If you were hoping to snag a four-day pass to Penny Arcade Expo (PAX Prime), well, you’re too late.
Tickets for the 11th-annual PAX in Seattle went on sale at 10:12 a.m. today.
Tickets for PAX Prime 2014 are now on sale! http://t.co/yyN9dLjoX6
— PAX (@Official_PAX) May 28, 2014
By 10:37 a.m., the $110 four-day passes were sold out — in 25 freakin’ minutes!
Man, In queue 50 seconds after twitter post and all of the 4 day tickets were sold out already. #paxprime
— Jeremy Bird (@Aroton) May 28, 2014
There are still single-day tickets available for $35, but if last year was any indication — everything was gone by 4:25 p.m. — those will be swooped up immediately. The four-day passes also sold out in less than 30 minutes last year.
Someone lucky enough to snag a four-day pass has already posted their tickets to eBay. Asking price: $599.
PAX used a queue system to sell tickets “in an orderly and fair way,” identifying cookies of each user to hold places in line. People had eight minutes to make a purchase once it was their turn in line.
Lots of people jumped in the queue shortly after PAX opened sales, but still couldn’t manage to buy the 4-day pass. Many vented their frustration on Twitter:
Pax Prime tickets acquired. Got in the queue in 4 minutes and 4 Day and Saturday was already sold out.
— Capitalist Pirate (@Mendelson9) May 28, 2014
https://twitter.com/sedicius/status/471709221537329152
PAX Prime passes about to be sold out before i even make it through the damn queue
— CrReaM (@CrReaM) May 28, 2014
Many disappointed gamers voiced concerns about PAX’s ticket-selling methods last year, and the organization responded with this FAQ. There was supply for up to 85,000 people in 2013, with estimated demand in the 135,000-to-150,000 range. Some criticized PAX for allowing too many scalpers to purchase blocks of tickets.
“The number of badges you see from now until PAX for resale is still a very small percentage of the total badges we sold,” PAX notes in the FAQ.
PAX, held over Labor Day Weekend at the Washington Convention Center, brings together more 70,000 gaming fans who can play a variety of games on systems old and new, hear from industry leaders on various panels, compete in tournaments, and dress up in their favorite costumes.
Related: Inside PAX’s 6-hour sellout: ‘The crush was insane’
Update, 11:06 a.m.: Looks like the four-day passes sold out even faster than 25 minutes:
@geekwire They sold out faster than that. I bought my tickets at 10:18 and they were gone.
— Morgan (@missdoomcookie) May 28, 2014