Kevin Goes to PAX Unplugged 2025

Philly Gaming Marathon

PAX Unplugged is the end cap to the year of gaming conventions, the last big hurrah before everyone slips into holiday travel mode and winter hibernation. This year carried a bit of uncertainty, landing both the weekend before Thanksgiving and right on top of the Philadelphia Marathon. Add in a shaky economic climate, where most Americans are watching their budgets a little more closely, and you get a recipe that could have easily kept attendance down. With two major events fighting for hotel inventory, properties across the city were practically frothing at the opportunity to spike room-night prices. Still, none of that stopped the gamers — attendance felt just as strong as it has in previous years, proving once again that the tabletop community travels well.

Once inside the halls, the energy was unmistakable. Even without a flood of flashy new releases, the buzz was high. The year of the “t-word” — a certain global supply chain and localization slowdown — has left the U.S. market feeling the pinch. That bottleneck was noticeable at Gen Con and lingered here as well. But tabletop gaming has always been resilient. When one lane narrows, others widen. This time around, role-playing games and small card games clearly took center…

The post Kevin Goes to PAX Unplugged 2025 appeared first on Meeple Mountain.