What's the Real-to-Fake ratio of passes for sale at PAX?

reinze

I'm in Seattle for the first time ever, here for a job interview. As such, I never dreamed that I'd have a chance to attend PAX.

Of course, passes are sold out and we shouldn't make threads begging/offering passes.

That all being said, I'm still going down to PAX because this may be my only chance to attend. I'm going to see if anyone is looking to sell their sunday pass.

To those who've attended the past two days: How do you rate the likelyhood of my plan? Likely? Impossible?

I'm going down there either way, but I'm curious. Thanks.

Citrix

I would be incredibly careful, there are rumors of people selling fake passes. Enforcers started checking passes today to see if they were fakes which I haven't seen them do before. If you are planning on looking for a pass make sure they're not selling it for more than the value and inspect it very, very carefully. The passes are made out of a glossy plastic which is semi flexible but does not bend easily, I'd be especially wary of someone trying to print the image on a piece of card stock or some other inferior plastic. I was able to get a legit pass a few years ago from someone who had enough after Friday, so not impossible, things come up and people can't/don't want to go another day. Sunday especially since it's shorter than the other days.

Saw a good idea somewhere else: I would demand to see a proof of purchase as well.

Steel Fire

No rumor, there are fake passes being sold and extra checks being made within the convention. The best way any of us can deter scalpers/con-men is to ignore them and don't give your money to them.

basketball45231

They said on the official PAX twitter, the scalpers are all selling badge #33880

"Heads up: if you have badge # 33880 it's a fake. Scalpers have resorted to selling fakes this year. Watch out. Please RT."

jumpman-jr

I saw many "legit" scalpers on Friday morning trying to get rid of a fair amount of three-day passes. (By "legit" I mean I know they also sell tickets at other Seattle events and they probably had the real deal not fake passes). I have no idea if they were also there on Saturday. It seems like there's a chance (albeit a small one) that some would also be down there on Sunday morning.

nanaki254

I was sitting outside one of the entry-ways taking a break, and i saw a ton of people getting stopped because they had fake passes, where they bought off of craigslist. So in my opinion i would not get a pass from there.

GT Racer

I watched 2 guys get pulled in front of the Freeplay PC room with fake passes. The enforces shined a flashlight from behind to see if there was any opacity. Also the fake passes were pretty easy to tear.

See if you can flag somebody down out front that has a real pass as you're buying it and compare if you need to. Have fun!

reinze

Thanks for the advice, all!

JeffreyO

Let me be honest. I'm all for keeping a good ratio. I'm all for having the fire martial NOT come in and shut us down but I've been a paying subscriber since the first PAX (Given, the first I was in Iraq and though i'd get back in time but didn't and didn't attend but I THOUGHT I was and still paid). That being said, I was walking around the convention hall today and someone (an enforcer) walked up to me and said "can I see your pass" and I said "Sure". He looked at it for 15 seconds said 'ok thank you' and I walked off but I am upset.

not because he was doing his job I don't blame him but have we become so bad that we can't go back to having holograms on our passes like 2 years ago? I write for a freelance newspaper and I could've gone in early and got a media pass but I didn't because I was being fair. right next to the kinect setup I get questioned? really makes me wonder. Well, in case you ever look again I was wearing a Captain America Shirt I have wavy brown hair and I'm about 6' tall. I doubt counterfeiters would want to draw attention to themselves but there you go. Look for me. See me at pax. I'd be glad to know more about you (except for maybe the enforcer who stoped me. Just doing his job but still....)

mousekinn

There are several different types of counterfeits floating around. Unfortunately, some of the "legit" scalpers seem to be unaware they are selling counterfeit passes.

Citrix

JeffreyO wrote:

not because he was doing his job I don't blame him but have we become so bad that we can't go back to having holograms on our passes like 2 years ago?

Unfortunately I think this is where this is headed (or should be at least), it sucks to have to get your pass checked all the time, but it sucks even more for people who thought they were buying a legit pass and then get kicked out.

jumpman-jr

I thought the first time my badge was looked at was because they were checking for fakes. But it was because I was trying to enter the 6th floor expo area at 5:56pm. And they sadly weren't letting regular peeps like me in anymore. I know the expo areas close at 6pm, but typically what time do they stop letting people in?

I then went across the street to the Magic area (mainly to check out the Pajaggle sets being sold there) and the dood at the door looked at my badge with a flashlight.

When they initially tweeted about 33880 my heart skipped a beat because my badge has all those digits, but in a slightly different order.

tokyodove

i found they started moving people out at around 5.50pm in order to have everybody out by 6pm

Eticket109

Way late to the game on this one, but there's a pretty simple solution to this for next year.

I was fortunate to get a pair of 3 day passes at the last minute after buying a pair of Sunday passes.

I put my Sunday passes up for sale and got a buyer who did a very smart and very easy thing. She met me by registration and had enforcers there check the passes before handing over the money.

As long as PAX is as awesome as it is, there will be an overwhelming demand for passes and unscrupulous people trying to take advantage of it. This is one easy way to protect yourself from them.