Ars’ Sam Machkovech tears through as much of PAX West as he can in four days. Edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

SEATTLE—Board, card, cosplay, current-gen, handheld, pinball, retro, smartphone, and VR: these are the ABCs of the PAX gaming convention, which now hosts annual events in three American cities (and Melbourne, Australia, to boot). Even though PAX began in the early ’00s as a reaction to gaming’s sterile, industry-heavy expos, most modern gaming and fan cons now copy its style.

We’re fine with that kind of flattery, but PAX still does it best. Its hometown iteration’s 13th edition proved to be a whirlwind of happiness over hype. Even though E3’s perfectly fine blockbusters dominated the exhibition hall (Battlefield 1 has already had its time in the spotlight), PAX isn’t the kind of event that lets you write a “best games at the Con!” list. Still, between the show’s freeform, play-how-you-want halls, I got to try out quite a few new-to-me games, which I will highlight below.