Hello Everyone!

A few friends and I are going to PAX East for the first time and I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what to expect. We got passes for Saturday and we have no idea what we're doing. Does it make any sense to get there super early, or is everything (besides the panels) running throughout the day? How early should we line up (assuming there are lines) to get into the panels we want to see? For example the Giant Bomb panel is at 9pm, so is 8pm too early to line up? Too late? We saw the maps online and are hoping everything is easy to find.

Any other suggestions for first-time convention goers? Anything you wished you knew the first time that you learned later on, like what to bring, how to squeeze everything you want to see in one day, etc.? Do you bring food and drink, or are there places inside to grab something?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Your friend and mine, @marino hasn't put up a 2017 version yet but each year he's tweaked and updated a PAX guide on a rolling basis going on 6 years. As someone getting up there in my own PAX experience (this will be 10th or 11th at this point), I can vouch for practically everything in that guide.

For me personally, I like to make my own schedule for panels with all the details so I know who to see when and where. Take a look at the schedule on the website and download the PAX East app if you can and look at the maps for the convention and the exhibition hall.

The conventional wisdom is that, depending on how popular the panel is, the time to line up ahead of a panel is from about 30 min to an hour. The Giant Bomb panel tends to be an exception since it brings in so many people so if you want to be somewhere reasonably close, then lining at least an hour early is a good start. Keep in mind that you can't line up for any panel until the panel before it starts; this year, the earliest you can technically line up is about 7:30 pm. Some people sweat lining up for the panel but in all my years of going to the GB panel, I've never seen people unable to get in.

@sk8nob: Moderator extraordinaire @marino did a guide for Pax East, He hasn't updated it for this year yet, but I'm sure a good majority of it still will apply this year, it was endlessly helpful for me during my first time preparing for Pax, I'm sure it'ill answer a lot of questions you have.

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/marino/blog/pax-guide-2016-east-edition/112970/

@mrfluke: @bacongames: @sk8nob:

I should have the 2017 version up tomorrow. Not much will change though.

Awesome, thank you all very much!

Any offsite meetups planned? Aside from Waypoint's Danika Harrod playing at some club Saturday, I haven't really heard about anything yet this year.

Oh, and as for actual advice, the most important thing is to have that MTA map saved on your phone. @marino isn't kidding when he says how isolated the con center is. Thankfully getting into the system FROM the Airport (silver line bus terminal) is free, but getting a 3-day Charlie Card should be pretty simple from there. And for reference, South Station at the Red/Silver Line Intersection is your quickest/safest bet if you need to pick up odds & ends on your way back to the hotel. I've only been like twice (with friends leading the way) so I don't quite remember which stop leads to the big mall (although if you do find it, the ramen shop there is incredible).

2nd Tip: There's a FedEx Store in the lobby of the con center (to the right of the merch booth, past the starbucks kiosk). If you don't want to underpack/risk multiple checked bags on your way home, make sure to lug your merch back to the convention on Sunday.

@getter404: Good stuff - thank you!

@sk8nob: It's up now.

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/marino/blog/pax-guide-2017-east-edition/114598/