PAX West 2016, September 2nd-5th: The awareness period before the tickets go on sale

For the last two years I've put together the PAX West (formerly Prime) thread the day the tickets have gone on sale and neither time did it help anyone get tickets. So I'm trying a new tactic to build awareness before the mad dash and in hopes of putting together a slap-and-tickle like those in the days of old.

Links:
http://west.paxsite.com/

Tickets update:

@Official_PAX wrote:

PAX South 2017 badges go on sale on May 17. PAX West 2016 badges will not launch before then.

m.twitter.com/Official_PAX

Pax South tickets are on sale today. Pax West will likely be before the end of May I'd imagine. Or at least I hope so, getting plane tickets/hotel rooms lined up later might be a touch expensive.
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It is nice to see Penny Arcade being more transparent about when the tickets for their events become available, I know that that has been a major complaint the last few years.

I'm still not clear on why they don't provide advance notice for when tickets will go on sale. So that resellers won't buy them? Lots of ways to handle that, including caps on # of tix, unique identifier/account required to purchase, etc.

I'm not aware of a music promoter, Broadway, comedy, sports, or industry conference that does it this way. Not even GenCon does this stuff.

Grumble grumble.

Top_Shelf wrote:

I'm still not clear on why they don't provide advance notice for when tickets will go on sale. So that resellers won't buy them? Lots of ways to handle that, including caps on # of tix, unique identifier/account required to purchase, etc.

I'm not aware of a music promoter, Broadway, comedy, sports, or industry conference that does it this way. Not even GenCon does this stuff.

Grumble grumble.

At the very least sell them on a weekend morning where everyone has a better chance vs in the middle of a weekday where a lot of working people dont have a chance. That being said, I noticed last year that scalpers dropped prices to just 10-20 dollars over fair value on Monday. So you can always go that route if you don't want to pay 100 dollars for a scalped Saturday badge.

Tickets went on sale about 5 minutes ago.

Only could get Monday tix. Another event planning fail by PA.

I bombed out of getting any tickets this year. And I thought that maybe they were going to be better about not just dropping tickets out of nowhere. [Grumble] [Grumble] I guess I'll see what Pax South has to offer this winter, or try a new con [Recommend me one?].

Top_Shelf wrote:

Only could get Monday tix. Another event planning fail by PA.

Same.
To be perfectly honest, I'm good with that. I would much rather centre the weekend around doing meet ups and hangouts and game sessions and whateeeever. YOU WITH ME?

There a lot of us GWJ peeps in and around Seattle. Let's do a thing.

Monday will be the day where I ditch everyone and solo the show floor for the most part. But I'm happy to congregate with folks in the building. I'll probably spend a lot of time in the Indie megabooth area.

I'm game. I will be volunteering at PAX for all four days of the con, but I'd love to get together with whatever GwJ'ers are going to be here!

Sad I'm going to miss it this year. First one in like 8 years I'll miss! Didn't get tickets, and then the gf and I decided to just book a trip to Portland instead. Hope y'all have fun!

So sorry you'll not be there, Delerat!

I'm going to be Enforcing in the Exhibitor Hall this year. Last year it was the AFK Room. I like the contrast.

I'm not going to PAX itself, but is there any kind of slap'n'tickle happening? I might come out to that.

Jonman wrote:

I'm not going to PAX itself, but is there any kind of slap'n'tickle happening? I might come out to that.

I'm covering PAX as local press this year but would love to get together with some of you for either dinner or drinks on Friday evening. Anyone want to meet at a local pub like the Rock Bottom or Elephant and Castle?

Friday works for me!
Edit: Made a reservation for 7:15pm on friday for the Rock Bottom for only 8 people. Please let me know if you will be attending. I need to know asap in case the reservation needs to change (if I need to increase it).

So far:
Amoebic
Docbadwrench
RNG +1
Jdzappa (maybe)
Gardeninja
MHR
Sixteenblue
Jonman(?hoping to update res)

Edit: at 9 now, will see what I can do if I get more but at this point I don't want to keep calling today so I will check tomorrow. I don't want to turn this into a massive sprawling horde of folks. I used to be a waitress and I know pax times can get insane.

We are doing separate tabs, will be up front about this to our waitstaff because pax time is usually a bit of a nightmare for them.

If this gets too big for a restaurant downtown, anyone have any ideas for places we can do games and hang? Someone's home or a park picnic or something?

I'm interested and would love to join at Rock Bottom -- cheers. Also, would be interested in some board gaming free play and/or demo-ing if others are interested.

Look forward to meeting you.

Thx Ameobic for making the reservation! I should be able to make it but will coordinate with my better half.

double post to convey my excitement.

Good work Amoebic! Super excited to catch up with Goodjers I know and meet Goodjers I don't!

@Amoebic -- if you need to look for another venue, perhaps the Raygun lounge? Not too far from the Convention Center, but up the hill instead of downtown: http://www.gammaraygamestore.com/

MHR wrote:

@Amoebic -- if you need to look for another venue, perhaps the Raygun lounge? Not too far from the Convention Center, but up the hill instead of downtown: http://www.gammaraygamestore.com/

I assume that place is going to be swamped during PAX. Might be wrong.

If we're going to haunt a venue, esp with a larger crowd, I'm leaning hard on a place that takes reservations. Gamma ray is lovely but last I checked it's first come first serve and Im not keen on planning on a hope during one of the busiest weekends in Seattle (labor day, bombershoot, etc).

Edit: looks like gamma is hosting parties all weekend so they're out. Should we see if card Kingdom has spots?

I can't drink at the moment so I can shuttle some folks.

Looking forward to this! I bet money that Card Kingdom will also be swamped, but it is far enough from the downtown core that... who knows. My wife and I went last weekend and it was terrible finding parking, but that's literally All of Ballard.

I should be on-time, but might be slightly late what with E-stuffs. It will be Very Nice to see you all!

So I have spousal permission so yeah! Regarding venue, I would prefer to meet somewhere close to downtown as l will be driving back to Tacoma after the event. That being said, I could make Card Kingdom work in a pinch.

I think we're going with the Rock Bottom for now, and if people want to get a separate thing going for boardgames at Card Kingdom one of the other days, pipe up soon and we can see if we are able to book one of the big rooms Sat or Sun?

I must've fell asleep when they renamed PAX Prime PAX West. Is that new this year or has this been a thing?

I'll be backpacking Friday night so I won't be able to join up but if you're looking for a good place to hang and play games, check out Flatstick Pub down in Pioneer Square. They have a huge space and I've never seen it too packed. Also, there's a lot of alcoves that you can hole up in.

I'll catch you all sometime.

Aw trashie I wanted a high five

Amoebic wrote:

Aw trashie I wanted a high five

High Fives will be rain-checked. Enjoy PAX!

Anyone want to try mesh networking this year? Cell service always takes a dive during the show.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...

Interesting! Which one do you think is better? I downloaded firechat randomly to see what it was about.

In the category of "good start to the day," I left both my phone and my badge in my car and thus need to change my plans for the evening. Bummed that I will miss meeting you all, but will be at the show tomorrow and would love to meet up with anyone interested for some board/card gaming. Cheers, Matt