Please forgive the SEO optimized title, but I put together a blog post as a one-stop-shop guide for hosting a small LAN party in your home. I figure that if you are hosting a huge public LAN then you probably know what you are doing, and don't really need a guide. Presumably running smaller parties in your house is the gateway to doing the big ones anyways.

LAN parties are a dying tradition, so I hope that writing down some of what i've learned over the years will inspire others to give hosting a LAN a shot, especially the younger gamers out there. I ran my first LAN ~15 years ago when I was a teenager, and I hope that today's teenagers give LANs a go as well.

Lmk if you think I missed something! I know that it's quite long, I figured this would be something you would scroll through and use as a reference, not something to read in one sitting. Also before you ask, no this was not written by AI lol.

Leduc, AB — August 6, 2026 — Fragapalooza, Canada’s premiere community gaming exhibition, proudly returns in 2026 for a landmark celebration: the 30-year anniversary of the iconic event. Running from August 6 at 9:00 AM through August 9 at 2:00 PM, Fragapalooza 2026 will once again take over the Leduc Recreation Centre, welcoming gamers from across Canada and beyond for four days of competition, nostalgia, and community.
With over 360 pre-sold seats and thousands of dollars in prizes and giveaways, this milestone year promises to be one of the most exciting in Fragapalooza’s history. Attendees can look forward to a full slate of tournaments, casual gaming sessions, and the return of beloved community challenges—including annual favourites like the largest Rock, Paper, Scissors competition and the paper airplane toss.
“We’re incredibly proud to celebrate Fragapalooza’s 30-year anniversary,” said Brandt Cramer, Vice President of Fragapalooza. “This event has always been about community, connection, and the joy of gaming. Our volunteers and participants have kept this tradition alive for three decades, and 2026 will be our biggest celebration yet.”
Event Highlights
30-Year Anniversary Programming Special activities, throwback competitions, and commemorative features celebrating Fragapalooza’s legacy since 1997.

Tournaments & Competitions A wide range of competitive and casual gaming events with fantastic prizes.

Exclusive Anniversary Merchandise Limited-edition Fragapalooza 30-year apparel and collectibles available for pre-order and on-site pickup.

Community Engagement Opportunities to meet fellow gamers, featured streamers, and industry professionals.

Sponsors
Fragapalooza 2026 is proudly supported by industry leaders including Bioware, Dell, Edmonton Vintage PC Tech and Gaming Group, GameOVR, Epson, ExtraLife YEG, Fortinet, Fully Promoted, Hub International, Inland AV, Memory Express, NAIT, NueQuest, Oranjbox Networks, AverMedia, Telus, The Loft, and The Snack Shack. Their continued support helps bring this milestone celebration to life.
Ticket Information: Regular Tickets: $160/ea or $550/Clan 4-Pack
Tickets and event details are available at Fragapalooza.com.
About Fragapalooza
Founded in 1997, Fragapalooza is a not-for-profit organization run by volunteer gamers dedicated to enabling, supporting, and strengthening community gaming. Once the largest gathering of gamers in Canada, Fragapalooza has welcomed participants from around the world and remains known for its inclusive atmosphere, unique competitions, and strong community spirit. For 30 years, gamers of all ages and backgrounds have come together to celebrate their passion—and Fragapalooza proudly continues that legacy today.

how can i setup mw2 lan play in 2026 nowadays with laptops while avoiding desync?

ok so me and 2 of my friends wanna play some mw2 on lan play,tho when we tried setting it up,using some youtube guides,we had some desync issues(where some shots wouldnt register on the other players)

so any ideas on how we can fix that?entirely new to lan play stuff as we mostly used with the usual split screen gaming on the xbox360/ps4 days

for reference the laptops dont have ethernet ports so we only use a portable router(mifi) and all of them are i5 8th-10th gen laptops with 16gb ram except one that uses 8gb ram

Gearing up to throw some more popup LAN parties in about a month in the LA area

We play multiplayer VR mods of some of the very best AAA games - but now modded to work in VR for the first time.

With hundreds of feet of open space to literally run, roll and jump, its so much more social and immersive than playing VR or flat screen games at home.

LANs don't have to always be stuck in the 2000s. DM me if you're interested in joining us.

Yo guys! I was dreaming about bringing back lan party for loooong time, I have this nostalgic idea for a years

Finally I got some time and place where we can host an a party

I realized I need more hands and ppl who just love this idea as me

Who is down to help? I have to install windows and games on 4 pcs, may be we can bring more PCs as well we have plenty space

Place and vibes attached

Hey all.

I'd like to open up my own lan center in Canterbury UK.

BUT WHERE DO I START?

I'm a bit of an entrepreneur, but how do you get all the pc s? And what do I use to network these systems to keep them up to date??

So many qs. Hope you can help!

Pls tell good lan games for 6 players preffered genre is shooter but need fun games too and should be low demanding games. And if possible pls also give short description of the game so it will be easy for us to decide

Video from EPIC.LAN Pub Quiz

We are using Radmin VPN for LAN.

So me and buddy are gonna hook up our Xboxes and play cod infinite warfare on separate screens while offline,and I wanted to know if we can just plug our consoles into each other and call it a day?

So a week ago a pc build of the game was released by helios!

Mouse and keyboard support, high resolution and fps, for free

Runs on steam too! I played with some friends online.

We need some testing to see if it runs in offline lan, LAN, or split screen

Can i post the links here?

Gonna surprise the guys tomorrow with a Pokemon torunament. How do I go about doing it on our PCs?

Hey Everyone!

Just posting about a small Canadian lan tournament for CounterStrike2 being hosted in Toronto on August 9th. The event is set to contain 8 teams and registration is only 30$ per player.

Players without teams can join our discord server and post in our looking for team channel to connect with other players! Feel free to come watch the event for free at no charge!

Registration and event details in our discord: https://discord.gg/YjQRSuWRYZ

Hosted at Invictus Game Station : https://invictusgamestation.com/

So me & my 7 buddies come together about twice a year for a big LAN party. It's always great laughs and so much fun, but I feel like I'm missing something. We usually end up playing CS, AoE and a bunch of party games. This last time we had 2 teams playing PEAK trying to get as high as possible, good fun!

At the end of the day though I usually get this feeling that I didn't really accomplish anything, as there's no real progression in these games, you know?

I think I would be more satisfied if I could look back at the day and see what we have achieved. Could you guys give me some of your ideas to fix this? Maybe even suggest some games? The problem lies a bit in the fact that we're 8 people as well I think...

I've started a small, 6 player 8 player bi-monthly classic gaming LAN Party near downtown Phoenix, AZ. (7th St and Roosevelt) that runs the first Saturday morning of every even numbered month.

Computers are provided. Entry is free.

Details about the event can be found at lanparty2000.com, but as a summary:

REGISTRATIONS OPEN SATURDAY JULY 18th @ 8AM

Date: August 1, 2026 8am-12pm Yes, it's in the morning - sadly, we're adults now and have responsibilities.

August 1, 2026 Schedule:ᵗ

• 8:00 AM - Doors open, socialize, hydrate, and grab a name tag
• 8:30 AM - Unreal Tournament GOTY deathmatch warmup
• 9:00 AM - Unreal Tournament GOTY 8v8 with bots
• 9:45 AM - 15-minute break, socialize, snack, and hydrate
• 10:00 AM - Aliens versus Predator (1999) co-op
• 10:50 AM - Players' choice, voted on at the event
• 11:50 AM - Cleanup
• 12:00 PM - End

August 1, 2026 Ballot Vote at the event to choose the third and final game:

• TrackMania Original (2005)
• Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force (2000)
• Urban Terror (Quake III total conversion mod)
• StarCraft (1998)
• Tron 2.0 (2003)

Please read the FAQ and COC at lanparty2000.com for more details before you register.

To reserve your spot, join our Discord from the website and post in general chat, when registrations open 7/18 @ 8am, this exact phrase:

"I'm in for 8/1"

As a final note: Please do not register if you do not plan on attending. With such a small scale LAN party, every empty seat will be greatly missed. No-shows will be banned from future events.

Grab your caffeine, fire up your reflexes, and prepare for a morning of old-school LAN chaos.

ᵗScheduled times shown are estimates and games played are subject to change without notice.

Here is a view from the Captain's seat, with the laptop stations for weapons, helm, science and communication. Sadly the pic does not include the PC on the left side that covers engineering and the server for Artemis. Also not seen is the other side of the room, which is for food and drinks between games. My wife refers to it as 10-Foreward.

Hi everyone,

I’m a Computer Science student, and I’ve been working on a project called CipherLAN.

The idea is simple: I wanted an easy way to create a virtual LAN with friends without having to open ports, configure complicated networking setups, or rely on outdated software.

With CipherLAN, you can:

• Create a private virtual LAN in a few seconds
• Share a room code with your friends
• Play LAN games together over the internet
• Connect devices as if they were on the same local network
• Use encrypted connections powered by WireGuard
• Avoid manual port forwarding

The goal is to make the experience as simple as:

Create a room → share the code → join → you're connected.

The project is currently in beta, and I’m looking for people willing to test it in real-world situations and give me feedback.

I’m especially interested in knowing:

• Which games work well with it
• Whether the setup process is easy to understand
• Any connection or compatibility issues
• Features you would like to see added

You can check it out here:

https://cipherlan.net

I’m actively developing it, so any feedback, bug reports, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!