Better known as PAX, the Bellevue, Washington-based Penny Arcade Expo is the brainchild of influential and irreverent gaming luminaries Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, creators of. We were there. Wಌe're just now recovering. If you couldn't attend, you missed a hell of a party - but we're happy to share our experi♉ences with you.

Above: Bellevue's Meydenbauer Center was filled with over 19,000 fans during 2006's Penny Arcade Expo

Having grown from a webcomic that poked fun at the gaming industry, Gabe and Tycho have expanded their franchise into a card game, illustrated books and a yearly charity drive called Child's Play. This, in addition to a newly-announced episodicgame called Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Look for that next year.