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START TIME UPDATED PLEASE READ! WestinWorld: Pre-Pax Boardgame Night Showdown Extravaganza
LexiconGrrl
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Pre-Pax Boardgame night at the Westin Waterfront
WHAT: A coordinated meetup the night before PAX for anyone with board games, or anyone who wants to play boardgames. About 500-ish people usually attend.
WHERE: The "Galleria" exhibition hall in the basement of The Boston Westin Waterfront Hotel: 425 Summer Street.
WHEN: Thursday March 9 @ 5:00 PM until 2:00am
HOW: There is no formal game library. Attendees bring whatever games they like and a borrower-lender matchup system is provided.
WHO: Anybody who wants to come. You don't need badge. The Cookie Brigade will be there.
This event is ALL AGES!! It's also FREE! And there are NO SIGNUPS!!! Just show up and have a great time. Feel free to bring your spawn, but remember that PAXers have filthy, filthy mouths and your wee ones may be subject to some exciting new vocabulary.
RULES
THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: The Westin gives us this space for free. They are not obligated to host us and we make every effort to be good guests. We negotiate this every year in exchange for a good bar and restaurant take. It will be a little inconvenient since we'll be pretty far away from the bar and restaurant. Even so, please make every effort to purchase from the Birch Bar for food and drink this evening and encourage your tablemates to do the same.
- Please don't be an egregious douchebag. For example, one year in Seattle, some guy decided it would be a great idea to vape in the ballroom and the hotel manager came and had an unpleasant chat with me about it. This isn't your buddy's garage man cave, please act appropriately. We pride ourselves on being a responsible, self-policing community, so if you see someone acting inappropriately (smoking, vandalizing or just being a dick), it's a good idea to nicely recommend they knock it the fuck off before management does.
- This year, we're going to add political arguments to the "don't be a dick" rule. If discussions at your table get heated, DROP IT. If your argument is emotional enough to get loud or disrupt the game or neighboring tables, you may be asked to leave. This isn't the place: take a break from all that shit for the night. We're all gamers here.
- Be Excellent to each other. We freaks and geeks can be a socially maladroit group, so if someone is shyly lurking by your table, invite them to join. Be patient, be nice. Please don't flip your table.
Food and Drink
DRINKS
- There will be a bar downstairs.
- Drinks can be ordered from the Birch Bar upstairs and taken downstairs.
- NO DRINKS CAN BE TAKEN OUTSIDE OF MJ O'Connor's. Please do not order drinks for takeout from them. (Their restaurant license is separate from the Westin and takeout cocktails are illegal).
- No outside boozes. Just don't.
FOOD
- There will be no table service.
- Food can be ordered from the Birch Bar upstairs. Please make every effort to order from them - I know it's pricey but it's how we pay for this space.
- The Westin has updated their food policy and there will be no outside food allowed this year (sorry, it was a last minute change).
- The Cookie Brigade will have a table for dropoff and donations
HOW IT WORKS
1. The Cookie Brigade will be staffing the info table. Additional volunteer staffers are always needed, so step up if you want to take a shift for an hour or two that evening!
2. If you've got a game and are looking for players, put the box top of the game vertically on your table. This is the universal sign for "I don't care who you are, please join us"
3. If you're looking to join a game, look for vertical box tops.
4. We will have a hosted checkout system at the info table. You can drop off games to loan or borrow games there. If you're dropping off, I recommend doing this:
Weekend Gaming
The Mezzanine will not be open for weekend gaming this year Instead, we have a meeting room that seats about 60 people in the back of the hotel (by the pool) accessible from the mezzanine. It will be open 24 hours all weekend and the tables will remain up through Sunday night/Monday morning. We'll make sure there's signage on the mezzanine that directs people back to the gaming room.
Never Been? Here's what you should know:
WHAT: A coordinated meetup the night before PAX for anyone with board games, or anyone who wants to play boardgames. About 500-ish people usually attend.
WHERE: The "Galleria" exhibition hall in the basement of The Boston Westin Waterfront Hotel: 425 Summer Street.
WHEN: Thursday March 9 @ 5:00 PM until 2:00am
HOW: There is no formal game library. Attendees bring whatever games they like and a borrower-lender matchup system is provided.
WHO: Anybody who wants to come. You don't need badge. The Cookie Brigade will be there.
This event is ALL AGES!! It's also FREE! And there are NO SIGNUPS!!! Just show up and have a great time. Feel free to bring your spawn, but remember that PAXers have filthy, filthy mouths and your wee ones may be subject to some exciting new vocabulary.
RULES
THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: The Westin gives us this space for free. They are not obligated to host us and we make every effort to be good guests. We negotiate this every year in exchange for a good bar and restaurant take. It will be a little inconvenient since we'll be pretty far away from the bar and restaurant. Even so, please make every effort to purchase from the Birch Bar for food and drink this evening and encourage your tablemates to do the same.
- Please don't be an egregious douchebag. For example, one year in Seattle, some guy decided it would be a great idea to vape in the ballroom and the hotel manager came and had an unpleasant chat with me about it. This isn't your buddy's garage man cave, please act appropriately. We pride ourselves on being a responsible, self-policing community, so if you see someone acting inappropriately (smoking, vandalizing or just being a dick), it's a good idea to nicely recommend they knock it the fuck off before management does.
- This year, we're going to add political arguments to the "don't be a dick" rule. If discussions at your table get heated, DROP IT. If your argument is emotional enough to get loud or disrupt the game or neighboring tables, you may be asked to leave. This isn't the place: take a break from all that shit for the night. We're all gamers here.
- Be Excellent to each other. We freaks and geeks can be a socially maladroit group, so if someone is shyly lurking by your table, invite them to join. Be patient, be nice. Please don't flip your table.
Food and Drink
DRINKS
- There will be a bar downstairs.
- Drinks can be ordered from the Birch Bar upstairs and taken downstairs.
- NO DRINKS CAN BE TAKEN OUTSIDE OF MJ O'Connor's. Please do not order drinks for takeout from them. (Their restaurant license is separate from the Westin and takeout cocktails are illegal).
- No outside boozes. Just don't.
FOOD
- There will be no table service.
- Food can be ordered from the Birch Bar upstairs. Please make every effort to order from them - I know it's pricey but it's how we pay for this space.
- The Westin has updated their food policy and there will be no outside food allowed this year (sorry, it was a last minute change).
- The Cookie Brigade will have a table for dropoff and donations
HOW IT WORKS
1. The Cookie Brigade will be staffing the info table. Additional volunteer staffers are always needed, so step up if you want to take a shift for an hour or two that evening!
2. If you've got a game and are looking for players, put the box top of the game vertically on your table. This is the universal sign for "I don't care who you are, please join us"
3. If you're looking to join a game, look for vertical box tops.
4. We will have a hosted checkout system at the info table. You can drop off games to loan or borrow games there. If you're dropping off, I recommend doing this:
Weekend Gaming
The Mezzanine will not be open for weekend gaming this year Instead, we have a meeting room that seats about 60 people in the back of the hotel (by the pool) accessible from the mezzanine. It will be open 24 hours all weekend and the tables will remain up through Sunday night/Monday morning. We'll make sure there's signage on the mezzanine that directs people back to the gaming room.
Never Been? Here's what you should know:
Pre-PAX Game Night at the Westin has been a tradition for 5+ years at East. At its largest in 2014, Four Hundred seats were filled to bursting with boardgames of all sorts, and the event is one of the only all-ages, free-to-attend activities on Thursday night. Renting this space is cost prohibitive, so we've successfully negotiated with the hotels to give us space for free every year (no small feat).
You don't have to pay to get in, it's open to the public, all-ages, and people are really nice. It's a great way to come and kick off PAX with a massive group of friendly, like-minded PAXers and the selection of boardgames is mindblowing. You can bring your own, or find someone to borrow a game from. There is no central game library but lots of people bring private collections to loan out during the event while other folks prefer to set up a single game ahead of time that they bring. It's very free-form and is a completely volunteer, community run event.
You don't have to pay to get in, it's open to the public, all-ages, and people are really nice. It's a great way to come and kick off PAX with a massive group of friendly, like-minded PAXers and the selection of boardgames is mindblowing. You can bring your own, or find someone to borrow a game from. There is no central game library but lots of people bring private collections to loan out during the event while other folks prefer to set up a single game ahead of time that they bring. It's very free-form and is a completely volunteer, community run event.
Happily on Sabbatical. Don't bug me.
LexiconGrrl on
+25
Posts
PAX East Attendee since 2011
Any word on whether the hotel will have us set up in the ballroom-esque space (like last year) or if they will permit us to clog up the lobby and mezzanine like the good old glory days?
I think that will depend on whether the space has been booked or not. Last year other companies had booked out the restaurant and lobby space leaving the basement area as the only option. Personally I really enjoyed it downstairs. I felt we had more space (especially for Joust!)
PAX East Attendee - 2015, 2016
Thank you Lexi!!
For the rest of the questions, more info will be forthcoming as we get it.
2. We don't get much say so in where they put us. I know everybody liked the Ballroom but please remember that this isn't the kind of event where we can request a certain area. We get what they give us.
3.
Har har har.
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Also, the upstairs mezzanine won't be set up with rounds for the weekend - this is the first time that space has been reserved. Instead, Sauciety will be open for gaming all weekend after they're done with breakfast service each day, until 2am each night. We're still working out the specifics but I'm hoping that there will be signage at the skybridge directing people downstairs on Friday/Saturday/Sunday.
Many people have a tradition of coming over to game after the dinner so you'd be in good company. We tend to see waves of folks come in after other events, since this one goes pretty late. A bunch of folks come over after dinner, and then a bunch more as they hit their limit on the bar crawl.
Sounds like a great list.
I'm dying to play DoW, never have. I'm hoping I'll get a chance!
Yeah, definitely reach out to me when we get closer to PAX so we can find each other. I'm down for a game. The Long Night expansion is really cool too.
Will do, thanks!
I'm totally down to play. I love that game. I just played one of the endings from the expansion a couple months ago and it was crazy. Awesome game. Rules approach is similar to D&D, if you can't find it quickly then do what makes sense and look up the rule after the game is done and let everyone know.
PAX East Attendee - 2015, 2016
Yeah - I'll send you a PM. Thanks!
Also, anyone planning on playing MTG @ Westin?
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