How to throw a LAN party in 2026
FOV 90
Welcome to FOV 90, an FPS column from staff writer Morgan Park. Every other week, I cover topics relevant to first-person shooter enjoyers, spanning everything from multiplayer and singleplayer to the old and the new.
Welcome back, FPS enjoyers, for a locally-networked edition of FOV 90.
I turned 30 this past weekend, and when my fiancé asked me how I’d like to celebrate, I had exactly one idea: Use the occasion to convince my friends to haul their heavy PCs across town and have an actual, honest-to-god LAN party in 2026.
See, I missed the boat on LAN parties when they were a thing that still regularly happened, save one cherished memory of my uncle including 7-year-old me in a Halo: CE party with eight system-linked Xboxes. What little I know about the joys of local PC play I’ve absorbed from pictures and stories from my PC gaming elders.
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We lightly themed our party around the 2000s, but the only plan was to play whatever sounded fun as a group. We ended up playing tons of Halo, a lot of Battlefront 2 (Classic), and a few rounds of Left 4 Dead 2 Versus, among other favorites. Drinks were drunk, pizza inhaled, grass smoked, and Mountain Dew Code Red respectfully included in mixed beverages.
Morgan Park
The best way to play shooters is with friends, and the best way to be with friends is in the same room. Bring back the LAN party.
It was comfortably the best birthday party I’ve had as an adult. I was worried at first that going to all this trouble to play stuff that we could more easily set up over Discord would end up feeling pointless, but that was quickly disproven: Everything about playing shooters with your buds is more fun when they’re actually in the room emoting, reacting, and trash-talking to your face. I want to make this a more regular thing, but honestly, it wasn’t a smooth ride. We had issues both technical and logistical—some self-inflicted, some harder to predict. We really could’ve used a LAN veteran on the scene.
So while I wholeheartedly recommend you also get off of Discord and throw a LAN party with the people you care about, here are some tips to make sure it goes well:
✅DO: Consider renting tables
My original non-plan was to have everyone set up their PCs wherever they would fit in our apartment. This would’ve been a disaster, as our tiny dining table and coffee table could accommodate three monitor/tower setups at the most. We ended up renting two six-foot tables and setting them side-to-side for one long battle station. We let everyone claim a spot as they arrived, and it worked out perfect for our mix of towers, laptops, and various Steam Decks.
❌DON’T: Skimp on chairs🪑
We thought we’d save a few bucks by not renting chairs and asked everyone to bring some sort of camping chair instead. We ended up with some people in fairly comfortable seats and others suffering on back-less stools, which wasn’t ideal. Next time, I’m renting some chairs.
✅DO: Make a list of games to play
I shared around a doc of games that we could play and had everyone add to it. This was a bit harder than it sounded, as lots of games are good for two-to-four people, but nine is a tall order. We prioritized shooters with great local multiplayer or co-op, but the list also included indie classics like Castle Crashers and Golf With Your Friends. You can also just play online games together, too—Overwatch, League, CS2—but we figured we’d best avoid games that could genuinely piss us off.
❌DON’T: Forget to download them ahead of time
If you can bug everyone to download the largest games ahead of time, you’ll save yourself a huge headache. We ended up with a few friends who had to download large chunks of the Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Not a huge deal on a normal day with 300mbps down internet, but the influx of devices slowed things down.
✅DO: Order a giant pizza🍕
This 28″ pie from a Bakersfield, California mainstay, Cataldo’s, was enough to feed nine people and leave a lot of leftovers. Along for the ride was 2lbs of potato wedges, jalapeno poppers, and like 10 ranch cups. You don’t need me to tell you that pizza and wedges is a perfect party food, but, you know: it is.
❌DON’T: Transport it like this🛻
The gigantic pizza came in an even larger pizza box that simply did not fit in the backseat of my friend’s truck. So… we improvised. If you have to transport a pizza in a truck bed, do not weigh it down with random pieces of IKEA furniture (but this will get the job done).
✅DO: Provide surge protectors & ethernet🔌
Kind of a “no duh,” but you’ll need a few power strips for a LAN party, and it’s best to spread their usage across multiple power outlets to avoid overloading breakers. These surge protectors I picked up on Amazon did a great job.
I also bought a few 6ft ethernet cables, and two things about this:
- Wifi ended up working fine for the majority of us, and
- 6ft cables meant anyone who needed ethernet had to huddle near the router, so go longer
❌DON’T: Forget about extension cords
I bought power strips, but not the extension cords that would make it easy to place them in central positions on the table. Rookie mistake, but we ended up scrounging some cords together from elsewhere in the apartment.
✅DO: Sweat💧
Even with the AC cranked, it’s gonna get hot in a room full of PCs during the Summer. Expect to get a little sweaty, and use ground fans to help circulate the muggy air.
❌DON’T: Be sweaty😓
Realize that your friend group includes varied skill levels, and regulate your tryhardiness accordingly. Instead of camping the rocket launcher spawn, tell the room where that spawn is. Don’t pretend to be bad, but don’t try to be the greatest. Your friends are not a pub stomp server.
✅DO: Include your online friends
Speaking of friends, if you have online ones that can’t attend the LAN party, include them anyway. We had a Discord channel open all day with a webcam feed that folks could drop in our out of.
❌DON’T: Bother with a “room mic”🎙️
As far as audio goes, my plan to plunk my Blue Yeti mic in the middle of the table and call it a day was, predictably, poor. There were echoing issues and noise filter hurdles that made it tough for remote attendees to hear us. Next time we’ll just use headset mics and push-to-talk.
✅DO: Take pictures📸
For fun.
❌DON’T: Only play videogames
Our big break away from the PCs was pizza time. We flipped on some Simpsons and while we ate, then got back to it. In retrospect, it would’ve been nice to also play some stuff on the couch for a while, like Mario Kart or Smash Bros, watch a movie, or get some fresh air at the park.
But I am just one humble LAN party novice. What are your best LAN party memories? What did you play, when, and what best practices did I miss that could’ve improved the day? Leave a comment below or send me an email at morgan.park@futurenet.com (I always respond to nice people).
