Lan Party Gear | Setting Up A Lan Party

In my last post I discussed the LAN party power requirements. Today I'll cover a basic check list of all the requirements for hosting your own LAN party. While this checklist will be geared towards the home based LAN party it can be scaled up for larger events.

1. You need A Good Location. - You'll want plenty of room for tables chairs and all the equipment required. You should have a full understanding of the electrical circuits and their capacities. The location you host you LAN party must have Air Conditioning. Computers, monitors and human bodies generate a lot of heat. Besides power overheating is the second biggest concern at LAN parties.

2. Tables and Chairs. If you don't have your own tables and chairs usually you can find a local church , volunteer fire dept , or other organization that will let you borrow or rent them. Even if they don't charge you for them you should give a small donation, you may want use them again.

3. Network Equipment - You should have a quality switch. 10/100/1000 switches are getting pretty inexpensive these days if you shop wisely. Don't get in over your head here. If your not a network specialist stick with Netgear, Linksys or Dlink home consumer models. They will come with simple instructions on how to configure your network and won't require much if any configuration. Cisco switches and some of the other high end switches will require more configuration and are definitely more expensive. Make sure you get switch with enough ports for everyone and a few extra for expansion. Don't forget patch cables.

4. List of Games- You should know in advance what games you will be playing. When you schedule your LAN party, provide a list of the games required. I would highly suggest you make sure everyone has them pre-installed to save time getting started at your LAN party. It is also a good idea to have a basic schedule of when you will be playing which games. The more organized your LAN party more likely everyone will have fun.

5. List of computer requirements. Provide everyone that will be attending the LAN party a list of the pc requirements that are needed to play the games on your list. You dont want everyone showing up with computers that are not capable of running the games on your LAN party list. These requirements can be found on the game boxes or software companies website.

6. Internet access - This may not be a necessity but is highly suggested. Your LAN party guests may find they need to update drivers, download game patches or just check their email from time to time. If you don't plan on having Internet access make sure to let everyone know in advance.

7. Refreshments- When hosting a LAN party its a good idea to have plenty of snacks and drinks. I would avoid alcohol, this isn't a frat party its a LAN party. Usually we have everyone that is coming to the LAN party bring something with them. Brownies, bag of chips, dip, case of pop or whatever extra that your guests can provide is a bonus.

This is a basic list of LAN party gear and what is required in setting up a LAN party. After your first LAN party take notes of thing you didn't do right and create your own LAN party list for the future.