PAX has previewed some potential convention dates for next year—with heavy caveats that they depend upon the state of the COVID-19 pandemic at that time. PAX Unplugged, the convention devoted to tabletop games, is set to take place between December 10-12, 2021, and the full potential calendar looks like this:
- June 3-6: PAX East
- Sept. 3-6: PAX West
- Dec. 10-12: PAX Unplugged
PAX has not yet nailed down dates for PAX Aus yet, and it confirmed it will not be able to hold PAX South given this year.
“Unfortunately, because of what would have been the prospective timeline in early next year we won’t be able to put together a PAX South in 2021, but we look forward to bringing it back for you in 2022. We are also working with our team in Australia and the Australian government and will have more updates on PAX Aus’s 2021 show date in the next few weeks,” PAX wrote in a Friday press release.
With the COVID pandemic raging worldwide, PAX had to cancel all of its physical, in-person events in 2020, along with other convention organizers. Many of these organizers attempted to create virtual versions of their events, but these obviously lacked some of the appeal of physical conventions—especially for a physical medium like board games.
Related: The loneliness of running a virtual tabletop convention booth
Organizers have some cause for optimism about in-person events next year, however. Several leading pharmaceutical companies have demonstrated promising vaccine candidates against the virus, which could begin immunizing people next year. If the vaccination process proceeds enough in the first half of the year, Fall and Winter conventions may be possible.
From the release:
We’re announcing our dates now to help partners plan for the upcoming year on how they might attend as well as provide a chance to start conversations about how to bring attendees, panelists, exhibitors, and our broader community together with these events that are 7 months away. Safety is always our highest priority, and we want to put these shows on for you and in a way that still feels like a PAX, but these things require runway. Our rationale: with things being this complicated, why not tell everyone all at once?
Let’s just say the quiet part out loud: if COVID-19 remains a major barrier to safely gathering at one of our shows, we won’t do it or we will take it virtual. As much as we miss, even crave, the togetherness and magic of a PAX, we will not put attendees, exhibitors, or our guests at risk for the sake of an event if things aren’t on the up and up.
Now, on to the good news! If things progress positively then there’s a good chance that we would be able to put on live events in the summer and later half of the year.
Source: PAX
