We just returned from this year’s PAX Unplugged. We’re exhausted, but ready to share with you our favorite moments and interviews from the show!

Our Favorite Moments

Anitra loved going to Flip Florey’s Super Saturday Board Game Serial – LIVE! Laid back but lots of fun. Flip had even made a lot of “20 sided balloons” and the gamification wheel made a real-world appearance.

Andrew really enjoyed going to AEG, especially their upcoming game Tiny Towns. Gather resources and align them on the board to “build” various buildings. Make sure you leave enough space open! Wooden resource cubes and cute kid-friendly art.

Anitra’s favorite game of the convention was ShipShape, an upcoming game from designer Rob Daviau and Calliope Games. Align punched-out grids over your ship’s “deck” to gain cannons, gold, and contraband. Obtain the grids by bidding high (or low) cards to get the appropriate grid from the stack.

Andrew and Claire joined the TWIST gaming Twitch stream (fast forward to 1:23:30) and played Deep Sea Adventure. They had a lot of fun with Matt and Ann, even though Matt won.

While they were at TWIST, Anitra and Asher were helping at the PAXU Family Gaming open house. Anitra mostly ended up teaching Sticky Chameleons, which was a blast. Also had a chance to play Rhino Hero Super Battle and see Unicorn Glitterluck. And a quick moment of Internet semi-fame; thank you to the listeners from Connecticut who recognized us!

Andrew tried Stuffed from Certifiable Studios. He compares it to Steampunk Rally – except much simpler. Play as a stuffed animal hero; roll and place dice to collect gold, buy helpers, and complete a mission.

Kids’ Favorite Moments

Asher loved Fireball Island; especially flicking the ember marbles to knock other players down.

His second favorite game was Beasts of Balance; stack the animals to build a tower – if it falls down, get 15 seconds to rebuild the tower so the volcano doesn’t explode! There’s also a battle mode for 2-3 players; cooperatively build the tower, but gain points individually and try to get the other player to knock the tower down.

He dressed as Link from the Legend of Zelda, and PAX is one of the few places where he would be recognized by almost everyone.

Claire also loved Beasts of Balance; especially the unicorn, the dragon, and the whale.

She got to play a game that was being pitched to Breaking Games. “It was a cool game about pirates and I’ve never seen a game like it before.”

Claire enjoyed her time with TWIST gaming (and the panel with Flip and dad/Andrew).

“It’s the most family-friendly convention. I saw a bunch of little kids. It was really nice!”

Interviews

We’ve included timestamps for reference.

(0:28:55) Big Potato Games

Weird Things Humans Search For – A great party game, playable with kids down to age 9 or 10 (although there are a handful of cards you might want to remove for under 12).

(0:31:00) Dr. Finn’s Games