What is a LAN party?

Online gaming is more popular than ever, but multi-player gaming really took off on the PC with the LAN party. A LAN (Local Area Network) party is a gathering where gamers bring their computers or gaming consoles to a shared location and connect them to a local network to play multiplayer games together. Unlike online gaming, where players connect via the internet, a LAN party provides a faster, more stable connection and the camaraderie of in-person competition.  

LAN parties can still play online multiplayer games, but traditionally, the games are hosted on a local server on the same LAN or run from one of the gaming PCs.  

No matter if you are using PCs or consoles, LAN parties are a huge amount of fun because you get to experience the competition and tension face to face. After all, if you’re going to win, you want everyone to know! 

LAN parties date back to the early days of multiplayer gaming in the 1980s and 1990s. One of the first widely known LAN party games was Doom (1993), which popularized local network multiplayer. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, titles like Quake, Counter-Strike, and StarCraft made LAN parties a staple of gaming culture. Before widespread high-speed internet, LAN parties were the best way to experience low-latency multiplayer gaming. Today, while online play dominates, LAN parties still offer an unmatched social experience. 

Getting everyone you know together to play some games means you will need enough room to get them all in the same room. You will need room for chairs, tables, and all the equipment. Leave space for people to get in and out for bathroom or snack breaks too. 

You are going to need power sockets for each PC, plus any monitors, speakers, and networking equipment.  

These are the devices you will use to connect the gaming PCs together. They often come in 4-port or 8-port configurations which are ideal for consumer-grade networking gear. If you need more ports, get more or larger devices. Remember, you will need one free port for each player, plus enough spare ports to connect any switches.

What’s the difference between a switch and a hub?  A switch can provide the full bandwidth to each connected device, but a hub will share it, meaning every connected device will be using a fraction of the overall bandwidth. 

Sharing big installer files, patches, and mods can be done over the network, but having these on an external hard drive ready to go means you can get new players up to speed quickly even if the network isn’t set up yet. 

Laptops don’t always come with network ports these days, so you might need to get a USB to Network adapter so you can connect to the LAN. 

Laptops are a popular choice for gaming these days, which means you won’t need to bring extra screens, speakers or cables. If you bring a desktop, make sure you have enough space for it on the desk or on the floor, and that you bring all the necessary cables. We have the perfect guide for you if you want to build your own gaming computer. 

If you are running a dedicated local server, you will need extra space for this computer, plus the cables it needs. Depending on how technical you are, you might be able to get away without a separate monitor for this server. 

Even if you have a laptop, a dedicated keyboard and mouse will make your games easier to control and a lot more fun. Dedicated gaming devices may also have extra features to give you an edge (assuming your friends allow it!) 

Headphones can be a good choice for sound quality and helping you concentrate on the action, but one or two speakers in the room can really add to the chaotic ambience. In either case, Bluetooth devices are a great choice here as it is one less cable to worry about. 

WiFi is very convenient for most networking tasks, but if you are setting up a gaming LAN, hardwired cables are the way to go. Cables are faster, provide lower latency, and are much more reliable. You don’t need to worry about SSIDs, passwords, or reception; just plug in and go. When you are trying to get a game set up, knowing you can just plug in and connect means you can spend more time gaming and less time troubleshooting. 

Once things are underway, all that action and computing power is going to generate a lot of heat, so make sure the ventilation or air conditioning is good enough. You need to be comfortable to perform at your best. 

The most important element of a LAN party, second only to the games. Protip: Snacks that need to be individually unwrapped will cost you valuable seconds. 

The games you choose to play at a LAN party are up to you, but different crowds enjoy different styles of gameplay.

For fast action, games like Counter Strike, or Call of Duty are always popular, as are other first-person shooters. Halo: Combat Evolved is some of the most fun you can have in a LAN party.

Minecraft is a good choice if you like survival, crafting, and building in your LAN party, and games like Re-Volt provide a fun option for those that prefer racing games.

Old school classics like shooters Unreal Tournament and Quake 2, and strategy games like Age of Empires (1 + 2), Starcraft, and Warcraft are still popular. Some of them are very easy to pick up and learn, too, which makes them ideal for a casual mixed gaming group.

Look around for some old-school multiplayer games, too. LAN support was much more common in games before on-line gaming took over, so you can often find older games for sale at good prices, and sites like gog.com go to great lengths to ensure they still run on modern hardware.

Old games are much smaller than modern games, but you can still fill your hard drive quickly. Consider upgrading your hard drive, or read our article on the best external SSDs for gaming.

Local servers used to be the only option for LAN gaming. Most often, the game server was hosted by one of the players. This meant some extra overhead on the gaming PC, but a gaming server is less demanding than a gaming PC, so a good enough PC wouldn’t even notice the extra burden.

Dedicated local servers meant that players could dedicate their PCs to getting the best gaming performance they could, but it meant extra expense and more space needed for hardware.

This changed when players began to rent their own dedicated remote servers for hosting games. These allowed players to connect from wherever they were located to play, but it’s where the LAN party began to die. If everyone could connect remotely, there would be no need to play in person - but playing together is where the real fun is.

Today, there are so many classic LAN games to choose from that PC performance is not really an issue. Modern PCs, especially gaming computers, are so powerful, they can act as the server and client for almost any game more than a few years old.

Dedicated local servers will still give you the best performance overall. They will be more reliable, have better network performance (essential), have fewer security risks, and give you more control over the hardware and software. A dedicated LAN gaming server also means you can install all your game server files on it and free up that space from your gaming PC.

It’s about connecting with friends, enjoying face-to-face competition, and sharing the experience of gaming together. While modern gaming allows us to play from anywhere, nothing beats the thrill of seeing your opponent’s reaction in real time. Whether you’re planning a casual gathering or a full-scale tournament, a well-organized LAN party is an unforgettable experience.

So, grab your gear, pick your favorite multiplayer games, and get ready for a night of gaming fun!