It's hard to pin down what exactly the Penny Arcade Expo is. The point isn't to sell anything, although you can buy a lot of games and gaming-related merchandise at the show. The point isn't to hype games that are coming out, although this year many developers and publishers were on hand to do just that. The point isn't to organize tournaments or to win anything, although there were tournaments and many prizes. This year, PAX boasted over 19,000 people in preregistrations alone, and the show outgrew its old home at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, instead taking over the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. 

This is now the biggest game show in the US, although the creators of Penny Arcade remain unwilling to call it the new E3. "PAX is not the new E3. E3 failed. If someone else wants to be the new E3, they are welcome to it," Mike Krahulik stated on the site. Jerry Holkins, the other mind behind Penny Arcade, has a slightly grander definition for the event. "Thank you for coming to the greatest gaming convention in the entire fucking universe!" he shouted to the gathered throngs of gamers at the Omegathon, the show's ongoing gaming tournament.

So why did all these gamers fly, drive, beg, borrow, and steal to get to this show? There wasn't a single person involved who wasn't a hardcore gamer, for this is the one time of the year where thousands of gamers don their gaming costumes, grab their DSes, Magic cards, and miniatures, and for three days they simply hang out with other gamers. There was one dedicated man who sat down on a giant Sumo beanbag chair to play his DS continually for the entire show. "Yeah, he's hardcore," another attendee told me in awe when I brought it up.

Many gamers simply hung out and enjoyed the gaming

PAX is one of the rare places where that sort of action will get you respect and not scorn.  Everyone happily let their geek-flag fly, from the man who approached us just to show off his BattleTech LEGO creations he brought to the show to the surreal image of a girl dressed up like a Jet Grind Radio character performing "Bing Bang" from Lazytown in its entirety. Multiple times.

It was a three-day mess of gamers chasing their joy, whether that was war games, portables, consoles, rhythm games, PC titles... whatever. It was a feast of gaming, and everyone dug in. If you got bored with what you brought, you could test out upcoming games in the exhibition hall, listen to a panel about the important topics in gaming, or play a round or two of Dance Dance Revolution on one of the machines sprinkled around the show. Or you could gawk at any number of costumed video game characters walking around the show. In the lobby there was a piano a few people used to show off their ability to play arranged versions of Final Fantasy songs, and of course if game music was your thing, the two nights of concerts should have given you your fill.

The reason PAX works is that it's everything and nothing; the Penny Arcade team simply brings together everything they'd like to have in one place, so they can play and frolic in their own little gaming heaven. Luckily for us, we're all invited.