PAX East

This will be my second PAX event and I learned a lot from last year’s inaugural PAX East as to what I should bring and strategies for how to manage my time. There is a ton of stuff to see and do and you will NOT get to everything you want to see.

So what am I bringing?

My North Face messenger bag: Basically this is my man purse that comes with me everywhere, but because its a shoulder bag I can quickly put away swag and other goodies I pick up along the way without having to pull off a backpack and stand there with promotional ‘crap’ in my hand that I just don’t care to look at then and there.

iPhone: With this one again I never leave the house without it and this will be my life line for 3 days. Access to Twitter, schedules, friends, table top gaming apps, and maybe some Street Fighter IV or Game Dev Story while waiting in line.

iPhone charger: With the amount I know I will be using my phone this will need to charge me up at some point in the day.

GameBoy(s): I love my GameBoys and plan on bringing at least 1 each day with a few carts. I may mix this up with an Advance and a classic but there will be 2 carts of Tetris for some head to head play with someone. Hey when else can you tote around a 1989 Gameboy and get props for it? As far as carts Tetris is a must and probably some SuperMario World but don’t want to bring my whole collection.

Magic: The Gathering Deck: There was a MTG deck in last years goodies bag that helped pull me back into the game. This year I want to make sure I get at least a few games in with people I never play. For this I plan on bringing my Elf deck that a friend made and gave to me for my birthday. This deck is not standard legal so it will be only for free play. Any tournament play be in a sealed deck game so no worries here. While an Elf deck is a bit cliche it is still my most powerful deck and my Dickwolves Deck is not done so the Elves will have to do.

Game counters: A small drawstring bag of game counters and dice.

Pandemic: Pandemic is a small and easy to carry board game and could be fun with the right people. It may find its way into my bag but only for a day no more.

Pen and Paper: You still need these things from time to time these days.

Gamer Tag Cards: If I have time I want to get my gamer tags and twitter on a business card to hand out at PAX. I met a lot of cool gamers last year and would love to be able to play with them some time. The only problem was exchanging contact info was always a too difficult under the circumstances. If I can I want this in hand for this year.

Camera: I actually don’t have one so if I can borrow one this will absolutely be in my bag. There are too many cool things to see from cos-play to game previews so the camera will come in handy a lot.