ReedPop and Penny Arcade announced the date for one of the biggest gaming conventions of the year: PAX West 2023 will take place this Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 1 through Sept 4., at the newly expanded Seattle Convention Center in Seattle, WA.

This year’s gaming expo will host Nintendo Live 2023, a separately ticketed event that is a “celebration of Nintendo’s games and worlds.”

Nintendo Live 2023 will feature live stage performances, game tournaments, photo ops, plenty of Switch gameplay, and of course, tons of merch.

PAX conventions have always been paid to enter, but Nintendo Live is free — yet still requires a ticket. Tickets for Nintendo Live 2023 will be distributed through a drawing at the official website. Registration is open between May 31 and June 22.

PAX West badge purchasers can enter the drawing for Nintendo Live ticket by opting in during the checkout process between May 31 and July 7. However, purchasing a PAX West badge does not guarantee entry into Nintendo Live.

Either method requires a Nintendo account, and only single day tickets are available to win. There is no waitlist, and walk-ins will not be allowed.

Whether you make it into Nintendo Live or not, PAX West will still contain four days of gaming goodness. Expect industry panels, video game concerts, eSports tournaments, tabletop freeplays, and dozens of exhibitors and vendors. The full schedule and list of exhibitors will be announced at a later date.

“A single building could never contain everything we’ve got planned for PAX,” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder, Penny Arcade and PAX. “And we think families especially will love this year’s collaboration with Nintendo.”

Following PAX West, PAX Unplugged, the tabletop-only convention, will take place at the Philadelphia Convention Center from Dec. 1 through Dec 3.


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Eric has been writing for over nine years with bylines at Dicebreaker, Pixelkin, Polygon, PC Gamer, Tabletop Gaming magazine, and more covering movies, TV shows, video games, tabletop games, and tech. He reviews and live streams D&D adventures every week on his YouTube channel. He also makes a mean tuna quesadilla.