PAX Prime 2013 badges are on sale now. Just expect the website to be hammered to all fuck right now from everybody jumping on at the same time.

Apparently people who got through the queue say 4-day badges sold out within the first 5 minutes of the site going live which is really fucking retarded.

EDIT: Whelp. Five minutes. Record time. https://twitter.com/Official_PAX/status/324583487359303681

This queue system sucks, people that jumped on at the very start missed out on 4 days.

Yeah I have text notifications from the relevant pax twitter account and got the message about badges going on sale. Texted my friends to inform them and see what the plan was. By the time replies were rolling in I got the notification that 4 day passes were gone. They're selling out exponentially faster each year.

God fucking dammit

Any ideas when the GB panel's gonna happen?

This is crazy. I'm not going but I would be upset if I had planned on it and the tickets sold out that fast.

They're generally on Friday nights, but no guarantee.

still in queue. Never been able to go to any PAX because of it being sold out immediately, hopefully can get some tickets.

That's nuts, what a pisser. I was looking forward to a 4 day pass, oh well, $120 plus tax it is.

Looking for tickets? Ebay scalpers got you covered for $400 per ticket.

They fixed the fake tickets problem but they seriously need to find some way to stop this. Shit is ridiculous now.

Yeah, Friday's probably the best day for a single pass. Less people, devs energized, and a 3-day weekend!

Read on the PAX forums that there were only 1500 4 day passes, that's crazy if true.

@morbid_coffee: Who buys a $400 pax badge on ebay when you can get 4 individual passes for a couple hundred dollars less? How has the guy you linked on ebay already sold 4 of them???

Has anyone else been on this Checkout queue for an incredibly long time? I've been on it for almost the last hour and I'm beginning to get worried.

Me and a couple of friends overhead one family at PAX East who told their kid "don't lose your badge! It cost us $400!"

So crazy people.

$400 isn't that crazy if you are flying in. When you factor in a plane flight, hotel, food, etc... The list ticket price is trivial. And if you are flying from overseas, then it's even less.

And I assume they had minimal 4-days because they are in no way necessary, and every person who got a 4 instead of fewer 1-days prevents somebody else going.

@equitasinvictus: Still in the queue, been in since the beginning.

People who want to guarantee they get 4 days at PAX and don't have time to wait around at a computer to buy 4 individual day passes.

I managed to get through the queue and bought three sets of four one-day passes. The queue system is fucking nerve-wracking.

Anyone have a estimate on hotel prices per night? They mention having deals with local hotels for discounts, but that link is (unsurprisingly) busted right now.

Whew; I was still able to get Single-day passes for the entire thing for my buddy and me. That'll be my first PAX Prime and my first time on the West Coast (I'm from New Jersey) since Jeff sold PAX Prime to me when I talked to him at my first PAX East last month. Really excited; this is probably the only year I'll ever be able to go to both PAX East and Prime since after next year I'll probably be committed to the workforce after graduating.

Finally went through for me, this was a train wreck.

Kind of glad I didn't pick up single day passes now because I just found out that PAX Prime is the same week my Fall semester starts, so I wouldn't have been able to go regardless.

Whew... that is nerve wracking. Barely got passes for all four days before Saturday was sold out a few minutes later.

God damn it I'm never gonna be able to go to PAX Prime. (Living in California makes it easier to go to prime rather than East)

I can top that. I got my passes for all 4 days. *After* Saturday was already showing sold out.

Well I gave up

well that was a harrowing four hours of my life. never have logistics turned on me so sharply, but I got ALL KINDS OF PASSES

And now(2:55 PT) only Monday remains. So, we're looking at a total sellout in probably under 4 hours. I guess that kills the previous rumors that 2012 only sold out so fast because of LoL and there not being a Blizzcon that year.

The PAX Prime location is way better than PAX East, but that convention center in Boston is amazing. Prime should really move to Moscone Center in SF. They'd be able to hold more people than Boston and Prime almost combined. I know that Seattle is their home, and I love the city of Seattle, but this event is growing way beyond the WSCC, and there aren't any better options there.

@sterbacblu: Leaving Seattle must be a really hard decision for them. Prime has been a total sellout for several years, and they refuse to truly raise prices. They are leaving so much cash on the table, they could only be doing it for good reasons.

Got my Friday and Saturday passes! See you guys there

@youngfrey: I'm sure it would be a bittersweet decision to leave their home city. PAX and Seattle are just one of those things that go together great. Unfortunately, no matter how many days you add to the show, or how many alternate PAXes you add around the world, PAX Prime will always be The PAX, and it will always be the most popular. If someone wants to go to a PAX, and they can only go to one, if they're not near Boston/Melbourne, or if they just want to go to the show of shows, they will choose PAX Prime. Ah well, I'm glad I got my passes and I'll hope that now there are four days they'll somehow make sure the Giant Bomb panel and the good concert night aren't going on simultaneously as usual.

@sterbacblu: I've heard (from Scott Kurtz who is always opposite a concert) the evening programming is often chosen specifically as counter-programming to the concerts. Giving options to folks that don't want to rock out. I guess they just took the GB vs. Harmonix rivalry seriously.

After having a good experience at Wondercon I'm even more interested in going to PAX. Sounds like tickets are always going to be a nightmare for major conventions though. That sucks, because I know Pax would be an awesome time.

Is this a godamn joke?! Are they already all gone?!

Edit: That is completely fucked, I based my whole summer around Pax this year and now I can't even go because it was sold out in half a day.

Anyone buy extra's that they want to sell? PM me if so.

I think PAX Prime needs a bigger boat because that sold out way too fast.

hah well that sucks, got the message at work and by the time I got home they were all sold out guess it doesn't pay to have a job.

Yeah working nights left no chance. Woke up just in time to see the tweets saying it's completely sold out. I've never been able to attend a PAX before, so I guess I won't be missing much

Gees, they sell out faster each year. Sorry to everyone that didn't get their tickets. I really hope they won't sell out this fast next year for Pax East.

I wonder if part of the problem is people using bots to buy tickets that they can scalp?

@jeanluc said:

Living in Seattle, I can tell you that Craigslist will be awash with passes by tomorrow morning. Assholes. Oh well, I'm covered at least. Me and the friends I go with have a whole buddy system of "BUY AS MANY PASSES AS YOU CAN, ANYONE WHO DOESN'T GET ONE CAN MOOCH AND REPAY THE DONORS, ANY SPARES AFTER THAT ARE SOLD AT COST" so basically the one guy that was actually on top of things bought most of the group their passes before they were sold out. THey may not be 4 days but they are all 4 days.

Honestly, you should have paid more attention. Last year this happened. All you had to do was get text message notifications on the twitter account and you'd have known what was going on and have been fine assuming you had the money to spend. Last year taught a lot of people that you can't screw around with buying passes any more. It sort of sucks but it was not at all unexpected. Last year was sort of a sucker punch but this year it was all a known quantity. Hence the previously mentioned system me and my buddies had in place of call everyone and buy as many tickets as you're willing so they can be spread out among the group for anyone who got unlucky with their waits or what have you.

There will be plenty of passes to buy, but unfortunately you'll be spending at least twice for 90% of them. You can try the Penny Arcade forums, maybe they are going back to letting people sell them at cost on there. But last year they decided to be assholes and stop that so no one had a good reason to sell them at face value. I wish you luck in that! But yeah, tons of scalpers so if you hurry and are willing to shell out, you'll be able to get the passes you need.

@dalai said:

Kind of hard to do. They are basically using up all of the space they can get in Seattle without splitting it up into different areas. Who knows, maybe they'll go build a massive PAX complex in the middle of nowhere someday. Every year they seem to have more and more people coming through, faster and faster each time. lol. A couple years ago you had a couple weeks to get passes. You'd have to settle for single day passes by that point but it wasn't much more. Now it's crazy. I'm glad me and my group had a battle plan for when they chose to strike.

@mordeaniischaos: I have been checking the site every day, but I work, so I was 5 hours too late it seems. Either way I am going to Seattle with my Pals, we will check for Scalpers, but if not, we will just party in Seattle for 4 days.

Yeah, a lot of the fun of PAX isnt actually in PAX.

I guess the only option would be to find another West Coast city with more space in one building to fit a larger crowd, maybe in San Francisco or Los Angeles (although two gaming expos in LA is overkill.) I can see how this can happen with limited space and a rabid fanbase. I also saw they added a day this year and it still sold out in record time. I just hope this trend doesn't go east to Boston because if I decide to go back to PAX East next year, I'd rather not face scalpers or looking for extra badges on forums.

Do you need a pass to go to that day's concerts? I only got Friday, Sunday, and Monday passes and would hate to miss the Saturday Night concerts. Man, I really hope the GB panel isn't on Saturday.

I think part of the problem is that they established PAX East, and people started thinking, "Hey, I'll go to the show closer in proximity to me for convenience," the thought, "I GO TO BOTH!!!" So instead of splitting the audience, there's this ravenous horde that wants to consume every PAX that occurs.

And while I doubt that PAX Prime will ever move away from Seattle (it's where Penny Arcade is located), I would be super-bummed if it happened (because it's also where I live). The problem is, it doesn't matter how many PAX shows they hold a year; people will still try to gobble up all of them, leaving people with only time to go to one or the other in the dust.

Yes, you have to have that day's pass to get into the Paramount.

@hailinel: I've been feeling this coming for a couple years now, but the sad fact is that PAX has outgrown Seattle. I love the city. I really do. But, unless they build a new convention center somewhere nearby, PAX is going to have to move out. After experiencing PAX East a few times in the new BCEC, I can tell you that the WSCC is designed terribly for holding a convention of this size. The entirety of PAX East is in one building and with a little room to spare still. Prime 2012 had to expand into three different hotels plus the Paramount. When someone told me where to go buy the CAH expansion, I had to go down four flights of escalators from the expo hall and then walk four blocks to a hotel lobby where they were hiding. Not only is that a hassle for show goers, it's not fair to the exhibitors to be stuck out there with limited traffic coming by. Having so many elements of the show separated from each other detracts from the overall experience that I had the first couple years I went to Seattle and the last few Easts. Sure, I still had a great time last year in Seattle, but I think it's time they seriously consider other options.

Oh...and I got four single day passes thanks to @heavyduty32 since I was stuck at work when the queue went up. Man...that was a clusterfuck.

@marino: Say it should move out of Seattle all you like, but at least my manager at work messaged me to let me know that passes had gone on sale. (Granted, I was already in the queue by that point, but still.) :P