By Ginacrat; Gina Asprocolas

Thanks to some last minute executive decision making, I was one of the 70,000 attendees at the second annual PAX East – a convention for gamers, by gamers, located at the Boston Exhibition and Convention Center. During my time there, I learned a very important fact about myself: Yoshi is my spirit animal.

But let’s back up a bit. While I am a three-time NY Comic Con veteran, I had never been to a PAX before, East or Prime. With only the insanity of NYCC as a base of comparison – and as a casual gamer at best – I was expecting chaos. And while the convention was indeed very crowded, the vibe was entirely different.

PAX East provided not only numerous panels, concerts, booths, demos and activities, but also tons of lounging room and places for gamers to do what they do best – game. All the Enforcers we encountered were helpful and generally cool (especially when they were placating long lines with free buttons and beach balls to bounce around), and all the exhibitors and performers were friendly and awesome – especially Jonathan Coulton and Paul & Storm, who signed my badge and humored my blatant fangirling.

While the environment was a lot more welcoming and relaxing than that of Comic Con, I was still afraid to game. With so many games and systems that I knew mostly nothing about, I sorta felt like a total n00b. A n00b who also has a competitive side. I felt for the amount of time I would spend learning how to play all these games, I wouldn’t have enough time to adequately kick everyone’s butt and satiate my merciless urge.

The inexperience left me hiding behind my camera, documenting all the awesomeness and enjoying my surroundings, but not really grasping the full PAX experience. That is, until we entered the Console Freeplay room, armed with four Game Cube controllers and Smash Bros. Brawl.

With controllers in hand, and my PAX roomie Nikki doing all the setup, I let her and Matt (Capital M) explain to me the game basics and give me some tips. I played with Mario for awhile, coming in last each time but not embarrassing myself too bad. Then, I made the switch to Yoshi, and I saw the sign. Oh yes. I opened up my eyes and saw the sign.

For whatever reason, as soon as I started playing with Yoshi, beating up my competitors seemed so much easier. I was rolling them over, eating them up and literally spitting them out. I was screaming, twisting and turning my body as I played, my competitive spirit in full form. And even though I still came in last most of the time, I felt much more accomplished once I found my perfect match. As we all sat in a circle, eating salads and chicken fingers on a lunch break, I proudly proclaimed to my friends, “Yoshi is my spirit animal!”

After Smash Bros., I felt much more comfortable at PAX. I had found my calling! I was a gamer, after all. Now, I look forward to the next time I get to play – especially at the next PAX – and you better believe I won’t be afraid to whip out every trick in Yoshi’s arsenal.

Pictures courtesy of Gina Asprocolas and Julia Dennebaum