During PAX West 2026, ReedPop and Penny Arcade announced PAX Unplugged Houston, the fifth in the annual gaming convention series, and the second PAX Unplugged event.
The inaugural PAX Unplugged Houston will take place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from Friday, June 25 through Sunday, June 27, 2027.
It’s the second time the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) has opened a convention in Texas. PAX South opened in 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, and ran for five years. The final PAX South took place in early 2020, just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I attended PAX South almost every year, and miss it terribly!
PAX South saw a boom in tabletop gaming, prompting the announcement of PAX Unplugged, a tabletop gaming-only convention, starting in 2017. PAX Unplugged has continued to run each year around November-December in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Tabletop gaming has only continued to grow in the years since, now leading to a second annualized PAX Unplugged event, and a return to the Southern half of the United States.
“Whenever we get done with PAX Unplugged out in Philly, I just want to rewind time and do it all again,” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder of PAX, Penny Arcade, and Child’s Play Charity. “This is the next best thing. And it’ll be great to see our old friends from down that way.”
Beginning with PAX West in Seattle in 2004, the PAX gaming convention has run every year for over 20 years, bringing together fans, publishers, exhibitors, and vendors for all things gaming and geek culture. The show expanded with PAX East in Boston in 2010, and internationally with PAX AUS in Melbourne, Australia, in 2013.
Badges for PAX Unplugged Houston will go on sale later this year.
