At the end of January a few friends my wife and I went to San Antonio to go to the Penny Arcade Expo, if you like Games of any kind this is the place for you. They have Board games video games card games and even Live action like True Dungeon, this is going to be fun, but first we must get there.
We left Wednesday mid-day and we are starting our 22-hour trip form the NRV to San Antonio TX. There are 5 of us in a minivan, it will test our friendship. We stopped a few places but not to sight-see or do anything fun, PAX is the goal. We finally Arrive in SA the following day around 11 AM, First stop drop off things at the Air BnB, then off for a long day of sightseeing.
First stop was Down town to see the Alamo. This was very cool and I suggest you see this if you are ever down that way. It is free to see or there is a guided audio tour to take. Here are some pictures from outside they did not allow cameras inside. https://goo.gl/photos/fJFAxesBEcBTc6uF6
Next stop is down by the Riverwalk and meeting up with the rest of our friends that are coming down from Colorado. Just a few photos of the Riverwalk nothing major. We also went on a River tour that tells us the history of SA. This we did later but it was a lot of fun. Pictures of both are here. https://goo.gl/photos/C21tWUJZaM5SofDX8
**Day One of PAX**
Waiting in line is the story for today. First thing get there to check in and you wait to get your bag searched. Then you choose if you want to wait for the Expo hall or the Merch or a Panel. I decided on the expo hall as there were not very many Panels I wanted to do at 10 am. To tide us over they gave us a few air-filled Cubes to hit around in line, there is a small video in the next album. 10 am hits and they start letting us in. The enforcers (PAX Staff) were skilled in maintaining order and people filed in calmly. I made a B line over to the Nintendo booth but it was already full. I then said I want to check out the Indy stuff so I went there and played a game called Giant Cop it was a very fun VR experience you are a Huge cop in an micro city with very small people and you get to pick them up and throw things around, Very empowering.
Second game I played was from a developer Goin’ Yumbo Games, the name is Graveball!. He had this set up for 3v3 local multiplayer. This was great, Riley (the Dev) explained this as a brutal Goblin Rugby game and he was right. This was so much fun that I asked if I could live stream it at some point. He said Yes and gave me a key for the game to play when I got home. I have been having a lot of fun with it.
**Day 2**
I finally got my hands on the Nintendo Switch. I must say this was surprising for 2 reasons. Reason 1 I could get through the lines very quickly and get to play. The second was that I had fun playing, the system felt well made, not cheap and felt great in the hands (I had my doubts). I ran around and did many things this day it was very tiring but I got to see a lot of new things and try unreleased games. Kristy and I finished the day off in the Tabletop area and found a lot of new games including one from Frank DiCola called Mr. Game! He was kind enough to show us his game and let us play with him. This was so much fun. We purchased a copy and have played it a few times since.
**Day 3**
This was a short day where we could go see some of the larger things that we could not before due to the crowds. My friend and I participated in a Rocket League tournament and lost but had fun doing it. We purchased a few more games at discounted prices and played more. Showed a few people how to play an amazing game called Fluxx and I met Andy Loony the creator of the game. Even got his autograph. We also met Greg Hastings one of the all-time greatest paintball players. He is one reason I got in to playing paintball in the first place.
I did not get to take many pictures while in the expo hall because I was too busy running around but I did get some and here they are. https://goo.gl/photos/Uh9Ku8ZNGDiAs33c9
After all that we start our trip home. But not before stopping in Austin to have dinner with a friend.