PAX Button Trading Game
The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is an annual gamer festival held in Washington state, USA. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcadewebcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop gamers. No such show existed, so PAX was born.
Created in 2004, PAX has nearly doubled in size each successive year and has been hailed as a weekend-long celebration of gamer culture. Defining characteristics include an insider keynote speech, game-inspired concerts, panels on game industry topics, exhibitor booths, after-hours parties, tournaments, and freeplay areas. (thanks Wikipedia for this burst of content)
Furthermore, for this years show, they have decided to use buttons for identification. Here’s an exerpt from the forum:
Alright, here’s the idea guys. We need a form of identification for forumers at PAX. As Moe has suggested, custom made buttons with our name/avatar or whatever would be a great option, but to extend this idea and make it more Penny Arcade-ish I suggest that each get a bunch of buttons and trade one for one when we meet each other. Thus making it a game of “gotta catch them all”.
They continue:
Where do I get buttons from?:
PureButtons - Pure Win!
When purchasing, use coupon code “Winter0708″ for 15% off!* Custom 1″ button 50-pack: $10.00
* Custom 1.25″ button 50-pack: $12.50
* Custom 1.5″ button 50-pack: $14.00 *Most preferred size among Arcadians.
* Custom 2.25″ button 50-pack: $21.00
We thought this was pretty cool, a button trading game. It makes us reminiscent of pogs.
I’d like to point out, for those who frequent here and not at the Penny Arcade forum, that the buttons we have received for the exchange through Purebuttons have been made of win. =) You guys do a high-quality job on them, and we appreciate it. =)
Comment by vthornheart — July 30, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
W00t! Recognition!
Comment by JonXP — July 30, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Its nice to see that Purebuttons put us PAX08 buttoneers up here.
Thanks you guys, you have made our button obsession possible
Comment by Brian4120 — July 30, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
As a designer of two buttons so far for this, I have to say that Purebuttons really made this entire thing possible. Seriously, the quality on these are great, and the price blows any other site we checked out of the water.
Here’s to hoping this catches on as a common convention game, and you guys see more business from it. Thanks!
Comment by Houn — July 31, 2008 @ 1:04 am
My badges for this just arrived this morning, thanks guys!
Comment by LewieP — July 31, 2008 @ 6:09 am
By the end of the event we will make sure you guys at purebuttons get some good group pics.
Nice blog.
Comment by Avid — July 31, 2008 @ 8:46 am
next year i hope you guys can set up a special user account that we can register our orders into, that would make creating a check list much easier.
anyways thanks for being so good at button making!
Comment by Tyler Tinsley — July 31, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
Holy crap! You guys had the Pogs correlation too? I am stoked to be a part of this whole thing and you rock for your hard work getting us our awesome buttons!
Comment by Recruit — August 1, 2008 @ 12:30 am
I haven’t received mine yet, but I’m SO excited!
Thank you so much for making this possible! Oh and thanks to the forum kids that started this whole craze!
Comment by Kat — August 1, 2008 @ 12:29 pm
Its crazy how much business our little button trading game has brought to purebuttons… By the time this is all done and over with, we will probably have ordered about 10,000 buttons total from them… crazy. We should definately get a dedicated discount next year. Coupon code PAXPUREWIN09 lol
Comment by LTAcosta — August 2, 2008 @ 12:36 am
[...] recent PAX Button Trading game buttons. For more information about PAX view our previous post about PAX. I will be taking more photos so everyone can see [...]
Pingback by Latest PAX button game photo | Promotional Buttons, Custom Pinback Buttons | The Button Post — August 13, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
My 3rd lot of badges arrived today, they are fab. I can’t believe how cheap they are, considering you’re posting them to England. They are very pretty, thank you!
Comment by LewieP's Mummy — August 14, 2008 @ 9:32 am
The buttons were high quality and inexpensive. I’m already using PureButtons for another event. This made PAX that much more enjoyable. Thanks PureButtons!
Comment by DJ Breslin — September 3, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
The customer support and print quality of the buttons were both amazing. I was a PA button procrastinator, yet you guys still managed to pre-press, print and deliver my buttons within 8 days. Amazing.
Thanks so much for working with us! Next year will be at least twice as big, I’m sure!
Comment by Buck — September 3, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
I wasn’t involved in the ‘08 button exchange, but I can say that it was a resounding success. I saw people with torsos entirely covered in buttons, backpacks entirely covered in buttons, etc.
Good idea, and good execution by Pure Buttons.
Comment by Arco — September 3, 2008 @ 8:57 pm
You PureButtons people are amazing! It couldn’t have been easy to pump out over 200 separate orders for 50-100 buttons each, especially in the time frame given, but you were incredible! Get ready for next year…
Comment by MetaverseNomad — September 3, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
hey im a big fag!!
Comment by jordan Brown — September 18, 2008 @ 7:32 am
Thank you so much for making this possible!
thanks for the buttons
Comment by Forex Trading Easy — April 7, 2009 @ 8:26 am