Thousands of die-hard gamers flocked to PAX East yesterday — and will for the rest of the weekend — dressed to the nines as characters from video games and television shows as they make their annual pilgrimage to try out the latest in what has become Boston’s biggest convention.

The long line of gamers stretched well beyond the entrance to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center as a driving snow fell onto their meticulously crafted outfits that paid tribute to video game and television characters both famous and obscure. But the winter weather wasn’t enough to deter them from hoping to be one of the first ones inside at the stroke of 10 a.m.

“People started cheering and all of a sudden, it’s droves of people,” said Bridget Crawford, co-owner of Fidget Creative. “It’s just masses of people.”

Fidget Creative, a local company, just launched a Kickstarter campaign for Red Scare Redux, a card game where teams of spies try to best each other during the Cold War. The three-person company is getting their first game in front of thousands of gamers, and had already had a few attendees contribute to their Kickstarter in the opening hours of the convention.

And while some attendees were finding Fidget by happy accident, many others were flocking to the big-name booths set up in the exhibition hall. Nintendo was showing off its new Nintendo Switch, a videogame console released last week, while gaming giants like Bethesda — makers of the Borderlands games — and Square Enix — makers of the Final Fantasy series — demoed some of their new and upcoming releases.