For the third year in a row, I decided to make a trip over to Seattle, Washington to attend PAX West.
Usually, I go to watch my friends host their shows—like “Fight Mii” at PAX West 2022, and “Fight Mii” and “Friends ’til Death” at PAX West 2023. Unfortunately, my usual PAX travel group decided not to submit any panels this year and nobody else in my party ended up going… and I didn’t find out they weren’t until my flight and lodging were already booked. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of changing travel plans, so I decided to go anyway on my own.
This year’s PAX West was about the same as what you’d expect from any other PAX. The exhibitor hall was basically a gigantic collection of advertisements, and most of the interesting booths with compelling interactive experiences had long lines. The other areas of the convention center were nice, but not really for me—there was plenty of space for people to be able to chat and bond over some games, but I’m not really the type of person to socialize with strangers at a convention. It also probably doesn’t help much that I’ve gradually been losing interest in gaming in general over the past handful of years.
One thing I noticed was that it felt a lot less crowded this year. I’m not sure if ticket sales were just low this year or something, but one thing I do know is that, with the new Summit building of the Convention Center opening, there was a ton more space for people to be spread out. Summit is a six-level building, and it seemed like all of that additional square footage was put to very good use.
I have friends who live in Seattle, so I’ve been spending time with them outside of the convention, and will continue to do so until I fly out in a few more days. However, I guess this is a decent lesson learned that I shouldn’t book my travel too early next time and actually confirm first that my regular PAX group will also be attending.
Below are some photos I took while exploring the Arch and Summit buildings of the Seattle Convention Center.
