As Second Largest U.S. Game Show
A large crowd in a well-organized queuing area (take note, Gen Con) waited for the exhibit floor to open on Saturday
Pax Unplugged, which took place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia over the past weekend, cemented its position as the second largest U.S. tabletop games convention with a well-attended event, its largest since the end of the Covid pandemic. Organized by Reedpop on behalf of the folks at Penny Arcade as a show focusing on the tabletop space (the mainline PAX shows are focused primarily on videogames), the convention has grown dramatically since its launch in 2017, and since our last visit in 2019 as the pandemic was looming (see “A Day at Pax Unplugged”).
While the organizers do not release attendance figures, those in a position to know believe attendance is 50-100% larger than #3 Origins Game Fair, which reported 17,706 attendees at its 2024 show (see “Origins Game Fair 2024 Attendance”). Origins has failed to return to its pre-Covid high of 20,642 attendees, set in 2019.
PAX Unplugged has a big advantage based on location. Philadelphia is the nation’s 7th largest combined statistical area, with a population of around 7.4 million, and is within a couple hours drive of large population centers from New York City to Washington D.C., while the Columbus, Ohio area, where Origins is held, has only around 2.1 million people.
Exhibitor count at PAX Unplugged also tops Origins’, with nearly 400 exhibitors, compared to 326 at Origins. A game manufacturer told ICv2 that they believed around 900 publishers were represented at Pax Unplugged, when companies represented on the floor by distributors and marketing groups were included.
The show has a board and card game vibe, with exhibitors that can’t get onto the maxed-out Gen Con exhibit floor, or that prefer Philadelphia because of its prime east coast location and ease of access. There was little TCG presence at PAX Unplugged, which contributes to the orientation of the show.
While PAX Unplugged is unlikely to pass Gen Con’s record-setting 71,000 unique attendees in 2024 (see “Gen Con 2024 Attendance”) any time soon, it has room to grow and the population base and ease of access to support that growth, which makes it unlikely that it will lose its position as the second largest U.S. tabletop games show.
Click Gallery below for PAX Unplugged photos!
Source: ICv2
