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So I went to PAX East, and it was pretty goddamn awesome. I am not going to tell you about every awesome thing that happened over the entire weekend, in part because there were a lot of awesome things and also because some of them were only awesome to me. But here are some highlights.

I went to both the Friday and Saturday night concerts, which means I saw seven nerdy bands or artists: The Protomen, Anamanaguchi, Metroid Metal, MC Frontalot, the Video Game Orchestra, Paul & Storm, and Jonathan Coulton. Of these, I was only prerviously familiar with Frontalot, Paul & Storm, and Coulton. I’m typically ambivalent about seeing bands I don’t really know in a live setting for the first time, but I was assured I would enjoy myself, and enjoy myself I did. I especially liked Anamanaguchi and was pleased to discover they’re from my own NYC. I hope to see them again soon.

There were somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 people at PAX. I am not sure how many exactly, but the reason I mention it is that the largest single event space at Hynes holds maybe four or five thousand people, and most spaces held far fewer humans than that. This resulted in a lot of lines, which normally is the sort of thing which would drive me mad and leave me feeling irritated indeed. But PAX lines, they really aren’t so bad. Folks mainly just plunk down and get to playing Mario Kart or Magic, or make weird shit out of pipe cleaners, or whatever. The Mario Kart trash talk was probably my favorite line activity.

The panels I went to were the keynote, the first PA Q&A panel, the PA make-a-strip panel, and the PA TV screening. (Perhaps you’re sensing a theme, here.) I heard that some of the smaller, more serious-business-type panels were a little weak, but all of the ones I went to were great. My favorite was either make-a-strip or the PA TV screening, because the live on-stage commentary was delightful.

There was also a great deal of gaming, as you might expect. My friends and I did a D&D dungeon delve in the WotC tabletop area, played half a Magic sealed deck tournament, a bunch of boardgames, a lot of arcade games, demos in the expo hall, and a whole crap-ton of Pokémon. We ate a lot of Panda Express, didn’t get a lot of sleep, and I think it’s safe to say we all had a really satisfying experience. Even me, and I was still sick for the entire weekend (as I am now). PAX manages to imbue the entire convention center and its surrounding area with this really pleasant sense of community. It doesn’t feel like, say, NY Comic Con, or most other situations I’ve been in that have a lot of people crammed into a small space with lots to do and look at. It’s more like the way I remember summer camp, and looking back on it even just a week later I feel that same kind of nostalgia and longing. I heartily enjoyed it and can’t wait to go back.

For those who are interested, I have more photos available on my Flickr page, and a bunch of videos over at Vimeo.