The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
3rd Annual Pre-PAX Nerd Night Out Tabletop Atop Seattle benefiting Food Lifeline
NerdNightOut
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Special note: this post was pre-approved by the mods so please don't jump on us for breaking the rules
Who: Hopefully you, along with 249 of your closest friends or soon-to-be friends, ages 21+
What: Back for our 3rd year in a row! This is not just another board game party! Featuring thousands of dollars in prizes from the gaming and food industry, life-sized versions of some of your favorite games, food, drinks and the chance to match wits with some of the nation's best game designers, this is THE party to be at on the night before PAX! Every cent - that's EVERY. RED. CENT. - that we raise on this evening (beyond the costs of producing the event) will be donated to Food Lifeline. Rated by Charity Navigator as 4-star charity, they provide food and meals to low income veterans, children, and families in Western Washington and across the nation. Oh, and it takes place in a swanky private club atop the tallest building in Seattle.
When: Thursday, August 27th, 5:00 pm - 2:00 am
Where: Columbia Tower Club, 76th floor, downtown Seattle
Why: Because you're like us - you like to game. Because you want to kick off PAX in style. Because you'd like a tasty alcoholic beverage and a supplied meal whilst you play your games. Because you're bringing an S/O whom you would like to dazzle with the most stunning views imaginable (or to at least distract them long enough for you to play). Because you're traveling and want to go someplace special. And, most importantly, because you'd like to do all of this whilst supporting a fantastic charity - and getting a tax write-off in the process. That's a lot of wins in one package.
What's included in all ticket levels:
Up to 249 other people to game with
A game library that you can borrow from (feel free to BYOG, as well)
Dinner
Full (cash) bar access
Guaranteed seating! We will have more than enough seats for everyone attending, so no waiting to play games.
A pop-up game store (from Games and Gizmos in Redmond, WA) to make acquisitions, if you so choose.
A ticket-based drawing, with prizes including gift cards to many of Seattle's best restaurants, tabletop games - and, oh yes, PAX badges in case you struck out and want to go.
As all monies spent are going to Food Lifeline, all monies spent are 100% tax deductible.
Two $10 vouchers to use at the pop-up game store, brought to you by Games and Gizmos, in Redmond (more details below)
VIP ticket levels also get:
A swankier, three course plated dinner
Drink vouchers
Free drawing tickets
Private-access gaming rooms, if you so desire
A bigger tax deduction
Swag bags
Gaming Vouchers: Games and Gizmos will have a pop-up store at the event where you can purchase games! What these vouchers allow you to do is take $10 off of any one game priced at $30 or more. Here's the proverbial fine print: Vouchers only have full effect on games costing $30 or more. Vouchers can be used on games priced below $30, but the lowest price a voucher can reduce the price to is $20. For example, a voucher used on a game costing $35 reduces the price to $25. A voucher used on a game costing $30 reduces the price to $20. A voucher used on a game costing $25 reduces the price to $20. A voucher used on a game costing $18 has no effect. Also, you cannot use multiple vouchers on the same game. If you are unable to redeem the vouchers at the pop-up store, you have until September 3, 2015 to redeem them at the Games and Gizmos store at 16150 NE 87th St, Redmond, WA.
For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
For updates, you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Who: Hopefully you, along with 249 of your closest friends or soon-to-be friends, ages 21+
What: Back for our 3rd year in a row! This is not just another board game party! Featuring thousands of dollars in prizes from the gaming and food industry, life-sized versions of some of your favorite games, food, drinks and the chance to match wits with some of the nation's best game designers, this is THE party to be at on the night before PAX! Every cent - that's EVERY. RED. CENT. - that we raise on this evening (beyond the costs of producing the event) will be donated to Food Lifeline. Rated by Charity Navigator as 4-star charity, they provide food and meals to low income veterans, children, and families in Western Washington and across the nation. Oh, and it takes place in a swanky private club atop the tallest building in Seattle.
When: Thursday, August 27th, 5:00 pm - 2:00 am
Where: Columbia Tower Club, 76th floor, downtown Seattle
Why: Because you're like us - you like to game. Because you want to kick off PAX in style. Because you'd like a tasty alcoholic beverage and a supplied meal whilst you play your games. Because you're bringing an S/O whom you would like to dazzle with the most stunning views imaginable (or to at least distract them long enough for you to play). Because you're traveling and want to go someplace special. And, most importantly, because you'd like to do all of this whilst supporting a fantastic charity - and getting a tax write-off in the process. That's a lot of wins in one package.
What's included in all ticket levels:
Up to 249 other people to game with
A game library that you can borrow from (feel free to BYOG, as well)
Dinner
Full (cash) bar access
Guaranteed seating! We will have more than enough seats for everyone attending, so no waiting to play games.
A pop-up game store (from Games and Gizmos in Redmond, WA) to make acquisitions, if you so choose.
A ticket-based drawing, with prizes including gift cards to many of Seattle's best restaurants, tabletop games - and, oh yes, PAX badges in case you struck out and want to go.
As all monies spent are going to Food Lifeline, all monies spent are 100% tax deductible.
Two $10 vouchers to use at the pop-up game store, brought to you by Games and Gizmos, in Redmond (more details below)
VIP ticket levels also get:
A swankier, three course plated dinner
Drink vouchers
Free drawing tickets
Private-access gaming rooms, if you so desire
A bigger tax deduction
Swag bags
Gaming Vouchers: Games and Gizmos will have a pop-up store at the event where you can purchase games! What these vouchers allow you to do is take $10 off of any one game priced at $30 or more. Here's the proverbial fine print: Vouchers only have full effect on games costing $30 or more. Vouchers can be used on games priced below $30, but the lowest price a voucher can reduce the price to is $20. For example, a voucher used on a game costing $35 reduces the price to $25. A voucher used on a game costing $30 reduces the price to $20. A voucher used on a game costing $25 reduces the price to $20. A voucher used on a game costing $18 has no effect. Also, you cannot use multiple vouchers on the same game. If you are unable to redeem the vouchers at the pop-up store, you have until September 3, 2015 to redeem them at the Games and Gizmos store at 16150 NE 87th St, Redmond, WA.
For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
For updates, you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
NerdNightOut on
+1
Posts
There's quite a bit that's changed "underneath the hood" based not only on feedback from last year's event, but also after conducting an evaluation of some things that were happening behind the scenes that were tripping us up. One of the biggest changes has come with a slight shifting of staff organizers for the event. Last year ended up being a bit frantic right up to and into the event itself due to having to correct some things that should have not happened or should have been resolved earlier than they were, which took cycles away from our ability to work on some finer points. That's been addressed this year.
The prize drawing is going digital!: We've contracted out a developer who is going to make us an application that can handle the prize drawing from here on out. We're still going to sell you paper tickets...but now, when we do, we're going to put your name into the app X times (based on number of tickets), and when we do the drawing, it's going to populate a spreadsheet on the projector *by name* and what you won so that you don't have to go through all your tickets looking to see if you won something. It is our hope that this will cut down on the time it takes to conduct the prize drawing by *at least* 30 minutes. This aspect of the event has long been our Achilles heel just due to the sheer quantity of items we give away, and we're making it a top priority to address it.
Easier access to the meals: One of the big issues we ran into last year was the line to get to the buffet when it came time for dinner. It was pretty painful. We're currently working with the club on a whole series of solutions. One thing we're considering doing is making it a "2-way" serving area, so that people can approach the serving area from either side (which would theoretically cut the lines in half). Rest assured, this is something we're going to tackle.
VIP meal pacing improved (again): Last year, the club was better about the pacing of the VIP meals, which lasted incredibly long in year 1. The pacing was still off, though - partly due to the club needing to understand that the entire event is social, so VIP meals don't need to be turtle paced, but also because not all VIP's were seated at the appropriate time, and they didn't start serving until everybody was accounted for. Not only did this slow things down, but food sat in the kitchen waiting to be served and started getting cold. Dinner for all VIP's will be started at the designated time *sharp* this year. If you aren't seated when food starts coming out, you'll have a few plates waiting for you when you do show up, though they might be a bit on the cold side. We're not going to hold up everybody for stragglers anymore. Pacing is also going to be increased between courses (probably 15 minutes per course).
Reduced "announcements"!: Each of the last 2 years, we've had to seize the mic in each room to push the prize drawing tickets, meal time, etc. multiple times throughout the evening. This was because we didn't have the proper amount of volunteers in order to handle that aspect of the event on a more personal basis. A shortcoming we have addressed this year, as we have an entire army of volunteers this time around. There will be but 3 announcements all night, hopefully - the "welcome to the event" at the beginning, the "you should go eat some delicious food" when the meal is up, and the obligatory "thanks for attending, and you should actually hear something about the charity you're supporting" announcement towards the end of the evening. We've also (hopefully) gotten the tower club to address the inadequacy of the intercom system that made it impossible for people to hear the speakers.
LIGHTING. Let me repeat that, cause I'm probably more excited about this than anything: LIGHTING: The place is a beautiful venue, no question. But the lighting way up there, frankly, sucked for games, at least around the edges of the rooms where it was simply too dim. We've got some super bright temporary lights on order that we're going to strategically place around the ballrooms in order to fix that issue and make it optimal lighting for actually PLAYING games without needing to use your phone as a flashlight at times whilst still maintaining the ability to have it be diffused enough to enjoy the stunning views. As a matter of fact, one of the challenges we've had to address is that our solution might have been *too* bright, and we're gonna have that covered.
New Pop-Up Store (Again!): So in year 1, the feedback we got was the store we brought in had prices that were too high. So we replaced them. Last year, the issue was that we gave the store a list of games that attendees specifically requested be brought in so that they could buy w/ their vouchers, and the store completely ignored that list (we still don't know why) and brought what they wanted to bring. This year, we're going w/ Games & Gizmos from Redmond, Washington, and Evan (the owner) is on point with bringing what YOU want to buy...because he likes making money. This will make the game vouchers more viable and hopefully enticing.
Simplified ticket tiering: So in years past, there's been a pretty confusing array of ticket prices. There were multiple tiers and then multiple prices for each tier depending on whether you wanted game vouchers or not. It was just a hassle to try and explain, and it was confusing to understand. We've tightened things up this year. We're still doing tiered ticket pricing (because people who buy in early should get something for buying in early and not waiting till the last minute to tell us they're coming), but now ALL tickets come with 2 game vouchers. The game vouchers work as follows: You go to the pop-up store. You find a game you like. You give Evan the voucher. He takes $10 off the cost of the sale. The game has to cost $30 for the voucher to work, but that still makes for a great voucher.
More organized demo tables: This goes back into years past having limited volunteers. This year we've brought in a really cracker-jack team of professional game demoers to run a whole section of game demo tables for people. Can't find a group for a game because the game you just left broke up out of sync with the rest of the room? No problem! Head over, pick one of the many demo tables there, and someone will scratch together more people to get a game going, explain it, and walk you through playing it.
Ticket prices: Yup, they're higher. The fact is, food prices are up 25% from just a year ago - we've all seen it at the grocery store, and the restaurant is no different. Year 1, we sold them at a loss. Last year, we sold them at cost (both of which are silly for a charity event). That's just not a good model. Prices have been feathered up to account for our increased costs, as well as to make it so the donation to Food Lifeline isn't 100% dependent upon the prize drawing table. Really, though....at tier 2, we're charging you about $15 more than it costs to bring you up there. It's not a lot. And you can write it off at the end of the year.
-You are in an elevator
-Your choices are [up] > up
-You exit to the up
-You stand before a series of ballrooms.
-"BEHOLD!". You turn around, and see a talking menu. You would normally think this bizarre, but your gamemaster tells you to shut up before you can ask if you can roll to cast a fireball at it.
-The menu opens, presenting 2 options. They are:
[GENERAL ADMISSION DINNER - BUFFET]
Valencian & Extremaduran Spanish/Portugese themed:
-Assorted Cheese Selection Featuring Membrillo and Manchego
-Prosciutto and Roasted Corn Fritter, Smoked Tomato Coulis
-Paella Con-Carne: Braised Beef, Pork Shoulder, Linguica, Chorizo
-Chicken Marbella, Twisted Edition: Thighs w/ Prunes and Olives, Marinated in Port, Oregano, Capers, Vinegar
-Willie Farm Greens, Crispy Onions, Pimenton Vinaigrette
-Marcona Almond and Brown Butter Tarts
[VIP DINNER - 3 COURSE PLATED]
Featuring Locally Sourced Northwest Seasonal Ingredients and Style:
Starter Choices:
-Summer Hermiston Melon Salad: Heirloom Tomato, Arugula Pesto, Local Cheese, Blackberry Honey Vinaigrette
-Crudo of Geoduck, Raw Tuna, Salmon and Prawn: Yuzu Emulsion, Shiso, Hawaiian Sea Salt, Chili Celery-Ginger Shave Ice
-Apricot Beer Braised Snake River Farms Pork Belly: Grilled Scallop, Friseé, Pork Butter, Club Preserved Lemon
-Chilled Tranche of Hot Smoked Salmon: Corn and Croquettes, Peach Salad, Aged Balsamic, Mint
Entrées:
-Dijon and Bourbon Basted Tenderloin of Niman Ranch Beef: Whipped Washington Potatoes, Balsamic Cippolini Onions, Black Garlic Glazed Baby Carrots, Black Currant Jus
-Apple Wood Smoke Roasted Salmon: Robuchon Potato, Chorizo-Fennel "Hash", Dungeness Crab and Fennel Salad
-Wild Mushroom Stuffed Squash Blossoms: Blue Bird Farms Freekah, Candied Cherry Tomatoes, Summer Corn Puree
-Grilled Fennel Spiced Niman Ranch Lamb Chops: Cornmeal Polenta, Roasted Blackberry Vinaigrette
Desserts:
-Warm Peach and Blackberry Buckle - Oatmeal Streusel, Side of Boysenberry Cream
-Bittersweet Chocolate Satin - Roasted Black Plums, Guinness Drizzle, Candied Rice Crispies
-Peach and Lychee Financier - A Brown Butter and Almond Cake, Yuzu Foam, Black Sesame Gel, Petite Shiso
Which will you choose?
[VIP, GENERAL ADMISSION, DIE OF SHAME]
There is the FAQ: http://www.nerdnightout.net/faqs/
I went there last year in black pants and a T-Shirt and that went over well
As posted not by me but a runner of Nerd Night Out:
It's time to start talking about some of our supporters who are providing games to give away at the event, demo hosting, and just in general being awesome.
GMT Games is supplying a box of games for the prize table, and we will be running demos of some of their offerings all evening
Japanime Games is bringing their giant sized Krosmaster Arena board to demo on, and is also providing a giant Krosmaster package consisting of the game, a bunch of expansions, and a pile of promo characters for the prize table
AEG has provided a stack of games to give away
Privateer Press also provided a stack of games...including one that's not released yet, so you can be the first to own a copy of it
Stonemaier Games has provided a prize package
Slugfest is once again a large donor to the event, and Red Dragon Inn demos will be run throughout the evening
Cards Against Humanity will once again have a couple of creators at the party, and are contributing a number of items, including many that are not yet for sale - so for a second year in a row, you can be the first to own the new product
TMG has once again donated a care package of games to give away
USAOpoly is sending a couple *cases* of games to give away, including their new Telestrations After Dark (because Telestrations turns dirty, anyways - might as well just own it )
Sand Hat Games is providing copies of its new title
Eagle-Gryphon will be running demos of 'Clockwork Wars' all evening, and have a pile of games they're giving away
Crash Games will be on-hand running demos, and have donated a bunch of prizes to give away
....there are a lot more board game companies that are going to be added to this list as time progresses, a lot of talks had to stall out so they could ship out for GenCon. So check back in on this as time progresses.
Gift certificates:
- Tom Douglas (2-time James Beard award winner, including "best restauranteur in the world" in 2012) has donated an autographed book, gift card to his restaurants, and a mystery I'm told is quite cool.
- Thierry Rautureau (James Beard award winner and recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre Du Mérite Agricole) has donated gift cards to his restaurants, Luc and Loulay
- Jason Wilson (James Beard award winner) is donating gift cards to his restaurants, Crush and The Miller's Guild
- John Howie (owner of John Howie Steak, Seastar, Wildwood Spirits, and Beardslee Public House) is once again our primary local sponsor, and as always will be giving away a whole heap of prizes, including one truly unique one that will be auctioned off, as its value is too high to simply give away in a drawing.
- Calozzi's
The above group will, too, grow as we get closer to the event. I've not had as much time as I'd like to coordinate these gifts.
Other donors/sponsors include the Seattle Seahawks, the Columbia Tower Club (the private club where the event is hosted), Starbuck's and, tentatively, Geek Chic.
If you've been to one of these pre-PAX events before, you know we always positively load down the table with prizes in general....I'm hoping to make the thing buckle this year.
Hotel Booked: check!
Sitter for the kids: check!
Excitement level rising: check, check and triple check!
So one of the pieces of feedback we've heard from prior events is that our out of town visitors appreciate the restaurant gift certificates because it helps them figure out where to eat, but they don't necessarily know where to go to "do" stuff once the expo hall closes. So this year, I sought out to locate a few places I like to see if they want to get on the train - and it's starting to bear fruit.
-First, Teatro Zinzanni is donating a gift certificate good for 2 admissions to their dinnertainment (my made up word of the day) events. Think of this place as Cirque Du Soleil meets fine dining. It's worth about $350, and is a really, *really* good time.
-Next, Dimitrou's Jazz Alley is sending along a package we'll be giving away, as well. I don't know for certain the entirety of what is being sent, but I do know it includes 2 tickets to get into the club. If you're into jazz, this is pretty much the best spot in Seattle for it.
I've got a number of other feelers out there, and will update as the affirmatives come in.
More restaurant goodness:
-Ten Mercer, which specializes in fine Americana and is across the street from the Space Needle/Key Arena, has donated gift cards
-Tom Douglas has come in over the top with a large gift basket that will include a whole slew of things (I haven't seen it yet, so I can't parse it, but I'm told it's quite nice).
Video game sponsors:
-Our friends at Gearbox are sending a fairly substantial amount of goodies (let's just say our VIP ticket holders are going to be very pleased at what's in their swag bags), including a couple of one-of-a-kind type items that we're still not entirely sure how we're going to give away due to their uniqueness. I want to keep the specifics of this mostly under wraps, but their position as the "kings of PAX" is pretty secure as far as I'm concerned...
-Another large video game publisher in the Seattle area (who wishes to remain nameless for the time being) has donated a stack of games we'll be giving away.
More board games:
-Brotherwise is sending along a package of Boss Monsters
-Paizo Publishing is sending a substantial amount of Pathfinder stuff, and will be hosting demos through the evening
-Ad Magic is bringing up a whole array of products to give away
More will undoubtedly follow...
-Fantasy Flight Games is officially on board as a sponsor. I have a pretty good idea of what the ask was for, and it's an awful lot of something really sought after, but I don't want to say anything until the box shows up. Pictures upon arrival of the pallet.
-Greater Than Games has provided copies of their game 'Compounded'
Also, for our VIP ticket holders, it's looking like Geek Chic will be providing their awesome tables for you to play on over the course of the evening in the private rooms. They're also going to be providing an array of their weaponry for the prize table, and there might be a special auction item from them (have to confirm).
On that same note: There is presently only *1* VIP ticket left. We MIGHT be getting a few more spaces open, but it's based upon forces beyond our control. We're also down to about 30 general admission tickets left - and there is no possibility of more of those. We'll likely even lower the total at some point depending on some special guest confirmations and the resultant need for added security. This *will* sell out for the 3rd time running.
-Lunchbox Laboratory (restaurant gift cards)
-M Bakery (gift cards)
-Tango (gift cards)
-MOD Pizza (gift cards)
-The Columbia Tower Club is again providing a couple of gift certificates for 2 non-members of the club to come up and enjoy dinner for free, some tickets to their annual autumn gala, and tickets to their New Years Eve party atop the city.
-iello has donated a stack of games that we will be giving away. Haven't done a complete inventory yet, but I saw some King of New York/Tokyo stuff in there.
Today we also confirmed that Geek Chic will be providing tables to play on.
Once again this year, Ken Cassady is bringing up his giant chariot racer, Circus Maximus (image below). This year, we're putting it in one of the main ballrooms, since apparently last year a lot of people thought it was VIP-only given that it was in one of the back rooms.
Something new that we're really excited about is the love child of Bruce Smith. He has created THIS:
Recognize it? For those who don't, it's *#@#ing HE-MAN! He's built an entire game around the cartoon and hand-made a full on Castle Greyskull setup by which to run scenarios. He's even got a bunch of the original metal mini's from the 80's which he has hand-painted for play. The craftsmanship on this thing can't even remotely be conveyed in pictures. We played this game at Dragonflight, and the best part is it's FUN. It's got all the cool things about this style of game without any of the pedantic rules lawyering or micro-measuring. He's a big fan of Food Lifeline, and has generously volunteered to come up from Olympia to run scenarios of this all evening as kind of a premium activity.
HE-MAN!
Yes, once again, we will have them available and will also be giving many away. Hopefully, this year we'll have enough volunteers so the host that handles that actually has time to be efficient in helping people out who need them instead of doing 90 things at once.
How many? Well, we're not going to go posting a picture this year, but let's just say the group was once again very successful in acquisitions. The number of sets available is in the double digits, let's just leave it at that.
VIP TICKET UPDATE: Fate kind of smiled on us, and we found space for 10 more people. We have 6 left as of this writing. And that's going to be it - no amount of layout adjustment or donor negotiation for swag bags is going to get us over that number.
This makes me feel icky.
You might be misunderstanding, but I could be wrong.
The passes are given away by drawings that people donate to get a certain amount of tickets. No money gathered from the drawing nor the tickets themselves will go anywhere but to Food Lifeline as I am to believe. As quoted from their Eventbrite page "Every cent - that's EVERY. RED. CENT. - that we raise on this evening (beyond the costs of producing the event) will be donated to Food Lifeline."
People have a chance to get into PAX where they might not have previously while helping feed those in need... It's a win-win.
I think you might be a little confused on format. The ticket price largely covers the cost associated with a guest even being up at the party - that is NOT the donation. We don't discuss the financials, but hosting a party in the fanciest spot in the entire city isn't a cheap proposition, especially since we're feeding everybody a pretty sophisticated meal. The *vast* majority of the monies raised for Food Lifeline each year is through at-event donations, the auction items, and the prize drawing table and drawing tickets sold at the event. The badges we give away via the prize drawing and as rewards for people making donations to Food Lifeline are a separate arm to the ticket to the event, and just one of many, *many* things we give away on the evening. You'll note that it's one of the last things we even brought up. We gloss over the badges because the badges aren't there to "promote" the event, they're just a fundraising vessel. It's just one of a lot of services we offer on the evening as an alternative to lining the pockets of a scalper on the street. Anybody who buys into the event for the sole purpose of getting PAX badges has bought in for the entirely wrong reasons.
I guess I would feel better if it wasn't there at all, and there wasn't a limited number of badges, and that Saturday wasn't the most popular day.
All I can say is we're sorry you feel that way, but the majority of people like having the option to get them up there in a win/win scenario. A lot - and I mean A LOT - of people volunteer an enormous amount of time and energy into this event each year, and not a one of them makes a penny. The guy at the top of the tree basically personally eats a few thousand dollars in expenses each year to provide things like that to people. This year was just unusual in that more Saturdays were donated to the pool than any other day (by a longshot).
-Calliope Games, who has donated an array of games from their catalogue
-Legion Supplies, which has donated copies of their game 'Foretold'
-World Spice Merchants, which has donated things for the VIP swag bags and also a gift box of their offerings and their recent book
-Smirk & Dagger Games. Not sure what they're sending as-yet, but something is incoming
The head of the event committee says that if you have any further concerns, you can reach out to him directly (email links are on the website) rather than trying to air perceived sleights publicly. Just be aware he's a pretty blunt guy, and you're not likely going to particularly like what he has to say or how he says it.
If anyone wishes to upgrade to a VIP ticket, now is the time to ask! VIP Swag Bags are shaping up quite nicely this year, and VIPs will have access to play on the Geek Chic tables! Gearbox Software is tentatively giving VIPs a little something this year too!
Advertising in a fan forum of an event, to many people who could not get those tickets, is, as @curse put it, icky. Then telling fans posting in those same forums to stop 'trying to air perceived sleights publicly' and instead speak directly to someone who you've already made clear is not actually concerned with what they have to say is also 'icky.'
Please have a great event and do raise a great deal for a solid charity. Please do not take an exception being made for posting *your* event as an opportunity to run roughshod over a community built for PAX.
I really want to avoid arguing here, but they are not selling badges at the event. They have badges available for auction/raffle. Just like tons of other companies that acquired extra badges for various reasons. In fact, on this very "community" forum, another group raffled off extra badges. Heard of the Cookie Brigade?
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/198696/they-see-me-rollin-they-droolin-they-tryin-to-catch-me-shillin-cookies-cookie-brigade#latest
http://www.cookiebrigade.org/forum/index.php?topic=831.0
No one seemed to get up in arms about that very similar situation...
Well, I'm no expert, but were I a betting person, I'd say it looked a whole lot like this.
(And there's still quite a bit more incoming the night of the event).