A few highlights from another incredibly fun time at Pax Unplugged 2022.

Huge thanks to Queen & Rook!
First of all, many, many thanks to the lovely folks at Queen & Rook who always help out in my booth. If you are in the Philadelphia area, I highly suggest checking out their amazing board game cafe (with over 1,000 games!) and their seriously delicious vegan/vegetarian menu. Plus, everyone there is just the best!

Queen & Rook Game Café
607 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
queenandrookcafe.com

Game therapy
Did you know that Anomia has this whole other life as a therapeutic tool?  Ever since I first published Anomia it has been warmly embraced by the speech pathology community. At every convention I usually meet one or more speech pathologists who already know the game and use it in their practice.  I also often meet people who have suffered TBIs or concussions and first encountered Anomia because it was recommended by their therapist.  I met three speech pathologists this year.  And, I also met a sex therapist who was planning to use Anomia X with their patients.  Will wonders never cease?

Anomia in the classroom
As you might know, I have started building a Print & Play library on AnomiaPress.com.  I only have two titles available right now (more to come!). The blank deck has been popular with teachers who want to make a custom deck with material they are teaching their students.  This year at Pax I met a woman who teaches German to middle schoolers and she was really interested in making a German vocabulary deck for her class. I can’t wait to check it out.

Sold Out!
Despite my best efforts to bring enough games, we sold out of almost everything.  The brand new Pop Culture edition sold out in the middle of the second day. Anomia, the Party Edition, and Duple all sold out by mid-day on Sunday.  At the end of the convention I had just a few copies of Anomia Kids and Anomia X left over. I donated a few of the leftover games to Board Games for the Better. The folks at Queen & Rook snatched the rest up for the cafe. Note to self, bring more games next time.

New two-player variation
I learned a new two-player variant of Anomia this year.  In this version the two players split the deck in half and place it face down in front of themselves.  Then, both players start quickly flipping cards face up. If two cards come up with a symbol match then they face-off as in a normal game.  It's really fun and recreates the intensity of a multiplayer game quite nicely. You can check out our other two player variants here.

Raffle winners
At every convention I hold a raffle each day to win a copy of Anomia, Anomia Kids, or Duple (winners choice).

Congrats to the winners!
Friday: Kim & Allen G. - Philadelphia, PA
Saturday: Jennifer R. from Plainsboro, NJ
Sunday: Andrea L. - Philadelphia, PA

Old friends
Finally, at the end of the day on Saturday my old friend Phil V. showed up at my booth. We went to high school together and haven't seen each other for over 30 years. We grabbed some dinner after the show and did a lot of catching up.  Wonderful to see you Phil!

That's it for now, looking forward to Pax East in Boston in March 2023!