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PAX Prime Memories?
OysterPrime
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
As many of us are preparing to descend on Seattle in roughly three months, I thought it would be fun to pose the question: what makes PAX Prime(or PAX in general, I suppose) special to you?
For me, PAX now occupies a big space in my heart because of how much fun I had at the first PAX I went to, which was Prime 2012. Not only was it my first PAX, but also the first big trip I took as an adult. I had been going to BlizzCon regularly up to this point, but Blizzard decided not to hold BlizzCon in 2012. Because of this, my friends and I started to look for other gaming-related conventions to attend. I'd always heard that PAX was a really awesome event, so it was the first alternative I looked into. After researching PAX Prime, reading about other people's experiences, and seeing if it was financially feasible, I convinced my brother and a good friend of mine to go with me.
After the frenzied badge sales last week, it is funny to look back on the fact that Prime 2012 badges went on sale while I was helping fix a friend's computer, and I decided to wait and buy them when I got home. I got really panicked when I saw that the 3-day badges sold out, but all of the single day badges were available, so I bought 2 of each for me and my brother(my friend already bought his 3-day badge). I was able to get us a room at the Sheraton and a good deal on plane tickets, so my group was set. At that point, the anticipation began to really grow.
The experience I had at PAX Prime that year ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. The trip to Seattle alone made it worth it, since I hadn't traveled out of southern California since I was a little kid. I got a real kick out of riding the light rail around all weekend, because we don't really have anything like that in So Cal. It was awesome to get away for 5 days and not worry about anything but having fun and playing games with a bunch of cool people. We had a great time just hanging out with others like us, and learning about all kinds of new games(like Cards Against Humanity!). The sense of community that PAX brings is something that I have yet to see replicated anywhere else. I am still blown away with all of the activities the community comes up with to commemorate these events. Hanging out, going to all kinds of panels, and checking out all of the parties(like the Dishonored one) was simply amazing. Of course, playing a bunch of unreleased games was pretty rad too. We went to a Mariners game while we were up there, and got to eat all kinds of great seafood. I also had the best donuts I'd ever eaten at Top Pot.
Needless to say, I was really bummed out when it was time to jump on the light rail and head to the airport. I went home, and when my friends and family asked how the trip was, I couldn't stop gushing about it. I decided from that point on that I would go to PAX Prime every year. Roughly a month later, without any planning for it, we bought badges for PAX East 2013, and also had an awesome time there. I would go on to skip Prime 2013 because there was a BlizzCon last year, but it was totally underwhelming compared to PAX, so I decided that would be my last one. And here I am now, with badges secured, waiting to return to Seattle for Prime 2014.
That is my story, and I would love to read what you guys have to say. The community is what makes PAX so special to me, after all.
For me, PAX now occupies a big space in my heart because of how much fun I had at the first PAX I went to, which was Prime 2012. Not only was it my first PAX, but also the first big trip I took as an adult. I had been going to BlizzCon regularly up to this point, but Blizzard decided not to hold BlizzCon in 2012. Because of this, my friends and I started to look for other gaming-related conventions to attend. I'd always heard that PAX was a really awesome event, so it was the first alternative I looked into. After researching PAX Prime, reading about other people's experiences, and seeing if it was financially feasible, I convinced my brother and a good friend of mine to go with me.
After the frenzied badge sales last week, it is funny to look back on the fact that Prime 2012 badges went on sale while I was helping fix a friend's computer, and I decided to wait and buy them when I got home. I got really panicked when I saw that the 3-day badges sold out, but all of the single day badges were available, so I bought 2 of each for me and my brother(my friend already bought his 3-day badge). I was able to get us a room at the Sheraton and a good deal on plane tickets, so my group was set. At that point, the anticipation began to really grow.
The experience I had at PAX Prime that year ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. The trip to Seattle alone made it worth it, since I hadn't traveled out of southern California since I was a little kid. I got a real kick out of riding the light rail around all weekend, because we don't really have anything like that in So Cal. It was awesome to get away for 5 days and not worry about anything but having fun and playing games with a bunch of cool people. We had a great time just hanging out with others like us, and learning about all kinds of new games(like Cards Against Humanity!). The sense of community that PAX brings is something that I have yet to see replicated anywhere else. I am still blown away with all of the activities the community comes up with to commemorate these events. Hanging out, going to all kinds of panels, and checking out all of the parties(like the Dishonored one) was simply amazing. Of course, playing a bunch of unreleased games was pretty rad too. We went to a Mariners game while we were up there, and got to eat all kinds of great seafood. I also had the best donuts I'd ever eaten at Top Pot.
Needless to say, I was really bummed out when it was time to jump on the light rail and head to the airport. I went home, and when my friends and family asked how the trip was, I couldn't stop gushing about it. I decided from that point on that I would go to PAX Prime every year. Roughly a month later, without any planning for it, we bought badges for PAX East 2013, and also had an awesome time there. I would go on to skip Prime 2013 because there was a BlizzCon last year, but it was totally underwhelming compared to PAX, so I decided that would be my last one. And here I am now, with badges secured, waiting to return to Seattle for Prime 2014.
That is my story, and I would love to read what you guys have to say. The community is what makes PAX so special to me, after all.
PAX Prime: 2012, 2014
PAX East: 2013
PAX East 2016:
[ X ] Badge [ X ] Hotel [ X ] Plane Ticket
PAX East: 2013
PAX East 2016:
[ X ] Badge [ X ] Hotel [ X ] Plane Ticket
OysterPrime on
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Also the pallet of bawls I put in my tiny apartments' hallway after PAX 2007, and all the "Dick's and Bawls" parties we had at a friends apartment after that.
Took 3 trips in my camaro. Fit 20 cases per trip.
When the website updated, I told my friend tickets would be on sale soon. He is not very responsive, so I didn't hear back. The next day, tickets went up. I went to buy, but he hadn't firmly committed, so I was hesitant, and tried calling him. It took four calls for him to pick up, and he says this is because he had been sleeping, but finally I got the go ahead. 4-day passes were available when I reached the website, but they were of course gone by then. He recruited a friend of his who would not manage to buy a Sat pass (but would get it day of). I struggled to get a hotel (Red Lion), and then spent the next 4 months excited beyond belief. By the time it came, I felt disappointment was inevitable given how much I had hyped it up.
On the light rail from the airport early Friday morning, the two with me played 3DS, and someone noticed our luggage and said "looks like it is time for PAX, have a blast" or something along those lines. Then the two block walk to the convention centre was really when it started to hit me with all the great cosplayers I saw and just how many people had passes hanging from their necks. It all ended up exceeding my expectations, and I feel like I have been waiting to go back ever since. I was happy to hear my friend was eager to return, although he ended up not being able to go. I couldn't resist this though, so I stalked the forums once East finished and got my tickets and the same hotel. This year I will be coming in Thursday and trying to get more social with those around me since I will be solo, and also plan to ask lots more cosplayers for photos, as I often wanted to but only dared to twice. I also will find time to check out the Omegathon, though I wish I had been asked to compete. I regret not opting in last year
It was just such an amazing trip when I could not find one that interested me much at all. The community is unbelievable and it is so much fun!
Great thread btw, can't wait to read lots more stories
PAX East 2016 [x]
PAX West 2016 [x]
PAX West 2017 [Awaiting badges]
I didn't really know what to expect for PAX. I had friends from Twitter who were going, so I made plans to share a room and meet up with a lot of them. A group of friends and I arrived in Seattle the Wednesday before PAX, to explore the town. I'd been born in Seattle and used to have relatives in the city, but hadn't been back in a good 5 or so years, so I had fun revisiting places as well as showing friends places since they'd never been before. Wednesday night, a friend texted us inviting us to go to a pre-PAX party. It was a relatively private party, but she was friends with the person hosting it and was told that she could invite us all. I was excited to go, but not as excited as I would have been if I'd known how amazing the party would be. When I arrived, I immediately recognized some faces for being amazing people from the video game industry. There were several popular faces from the company BioWare (which, if you couldn't tell by my username, I'm a huge fan of theirs) as well as a few people from Nerdist, IGN, and music composers for games. I just stood there in shock when one of the music composers for Mass Effect came up to me and greeted me, asking for my name and trying to strike up a conversation. When he found out my twitter handle was “embraceternity”, he called over Ali Hillis, who voices Liara in Mass Effect (again, in case you couldn't tell by my username, I'm a huge fan of the character) and I got to have an actual conversation with her. It was such a chill party, and inside my fangirl alarms were blaring at full blast.
The events that followed at PAX were just as amazing. I got to cosplay for the first time, and the excitement of walking around as one of your favorite characters is phenomenal. Same with playing video games before they're released, and getting to be there for some major video game events is a mindblowing experience. Another thing that made me fangirl at that PAX, was on Sunday. Some friends and I bumped into the same music composer from the party, and ended up hanging out with him for the entire day. He had one of his a friends with him at one point, whom I later found out makes the music for Minecraft. Super surreal experience, and something that I'm honestly going to cherish for the rest of my life. It was a fantastic experience (as all experiences since have been for PAX, except for one time during PAX East 2013 where I spent the entire first day food poisoned from a bad burger I ate the night before), and I'm so excited to see what this year has in store! I also can't wait to read everyone else's memories from these cons, they're so much fun to read.
I smile whenever I see those words. My first PAX Prime was 2011 and my trip was hastily thrown together at the last minute. Got super lucky and scored second hand badges from forums (when that was still a thing). Work was very stressful and blah to me at the time and couldn't even get time off so I flew in Friday night and left Sunday morning. I was kinda nervous headed up to a huge event in a new city alone, but I felt like I needed to get away from everything for a while. Man that was the right choice. I have never felt so welcomed and instantly part of such a great community before. It was a like huge celebration of gaming with tons of friends you don't know yet, waiting for you there. I had a blast doing new stuff, meeting new people, learning new games, all that stuff and more. PAX went from "hey that sounds cool, I'd like to check that out some time" to "I NEED TO GO BACK EVERY YEAR." It felt like home.
I've met tons of people in and out of the industry (Morgan Webb, Tim Schaffer, Ali Hillis, Sam Hulick, Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Coulton, etc etc). I've found new music to listen to (Paul And Storm, VGO, Doubleclicks, Metroid Metal) I've played, watched, and learned tons of new games (CAH ftw, Oculus Rift, The Last Of Us, Mass Effect 3, Watch Dogs, everything Indie Megabooth). I was part of a very small group of people that did a Mass Effect focus group at the Bioware Base last year that truly made me feel like an N7 Elite. But the most fun I have is when it involves the community: Picking up my Challenge Coin or Forumer Badge. Post PAX Party. Chatting with people in line. Cheering people on at the Rock Band freeplay stage while drinking smoothies. Holding my breath while watching Omeganauts compete (or die laughing while watching them, I'm looking at you, Omeganaut who was shaking his ass to Baby Got Back in 2011.) Playing games with absolute strangers and not feeling awkward at all. The community is really like none other and is what makes PAX so much more special than other conventions/expos/events. Can't wait to see everyone there in 85 or so days. Welcome home.
A few of my favorite moments: Hard drive shuffleboard in BYOC. Playing Steel Battalion for the first time. Midnight paper airplane contests in BYOC. Working a vendor booth and passing out shirts, getting to chat with people excited about our games. Winning an i7 CPU in a random BYOC drawing, and coming back the next year with a new PC built around that CPU.
Contributing writer at Marooner's Rock
Twitch broadcasting! Currently playing through Wing Commander: Privateer
Pinny Lanyard
Typing this made me realize that what I have been telling people about the next part is slightly inaccurate for it was the next year, 2011, when I was called to be an Omeganaut. I guess I think of it as my first PAX because I actually bought the tickets and I was looking forward to going. When I received the call I agreed, having a very vague idea of what an Omeganaut was. So, that year was wrapped up in training for the Omegathon which was basically being ridiculed by my kid because he laughed at how bad I was at Mario Kart 64. (Hey, I used to be great!) Special thanks that year to my partner in the first round who totally got me through that one. I feel like my social anxiety was super high that year and after I got out with the Xbox round I was not as serious about things. The thing that made my PAX that year was the ability to sit in the front row along with my fellow Omeganauts and watch the Acquisitions, Inc. panel!
2012 Prime was pretty fun for me. I took my daughter with us for the first time and she was pretty young for it so she burnt out far more quickly then my son or I. On Saturday my then-boyfriend took my son so I stayed home. That said, that was the year I met LexiconGrrl and we planned Schlitzkrieg (she moreso than I). I was so happy to have gotten out of my shell that year. Schlitzkrieg pretty much made it for me that year. I also got to meet LewieP'sMummy (and Daddy!) and taste delicious scotchy scotch scotch with a bunch of PAXers.
2013 was the first Prime where I went for all the days with both kids. We had so much fun playing all the games, painting a mini, and finding board games to try. It was leisurely, nothing crazy, and I picked up Street Passes like crazy on my 3DS. My girl tried game demos and even talked to the people manning the booths. She got brave and asked cosplayers for photos. My son was old enough to hang around with his friends without me or his sister holding him back.
PAX is very much family centered for me. My kids love it and I love it. We always find new games to play (hello, Runner2!) and fun things to do.
Thanks for starting this thread! It was fun to reminisce!
I remember my bodybuilding friend being asked by the host of a MTG tournament if he was sure he was in the right building.
I remember a Prey 2 tee shirt give away where the commentator was insinuating that gamers were overweight and right after that he tossed a shirt in the crowd a guy who failed to catch the shirt was beaned in the face, to which the commentator said "sorry your bf has no athletic abilities, heres a shirt" to the gf.
I remember staying at a hostel for the first time and getting over my fear of public toilets.
I remember the free food(it's a grad student thing) at an XCOM preview.
One friends wardrobe consisting only of shirts he got the previous day.
I remember the torturous 14 hour drive with 5 people crammed in a prius and having to stop by the side of the woods every 10 minutes to pee after a bazillion gallons of coffee and said bodybuilder sleeping on the pavement of an Oregon rest stop because it was more forgiving than the car.
I remember driving through northern California when a car drove past us, and after recognizing my DNF sticker we flashed our pax badges to eachother. Then they hotboxed it as they sped away.
The impromptu stop at Voodoo donuts at 3am and my current gf setting off my car alarm.
But most of all I remember 3 excellent days of playing the newest video games with friends who I only see maybe once or twice a year now, I go to SDCC regularly with a few new people but PAX was my first and I will never forget what a rush it was.
I'm in grad school right now, and we've all dispersed but even though I'm flying solo for this it's the pilgrimage I've needed for a loooong time. SDCC is great, but sometimes you need to get back to your roots.
Yah feel me?
I remember meeting a couple dudes next to me who were bored and we started a game of magic with the intro packs we got while in line, was quite fun. After the queue line was done, just walking into the expo hall to see a big Sonic display, some Jurassic Park, Harmonix's awesome booth with a Han solo statue, enjoying the tournaments for MTG and just taking it all in. It was quite exciting.
My next favorite memory was from PAX 2011. Being by the queue line when they all let the media in first (I had another media badge) and everyone boo'ing at us as we were granted access an hour early on one of the days. I ran right from the queue to the Portal 2 booth (one of the busier booths), and then ran to the Skyrim booth and conducted a couple interviews on a few developers of the gameand got some game time in before they let everyone in. Seeing the expo hall that empty was very weird when there are only about 300 people walking around.
One thing I have NEVER done at PAX (Mainly cause now I am busy attending booths for write-ups and such), is attend the panels which is something I plan on doing a lot more this time around.
Attending: PAX Prime 2016
Twitter @Pogoplay
"Fantasy football still counts as fantasy." -DnD Greg
It was really cool last year waiting in line for the wizards panel talking with a couple of guys about the game and having them explain how some cards worked (we just got back into it on the tues / weds since we went to the emp museum and got that 40 card pre built deck).
Hoping to have even more fun this year (if possible)
Oh my Dayum
Oh my goodness
They goin' Ham
I think my favorite part though, was spending so much of my time in the Bioware Base. After one of their smaller DAI panels, I got to actually go outside and hang out with one of the lead DAI writers, and we chatted for almost an hour and a half about how to get involved with writing in video games, the ending of ME 3, and what he was allowed to tell me of DAI. I just thought it was amazing that I actually got to spend so long with someone whose work I've enjoyed for so long.
This year, I don't have many plans. I'm going to see as much stuff for DAI as I can, and the rest is just going to be me wandering the convention and doing stuff that looks like fun. Last year I ended up playing a random game of D&D and had a blast, and I wouldn't have done that if my friend dragged me along with him. I love PAX, and I hope to keep going for many years to come.
(First timer
PAX Prime 2014 [X]
PAX Prime 2015 [X]
Edit: oh yeah, I also won the You Don't Know Jack! console tournament last year. That was neat.
Last year was a pretty great year for me though. I had a lot of friend who weren't able to get passes because of how quickly they sold out. While my boyfriend and I were waiting in line for the opening panel at the paramount, there was a group of people in front of us who randomly asked us if we were from Seattle and if it was our first PAX. Long story short, they told us they had a friend who wasn't going to be able to make it to PAX on Friday and they wanted to give his pass away, but didn't want it to go directly into the hands of scalpers. So they ended up giving us the Friday pass and I was able to give it to one of my friends to use during the day to get into the Exhibitor's hall and everything. Then once he left, another friend of mine borrowed it after so he could get into the PC Freeplay that night. I was really hoping I'd run into that group again so I could thank them and let them know that the pass was used well and two of my friends were extremely grateful they still got to experience PAX
The CAH panel last year was freaking amazing too. Waiting in line for hours was totally worth it.
Making it to the semifinals in the Tetris Attack Tournament while not having slept for 3 days. That was pretty awesome.
Badgering the people in the Pokemon area until I got all the merch they had hidden away and walked away with a T-shirt, backpack, and tons of pins.
Watching my best friend do the same thing in the League of Legends area until she got everything the guy had, while I stood there in awe.
My one good memory from PAX 2012 was when Earl Alexander (Voice of lewis in Left 4 Dead) came by BYOC and I gave him the mic and he started quoting lewis on the PA.
Pills here!
I fell in love with Seattle before my plane landed
Meeting really AWESOME room-share people, who became the reason I went to East '14
Feeling the unity/community of gaaaaaaaming!
Re-realizing the inspiration and feeling that the game industry is somewhere I need to be
Gosh, now I just want to hug everyone. I second the fuzzy n warm feelings!
Last year...best memory was a friend and I both won Xbox One's from the Mountain Dew 'Every 10 Minutes' auction. Still need to get pictures from Mountain Dew...
Last few years before are kinda muddy, but I had fun with friends here or there.
PAX 2004. Driving up from San Francisco with @Storm Shadow (PA friend and awesome sound-guy) and my girlfriend at the time. Driving up with the TinyGod in the car next to us the whole time. Staying at my brother's place and playing the Halo 2 beta on his devkit, as he worked for MS at the time. Watching Red Machine D assault a DDR Machine. Meeting a young @doublehawk00 who would try to grab the front spot every year he could so we could all be up at the front together. Watching an animated PA short that never came to be, but somehow is on my Youtube account...footage by @Moriveth.
The first omegathon where they revealed the first hidden game. And we all watched a riveting game of PONG. It was pretty sweet.
PAX 2005. Living in Kirkland with my GF, having PA Gatherings in the area. Bringing PA Character plushies to the guys. Hanging out with Khoo at Jordyn's house with a bunch of nerdy people. Not much I remember from the actual event right now, but yeah. I do remember a giant get-together at SDCC 2005, though. Beach party with Bogey and Futility and others. At PAX, I remember now I did get spat on by mc Chris during his set. Water streamed, I guess you'd say. It was fun. Wish he'd be back.
PAX 2006. I had went to E3 2006 and hung out with @Polago a ton. Others as well, but bad memory. Went to a Microsoft E3 Press Party because of their community manager being on these forums. Hung out with @Porkfry and the Frag Dolls during the whole party. Tons of fun. PAX itself...I remember befriending "LeRoy" Garroutte" and wishing him luck the night before his Omegathon win. Right, @Poorochondriac?
The guy right behind Mr. Ball Thief is me(0:15/:16). Longish hair and white lanyard, I tried to free the ball from his grasp, but I was able to distract long enough for someone to rescue our savior. I remember Mike & Jerry talking about it, hearing the chants outside and loud noises, thinking the crowd was about to riot over not being let in. No, we were all just playing with our BALL.
PAX 2007, the first year at WSCC, I'm fairly certain at least... @Alphamonkey (wait, why doesn't that name pull up...hmm) was on site finally. He let me use his special access pass to get into the Expo Hall before it opened. Which allowed me to play Rock Band for the first time before the lines were long and everyone was there. And while there, getting ready to play on this new guitar, the Minibosses walked up and joined my band. I played ROCK BAND with the MINIBOSSES. God, what a good memory. I know they filmed it, I wish I could find that footage...
The rest of the years kinda started blurring together after I moved out of Kirkland and on my own. But I still have been watching these boards. Lurking in the shadows. PAX 2014 will be amazing.
Edit: I forget which year had the NERF Wars. A hotel in Bellevue allowed us to have a giant hall with furniture and run around shooting everyone with NERF weapons. It was glorious, but a liability. I do remember heading to my hotel and watching a scene where a group confronted Jerry & Mike outside, wanting to NERF War with them. Jerry was unarmed, so the group handed Jerry a pistol and told him to defend himself. They both just turned around and walked back to the hotel, dumbfounded. Jerry dropped the gun off outside and I, being right there, retrieved it. I know it's still around here somewhere...it's a pretty sweet little NERF pistol with a hidden shot button. But no match for a mafia hit-squad of NERF shooters. What a wise move. Again...PAX 2014 will be amazing.
Edit 2: I'm sure its old news, but what happened to Alpha? I made his hats a long, long time ago...I used to be the mad hatter, making Christmas hat avatars for everyone...Oh, PA...
Edit 3: Found Stormy. FB'd him.
Oh, memories...
I see him around seattle every now and then. Hes only like 2" shorter than me so easy to spot.
There's so many good times though. I'm hyped to go back after missing 2013.
I won a free copy of Beatles Rock Band before it was released. It was PAX 2009. Sept 4-6th. BRB was released Sept 9th, 2009.
Harmonix was leaving 'gift packages' around town, three total, and you had to follow their twitter to figure out where they were. They had said they were checking out a movie and had left one in the lobby of a theater nearby. I just met up with my friends at their hotel(Sheraton, I'm sure), noticed HMX updated and I figured they were down at Pacific Place. They were, but it took me a few minutes to run down there, rummage around and find the prize. After looking all through the lobby area, I was about to give up, but we decided to ride the escalator up to look one last time. As I rode up, I saw this weird white shirt looking thing in a planter box. I immediately ran over and grabbed it. It was a Beatles:Rock Band shirt. But, inside, it also had stickers. And...a copy of BEATLES ROCK BAND. I immediately jumped around in joy and ran down to the Rock Band stage(sidestage) at PAX, asking if we could play it now NOW NOW! They mulled it over, called a few people to make sure I hadn't stole it, and then arranged for us to play it in a private theater(wolfman, or the such). What a great experience.
I also ran out of a different panel the next day to RUN down to Top Pot Doughnuts and got the 2nd gift package. Drumsticks and more stickers. On the last day of PAX, I saw a final update with the third pack...but I figured I'd let someone else win a prize.
Went through and sorted a lot of my PAX shirts(important ones...I still have a ton of swag shirts...):
Oh...memories.
Some have been great, some haven't been *as* good as the others, but the one part they have in common is that overall they make at the very least a fun event for a group of paxers over the weekend, even in situations where other people don't get the joke
I wasn't planning on opening up public recruitment for the prank this prime, because we're so crunched for time... but after watching back through this panel again I need to do it. We only get a few recruits each pax that make it a huge part of their pax, but it doesn't feel right to not at least give a short chance for new people to pop in.
This. 100% this.
Games are a big part of my life and I've never really been a part of or around any kind of gaming community. None of the schools I went to ever had more than a handful of people who played video games and most of my friends don't play games so it's difficult to find anyone I can share my enthusiasm about games with. So seeing those signs saying 'welcome home' as I walked up to the convention center for the first time and seeing all the people inside who were just as gung-ho about games as I am was just incredible. I really did feel at home.
The next best thing was the last PAX I went to in 2012 where I got to see the Gearbox panel. I got there early but apparently it wasn't early enough and the line was full. I got turned away so I moped around the hotel floor disappointed that I couldn't get in, but the security ignored me after a few minutes and I just started walking toward the back of the line. I walked half way around the floor to the end of the line which was in some random side room and just walked inside and got into the back of the line. There were two doors and the security was watching the front door but ignored the back door where I walked in. Once I was in line, I looked as normal as everyone else
The third best memory is from the same PAX where I won a Gigabyte motherboard which I was carrying with me in the Gearbox line which helped strike up some conversation. I still use that motherboard today