Inside LAN-O-THON

Saturday, April 14, 2007

My favorite LAN Party Game

If you look at the pictures of my past events, it is easy to tell what my favorite game is: Half-life 2: Deathmatch.

The game is cheap to buy on Steam (it is only $9.99) and its also available as part of Valve's Temporary Tournament Steam Accounts if you wish to provide the game free at your event. It is relatively easy to learn and the gaming action is non stop. If you die, you respawn in a couple of seconds rather than have to wait till the next round starts like in Counter-Strike. It is great fun to yell at the person who just threw a radiator at you only to return the favor a few seconds later. It can get to be very competitive as the final seconds of the round approach and there is a three way tie going on only to be broken by the guy sitting next to you. For veterans, there are plenty of great community maps to play on. My only grip is that the game doesn't have any bots for n00bs to play against or fill servers with when there is only one player is on the server. This game has been the center of most of my LAN Parties because of the number of people who enjoy playing it. You can't beet the fun of creaming the next to with a toilet or making someone fly with the RPG.

Over all this is the one game I will always host at my events.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Secondary LAN Party Games

There is more to a LAN Party than just games. Thats where this list of crazy games comes in to play. These games may also be known as Stupid LAN Party games or Take-a-break-from-your-computer Games. They give gamers a reason to get up from their 20 hour game-a-thon and take a break to rest their eyes and stretch their legs and have a little fun doing something else.

I have complied a list of these games from other LAN Parties...

  1. Poetry Contest (Stompfest) Write a poem about Gaming, the LAN Party or Computers. The best one wins
  2. Stupid Human Tricks (Stompfest) Whoever can do the coolest trick like bend their fingers or fold them self into a pretzel wins.
  3. Talent show (PDX LAN 4.05 ) Gamers show off there singing, musical abilities, impersonations and more.
  4. Find Your Shoes in the Pile (ATI Revolution) Everyone tosses their shoes into a pile and the first person to find and get their shoes on and tied first wins.
  5. Pimp My PC Case (ATI Revolution, LPANE Nor'Easter) Who ever has the ugliest computer case wins a new case and the old one is smashed.
  6. Scrap my PC (ATI Revolution, LPANE Nor'Easter) Who ever has the oldest crappiest computer wins a brand new machine if they are willing to smash their old one to bits (save the hard drive first)
  7. Scavenger Hunt (ATI Revolution) Gamers get a list of items they have to find and the first team to bring all the items to the admin wins.
  8. Sword Fight (ATI Revolution) Gamers battle it out with foam swords in a real life deathmatch.
  9. Mod Contest (PDX LAN 4.05, LanPartyNW, AsylumLAN) The best case mod Wins! Can be split in to Best Custom Case, Best Modified Case and Neatest Case.
  10. Jeopardy (PDX LAN 4.05) Best contestant wins.
  11. Hardware Shuffleboard (PDX LAN 4.05) Can be played with defective hard drives, graphics cards and other hardware.
  12. Video Contest (PDX LAN 4.05) Gamers make videos showcasing the LAN Party.
  13. Drink Chugging (Iron Storm 3)
  14. Surprise Karaoke (Iron Storm 3) Nothing like nerds singing.
  15. Run around the building (Iron Storm 3) Have the participants do it in their skivvies in freezing weather for an added challenge.
  16. Who can hold their Breath the longest (Iron Storm 3) Do it with ice water for bright red faces.
  17. Dare Contest (Quakecon 2005) Contestants perform crazy stunts trying to out do each other.
  18. Head Shaving (Quakecon 2005) Would you do it to win?
  19. Poker (LanPartyNW) Texas Hold'em
  20. Keyboard Assembly (AsylumLAN) Who can put all the keys on a keyboard back on in the correct order the fastest.
  21. Lets make a deal (MultiMayhem) Contestants can second guess them self for a better prize or for a piece of crap.
  22. Eating Contest (ATI EverLAN) Whether it is Peeps or JalapeƱos Seeing people eat crap is fun.
  23. Bridge It! (PDX LAN) A real life version of the computer game to build the strongest bridge out using popsicle sticks and glue.
I'm still finding more ideas. If you have one, post it in the comments and if I like it, I will add it to the list.

Advertising your LAN on the Web

There are several website on the web were you can advertise your LAN Party for free.
Some of these sites are

You'll find LAN-O-THON posted on all of them.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Top Half-life 2: Deathmatch Maps

I've gone through 200 maps and I've looked them over and scored them. I didn't follow a rubric but the ones I scored high tended to be unique, fit in with the half-life universe and be fun to play on.

The whole list is posted in a Google spreadsheet- original copy and an editable one. Feel free to add your ratings to the discussion panel and I will add them to the chart or I may even invite you to collaborate with me on it.

Eventually I will release a map pack with all of my favorite maps.

Cool Color Tools

When I was working on the skin for this blog, I found some cool color tools...

btw. an even better skin is in the works.