The title is self explanatory. I'm creating a PAX East Megathread for all of your PAX East needs. And here... we... go. Much of the information is straight from the PAX East website along with lots of other crap. There's a forum there too but who gives a shit. (Hamz told me I could make this, if it's in the wrong forums then one o' de mods can move it I guess.)
What?
" PAX East is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we've got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers. Even with all this amazing content the best part of PAX East is hanging out with other people who know their shit when it comes to games." ~Main Website
When?
Friday, March 26th to Sunday, March 28th, 2010. The official detailed schedule is TBA. The exhibitor hall, freeplay areas, and tournaments are open all three days of PAX East. Concerts are Friday and Saturday nights.
Where?
PAX East will be taking place at the Hynes Convention Center, at 900 Boylston Street, Boston, MA, 02115.
Travel
Obviously, there are many different modes of transport one may use to reach Boston. If you are not interested in driving but apprehensive about flying, then two great alternative options for you would be the Amtrak lines or a Greyhound bus. Links to each of their websites (where bookings, costs and estimated travel times are all available) are uh... in their names.
Where to Arrive
If you're traveling by Amtrak, the station that you should definitely arrive at would be Black Bay. It's literally 0.5 miles from the convention center, and very close to the surrounding hotels. If you're traveling by Greyhound, it's recommended that you get off at Boston Copley Square, which is 0.4 miles from the convention center and surrounding hotels.
If you're flying in, you should fly in at Logan International Airport (the airport code is BOS). Logan International is a 7 mile cab ride away from the convention center (they also offer cheaper hotel shuttles). It is also home to another Greyhound stop if you choose to go there instead of Copley Square (which would be stupid).
Hotels
PAX East is emplying this booking service for its hotels. Individual and Group bookings are available. I'll break down the available hotels and their relevant statistics (I've ranked them, personal opinion of course, in order too):
- Holiday Inn Brookline: This is a two-mile walk to the convention center, which makes it one of the further-out ones. If you can't walk two miles, you're a dork or handicapped in which case I apologize for calling you a dork. Holiday Inns have free wifi, relatively nice rooms (I've stayed in several personally) and I'm fairly certain that they used to offer free breakfasts, but regardless, they have great buttermilk biscuits >.> Overall the rates are nearly the cheapest out of all the hotels, although the rooms are limited to double-occupancy unless two or more people are willing to sleep in the same bed or get a cramped cot. Two people sharing a room will pay roughly 60 dollars each per night. Check-in at 4 PM/Check-out at noon.
- Colonnade Boston: This hotel is the second most expensive on the list, tying with the Hilton. It's completely smoking-free (as all Boston hotels are legally obligated to be), there's a rooftop pool (show off your nerd swole) and it'll run you either 95 or 74 dollars a night for a double or a triple (doubles cost more) with individual beds. It has wired and wireless internet access "for a fee" and the official PR line is "daily fees may apply." I'm inclined to believe that they have wifi in every room, but I can't be certain. A shuttle to the Colonnade from the airport will run you $15. The Colonnade is 1.5 blocks from the convention center. Seems pretty nice. Couldn't find the check-in/check-out.
- Hilton Boston Hotel: This hotel is the 3rd most expensive, only undercutting the Colonnade because it offers slightly cheaper triples. It's got air conditioning (rather worthless for Boston in March), incredibly expensive highspeed (presumably wired, possibly wireless) internet access at $15/day, and a 3 PM-check-in/noon-check-out time. It's also only half-a-freaking-block from the convention center, so the more lazy among us may find this hotel to be their best option. You'll pay about $95 for a double, and $70 for a triple.
- Marriott Boston: The Marriott is 1.5 blocks from the convention center. It's the most expensive hotel on the list. Triples will run you $74, while a double will run you $100 (as will a single). Internet access is $14 per day wired, $3 + $0.25/minute for wireless. They have a Starbucks in the hotel that's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The check in is your usually standard 4pm/noon deal. There's video checkout (as there is with several others) and apparently, really nice down comforters. The shuttle from the airport (which will actually take you to pretty much all the hotels) is $15 as mentioned earlier. The Compass Registration website also says that an amenity they feature is "ADA Complaint," which I take to mean "ADA Compliant." I have no idea what the hell that is. Interesting little tidbit there.
- Midtown Hotel: This is the second-cheapest hotel on the list. $60 for a triple, $85 for a double (oh, by the way, in case you were wondering, all single rates appear to be the same as the double rates, so there ya go). The entire hotel has wifi, internet (wired or wireless) will run you 10 dollars a day. It's 3 blocks from the convention center. Other then that, this hotel seems kind of shitty, not gonna lie. Might as well trade down costs for the Holiday Inn and get free wifi, anecdotally delicious biscuits and more exercise on the walk to the center. Nothing else to say, really.
So that's the basic need-to-know for getting to and attending PAX East. Hopefully this information will be somewhat helpful to you all. I realize that I'm putting this up early, but convention passes are $45 for 3 days right now until New Years, so I figured it was OK to start planning this shit early. Feel free to look for groups to team up with for room costs, ask transportation questions and share routes/discounts you've found, etc. If any new information comes out or anything needs to be changed in this OP please let me know.
WOOOOOOOO PAX EEEEEAST!
Edit: Addendum (credit to Skrattybones): Are there any Massachusetts Bombers (specifically Boston Bombers) who know of any great places to have a meetup in that general area? I would imagine generally that they would take place in bars, in which case underage people wouldn't uh... be able to uh... go... technically *cough cough* >.> But for anyone interested in some later-night fun that would be helpful. I imagine the Rebel FM guys might hold down the fort somewhere (although they seem like large advocates of sleep at cons) or there might be other crews of semi-notable people rolling around the area too, so if anyone knows of those you could post them here and I'll add them to the OP.
Meet-Ups
~None Yet~
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