 2019 06:45
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3 days badges are now on low supply, though I have no idea if they are actually running out or they are just saying this to boost sales since we're getting close to the last week before the con.
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Nov 20, 2019 20:31
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I was going to say something about my favorite memory of PAX Unplugged being looking at it from my awesome connected hotel room and smiling smugly to myself, but to be fair I actually did have a great time hanging out with the uhhh Penn State? Goon/Ungoon hybrid gang, meeting new e-besties Fellis and Ilor and uhh [handle], getting great Chinese food, awww! And I guess the convention was fun maybe, I could not tell considering how hard it was to actually interact with it other than the dealer hall, which was smaller than made any sense to me personally. It was not much bigger than Gary Con's dealer area despite the convention being like, what, 5-10x bigger?
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Nov 21, 2019 00:27
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Dr. Quarex posted:...meeting new e-besties Fellis and Ilor...  Can confirm, hanging with Goons was far and away the best part of the inaugural PAX-UP. The board-game library was remarkably well-run, but the rest of the convention was basically a colossal cluster-gently caress.
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Nov 21, 2019 06:30
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Dr. Quarex posted:I was going to say something about my favorite memory of PAX Unplugged being looking at it from my awesome connected hotel room and smiling smugly to myself, but to be fair I actually did have a great time hanging out with the uhhh Penn State? Goon/Ungoon hybrid gang, meeting new e-besties Fellis and Ilor and uhh [handle], getting great Chinese food, awww! The dealer area was significantly bigger last year. The year you came was the first year and they also scheduled it over BGG con so a ton of vendors were already booked And yeah I’m the idiot who invites everyone I know to mingle, but it hasn’t bitten me yet! This year I’ll be adding the local boardgame group that I’ve joined. I’m hoping to have some sort of banner to provide a more visible meeting point this year but I’m still figuring out a good collapsible banner stand to smuggle in
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Nov 21, 2019 07:25
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Ilor posted:drat you for melting my cold, dead heart, Quarex! I told myself I wasn't going to fall in love again... Ilor posted:Can confirm, hanging with Goons was far and away the best part of the inaugural PAX-UP. The board-game library was remarkably well-run, but the rest of the convention was basically a colossal cluster-gently caress. Fellis posted:The dealer area was significantly bigger last year. The year you came was the first year and they also scheduled it over BGG con so a ton of vendors were already booked Also I think I liked basically every single person in the extended Goon-and-Non-Goon group at those tables, Fellis, so that was a pretty impressive feat. Tell all of those people to come to Gen-Con Edit: Were either of you (I think Ilor was?) in the group that went to the like tiny Asian grocery store nearby to get snacks late at night? I want to say we had some hilarious encounter there like the owners had no idea there was a convention going on or something similar
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Nov 24, 2019 05:49
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Pin info for this year. Looking pretty light. https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2019/11/22/pax-unplugged-pin-quest2
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Nov 24, 2019 15:37
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Dr. Quarex posted:Also I think I liked basically every single person in the extended Goon-and-Non-Goon group at those tables, Fellis, so that was a pretty impressive feat. Tell all of those people to come to Gen-Con One of those people came to gencon for the first time this year! He wants to come again but he isn’t sure how to fit it in his conventions budget. So I’m sure he will be coming every year for life, because I was saying the same things after my first GC I was not on that trip, but I remember eating those snacks so I am very appreciative of whoever went. I think one of my friends went with y’all
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Nov 24, 2019 17:18
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Dr. Quarex posted:Edit: Were either of you (I think Ilor was?) in the group that went to the like tiny Asian grocery store nearby to get snacks late at night? I want to say we had some hilarious encounter there like the owners had no idea there was a convention going on or something similar
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Nov 25, 2019 06:52
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Fellis posted:One of those people came to gencon for the first time this year! He wants to come again but he isn’t sure how to fit it in his conventions budget. So I’m sure he will be coming every year for life, because I was saying the same things after my first GC And yeah your buddy will definitely be back, look forward to high-fiving him next year. I mean if 2020 exists anyway Ilor posted:Both I and BlackIronHeart were on that little jaunt, yes. It found it amusing that the people running the store literally across the street from the convention center had no idea why nerds kept coming in and buying up all their Pringles. Yeah like, I am sure on some level it is hard to track of all the things happening at the convention center, but you would really think they would note the conventions for high-rollers. How many puns and anti-puns are in that sentence
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Nov 26, 2019 21:53
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Getting close! Unfortunately it looks like they will have metal detectors at the gates again. Damnit.
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Dec 5, 2019 00:28
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gently caress yeah pre-con insomnia
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Dec 5, 2019 08:27
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Kilonum posted:gently caress yeah pre-con insomnia
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Dec 5, 2019 11:37
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10 of us who got on Amtrak 173 in Boston have taken over the cafe car. RIP normies.
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Dec 5, 2019 17:49
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Well done, that single post made me hyped to go even though that is basically impossible for my newly-Iowan self
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Dec 5, 2019 19:13
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Dr. Quarex posted:Well done, that single post made me hyped to go even though that is basically impossible for my newly-Iowan self Oh jeez RIP Also I have family in Iowa (that i haven’t seen in 10+ years) also so I’m considering your offer to show up still valid
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Dec 5, 2019 19:21
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Fellis posted:Oh jeez RIP
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Dec 6, 2019 01:14
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 This is where i’ll be all day today, wearing a bright pink shirt. Feel free to say hi
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Dec 6, 2019 16:19
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Sold all my games at the BGG unofficial flea market at PAX today. Feels good and light.
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Dec 7, 2019 02:03
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golden bubble posted:Sold all my games at the BGG unofficial flea market at PAX today. Feels good and light. Oh man wish I’d heard about that. Are there any more?
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Dec 7, 2019 03:24
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Sorry. Just a one time thing. https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/262007/pax-unplugged-2019-virtual-game-market
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Dec 7, 2019 04:33
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It was good to meet the people who stopped by today! I’ll try to stay in the same area tomorrow
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Dec 7, 2019 04:44
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Literally the exact same table.
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Dec 7, 2019 21:19
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Ok just got home from my first Pax Unplugged and I thought I'd post some stream-of-consciousness thoughts, lessons, and experiences: Despite what my friend who had been last year said, there really was no point in getting there at 4 PM on Thursday. He insisted since we were staying in one of the con hotels that it would be "mobbed with long lines to check in" and that "there would be nerds partying and playing games in the hotel bar." Neither of these things were true. There's probably some pre-parties or whatever but we certainly aren't the types that get invited to those. I totally coulda gone to work on Thursday and gotten in at like 10 or 11. Signing up for RPGs first thing Friday morning was unnecessary. Again the same friend (who I learned not to trust the judgment of during this trip) insisted that we get there at 7:45 Friday morning because the lines would be "down the block and around the convention center" (they weren't even out the door at any point that I saw). He also claimed that if we didn't sign up for games that morning we "won't be able to play any RPGs" that day. This was not true at all and all the good RPGs I played were weird RPGs with hardly any lines anyway. We totally could have slept in and rolled in at 9 or 10. Don't bother with D&D in a con setting unless you like combat. We played a decidedly unfun D&D game with one old school DM who clearly just wanted to gently caress with us (which I guess is the Gygaxian idea of DM vs. players that I hate). I have a very specific type of D&D that I enjoy (heavy on intrigue, RP, and social play) while the two D&D events I attended were focused on combat, which is the least engaging part of D&D for me. Play lots of indie RPGs. These were the biggest highlights. Masks is freaking amazing and I played some other games that I forget the name of that were wonderful too. Many of these had no wait whatsoever and were led by people who were genuinely excited to be there. It's the types of games that I would never get a chance to play otherwise with my D&D-focused friend group and so I treasured these experiences. Apocalypse World games are my jam, almost universally. I'm really sad that I didn't make any new friends. I was there with 2 people and we spent about 90% of the con together and that was a mistake. I think it would have been much easier to meet some new folks if we weren't traveling in a mini-pack. Also the one friend with the bad judgment I wanted to strangle by the end of it. I am not going with him next year. Always eat breakfast and bring a snack and drink. I followed this rule and had a great time, even if a game I was playing went until 2 or 3 PM. My friends didn't and were crabby and anti-social by about 1 PM. Game demos are hit-or-miss. The Pathfinder 2E demo was great. The creator of this card game that I forget the name of was super friendly. But oh my god the Mistborn demo was excruciatingly bad. We were told 15-20 minutes total. It took 15 minutes just for the first player to take her turn and the guy teaching us the game kept getting confused about the basic rules. I'm a big Sanderson fan but I left that demo not wanting to ever play that game again. Don't go to the Expo Hall on a Saturday afternoon. The vibe was decidedly not chill. Most of the booths were packed, the aisles were clogged, and everything that I wanted was still there on Sunday afternoon when it was nearly a ghost town by comparison. Going to the hotel to nap or unwind for an hour or two in the afternoon was always a good idea. I had read that I should allow myself breaks/alone time when I felt like I needed it. This was good advice! I wish I had played more Commander. I wasn't really sure how to meet people for Commander though without entering a competitive MTG event (which is not my thing at all). I saw 19 men in kilts across the three days. I was keeping count. I don't understand pins. Why are pins such a big deal? Is there something I'm missing or are they just pins with neat designs? Some guy explained to me, in great and unnecessary detail, how he had gotten each of the pins on his dice bag while we were waiting for a game to start and was clearly annoyed that I was not impressed by the "rare" ones. Is there some kind of nerd hanky code that's communicated via pins? Any sort of "mystery" product is probably a bad deal. My friends got snookered on a few of these. Anything mystery is just crap that wouldn't sell otherwise. This should seem obvious but my friends fell for it a few times and they even convinced me to go in on a board game mystery box with them. It's ok to like cheesy things. I like angels and fluffy cutesy animals and goddammit if I didn't get plenty of things featuring one or the other. No one said anything judgmental, but I sometimes judge myself for it so I just want to write this out. Overall I had a blast. There are just so many good games out there to play. I will definitely be back next year!
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Dec 9, 2019 02:49
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Kilonum posted:Literally the exact same table. Got it all three days baby  I need more garish pink shirts to make myself a beacon though, people said the safety orange one didnt have the same effect
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Dec 9, 2019 03:10
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Yeah, and other than location, you were even harder to find yesterday.
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Dec 9, 2019 14:22
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Rosalind posted:Ok just got home from my first Pax Unplugged and I thought I'd post some stream-of-consciousness thoughts, lessons, and experiences: Was this your first large game convention? It reads that way. I am always curious to hear how people who's first tabletop con is PAX think about it, and am even more curious to know how people who first go to PAX, and then go to a more traditional con like Gen Con or Origins think about it. Anyway, here is my after report. I want to preface this with that I go to a lot of conventions a year, usually around 6. PAXU is local for me so I don't need a hotel which changes some things. This year I attended Gary Con, Origins, Gen Con, Essen Spiel, Fall In!, and PAXU. Kind of a light year, I usually also hit Gamehole Con and either Dexcon or Dreamation (or both). Anyway, PAXU continues to be my least favorite con of the year. Thursday night I saw a lot of people posting on twitter and facebook wondering what to do, so there clearly isn't a great sense of somewhere for people to gather and play games or whatever collectively on that night. I know there were a few parties (I was at the one that 9th Level Games and BackerKit threw) but people either don't know about those or don't get invites. Problem to solve. Friday morning just started out obnoxiously. I was already not happy about the broad street entrance instead of the 12th and Arch entrance, so we go there, go in a line to get into another line (before we were supposed to get into a third and then 4th line). They snaked us around outside for a while on this cold morning before getting inside for the dumbest security check ever. After waiting in this 2nd line they spent 0.5 seconds looking at my bag, I went through the metal detector which I set off, and they just waved me through anyway. After that we went to the coat check line to check coats (which admit ably was not too bad of a line). After that we decided to walk to the great hall so I could show my girlfriend where the Math Trade was going to be since she was taking care of that this year. A much better option instead of going into the 4th line to wait to get into the exhibit hall. We were also hoping they might let people in over there once 10am hit. So 10am hits and they don't let people in over there, and tell us the only doors that will ever be open to get to the exhibit hall the entire convention are the ones by the broad street entrance. This was annoying but not surprising, so we started walking back. After maybe 200 feet we someone else just randomly try one of the hall doors and found it was open, so we just went in there and tada, we were in the exhibit hall. The only thing on my to-buy list was a copy of Die Macher that Stronghold Games said they would have, but woah is me I get there and they tell me they actually didn't bring any. We then spent most of the rest of the morning walking around a not-too-busy exhibit hall being kind of frustrated. To be fair, being the last con of the year we had seen many of these games and booths multiple times by now from the other cons, so not too much excitement for us there. We met up with some friends, had some lunch (there was actually food from outside vendors in the hall this year!), found out water was $4 and soda was $6 so I bought one of those Wild Bill mugs and just overloaded on sugar all weekend. I went to run a game of Mazes for 9th level in the afternoon but no one showed up, and then went to the Philly Showcase in the evening where I showed Bee Lives to a bunch of people so that was fun. I would write more about Saturday and Sunday but the days were very much the same. We got in, walked a million miles just to get to something fun or useful, and then mostly played library games with a small amount of food and shopping mixed in, and me running some other Mazes games for 9th level. My biggest gripe continues to be the lines. It seems to all be set up to make you feel exclusive and special and, at least for me, it just falls on its face. I don't even try to sign up for any events because I don't want to deal with the lines, so all I can really do is run games myself, library games, or exhibit hall. If I was from out of town the food scene would be a nice thing as well but I live here so it just doesn't do anything special for me. I also don't understand why nothing opens until 10am. There is no reason the library, miniature area, first look, etc. can't open before the exhibit hall does. We would just sit around waiting in the card tournament area in the morning because we didn't want to go stand in line and would rather sit, and the enforcers kept trying to pump us up to get excited to go stand in a line to get in the hall so we could get in earlier than the people behind us. We were like "dude, we just want to sit" every time and it just got old. I also don't get why you had to walk the length of the whole thing just to get to the exhibit hall. It's like they wanted to show off how much space they had at the expense of everyone's feet. I felt really bad for everyone I saw with mobility issues that had to deal with this. Especially those on crutches. I did have fun overall, and as long as this show is in Philly and I live in Philly I'll continue to go, but I just feel dirty about it for some reason. edit: The soda thing was like the best thing of the con this weekend. Soda is ridiculously expensive in Philly because of the soda tax, they charge you the already high cost of soda in the city plus $0.08 per ounce of sugary beverage. The fact you could get all the soda you could drink for $5 a day was nice for everything but my waistline. The location of it was actually good as well since it wasn't that inconvenient to fill up constantly while in the free play area. Much better than where they had it at Gen Con on Georgia Street where I didn't bother with it. nesbit37 fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Dec 9, 2019 |
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Dec 9, 2019 15:43
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Did you go to Fall In! as a vendor? I usually hit that but skipped this year for a wedding. I consider the PAXU badge as a rental fee for playing games all day in the PA convention center, with the side benefit of other people clearing their schedules to do the same. I don’t really care about anything else at PAXU, cause I saw it at Gencon. (Unless first look had something from Essen I really care about) I played 5 games of 18xx over the 3 days and City of the Broad Shoulders, which is 18xx-like, so it was a successful convention for me.
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Dec 9, 2019 16:05
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I went to Fall In! as an attendee. I hadn't been in at least 5 years, I had forgotten how old and white it was. Yeah, I need to look at PAXU more like that. Thats the best part about it, just playing games you don't have from the library or in First Look. First Look wasn't even great for us this year since we saw it all at Essen already, lol.
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Dec 9, 2019 16:13
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nesbit37 posted:Was this your first large game convention? It reads that way. I am always curious to hear how people who's first tabletop con is PAX think about it, and am even more curious to know how people who first go to PAX, and then go to a more traditional con like Gen Con or Origins think about it. Yep. I was supposed to go to GenCon a few years ago but had a 103 degree fever the day my friend was driving down so I canceled. I've gone to a few smaller comic cons--things like FlameCon. I see that you weren't a fan of how much walking there was. I actually didn't mind it. It was nice to get all my steps in and to break up the sitting with some light physical activity, but I can see how it would wear on people--especially if other cons don't involve so much walking.
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Dec 9, 2019 17:11
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Cons usually have a lot of walking, my gripe is more with how pointless a lot of it seemed at this one. They could have had a much better flow, and I really hope they go back to the one true entrance on 12th and arch instead of this broad street foolishness.
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Dec 9, 2019 17:12
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nesbit37 posted:Cons usually have a lot of walking, my gripe is more with how pointless a lot of it seemed at this one. They could have had a much better flow, and I really hope they go back to the one true entrance on 12th and arch instead of this broad street foolishness. The grand hall entrance was open for almost the entire weekend. They realized after Friday morning they had to make a change and did so.
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Dec 9, 2019 17:15
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 In PAXU 2020 news, they have made a bad decision in moving the convention back to the weekend prior to thanksgiving. This will have attendance impact because of the holiday and because of the Philly marathon being the same weekend and competing for hotel space downtown. This is also the same weekend as BGG con in Texas which means vendors, panelists, and other industry figures will have to make a decision between the two cons. King Burgundy posted:The grand hall entrance was open for almost the entire weekend. They realized after Friday morning they had to make a change and did so. It was announced via tweet and most people did not see it. I do not use twitter and wouldn't have known if someone didn't tell me. E: i do not use twitter i mean nesbit37 posted:I went to Fall In! as an attendee. I hadn't been in at least 5 years, I had forgotten how old and white it was. Yeah all the historical miniatures cons are dying because who has money/time for that hobby anymore. I go mostly with my dad or just try to get good deals in the flea market and play one or two minis games. It's a short drive for me since they moved most of them back to PA. Fellis fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Dec 9, 2019 |
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Dec 9, 2019 17:34
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We only knew the Arch street entrance was open the following mornings because we got off at Jefferson station. Otherwise I don't think we would have known.
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Dec 9, 2019 18:03
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Even with Arch open you could only get into the exhibit hall area (officially) by going through the hall entrance above the broad street entrance. Less outside walking and waiting, sure, but it still seemed entirely unnecessary.
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Dec 9, 2019 19:26
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Hey guys, just make sure you post your concerns and constructive feedback in the Constructive Feedback thread in the official forums when it pops up. https://forums.penny-arcade.com/categories/pax-unplugged They do read it and take it into account when planning for future events. I only say this because myself and my fellow Enforcers put a lot of work into making PAX happen and we want you to have a good time. Kilonum fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Dec 9, 2019 |
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Dec 9, 2019 20:35
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I may post but admittedly a lot of my criticism is based on others experiences and me thinking “wow this is such not a problem at other convention” and shitposting about it. I don’t have the full context of things and I’m adverse to giving official feedback The complaints I do have context for I’m sure PAX is aware of because “demolish the lines and make a ticketed system, also allow attendees to run events” has been posted frequently and is against the foundational structure of the PAX events
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Dec 9, 2019 22:09
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Yeah, pretty much none of the feedback from the inaugural version of PAXUP got internalized, so I'm dubious that feedback from this one will be. The most important thing they could do is get rid of all the goddamn dumpster-fire lines. It's a terrible model for a gaming convention, and until it changes I won't be back. EDIT: the whole Enforcer thing is a loving farce. If the con was structured well, you wouldn't need an absolute rear end-load of volunteers. I'd be interested to see what the "staff" numbers are for GenCon vs PAX:Unplugged.
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Dec 9, 2019 22:30
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