[IronicDeadBird]

Originally Posted by matthewdenny

We are a new team looking at fundraising. One of the assets we have is a computer lab with 20 machines. The idea was suggested of having a fundraiser where we charge 5 or 10 dollars to be part of a LAN party, or some sort of game tournament.

The question is: what game(s) to install? It has to be school acceptable, and cheap/free. Also popularity would help.

Any ideas?

Rocket League would be great but it isn't "popular"
Otherwise.....

Smash Bros! (any of em) is a classic lan party game.
With the exception of Brawl and Melee all super smash bros games have been rated "E" for everyone because despite being fighting games its called ESRBS rating system labels the games as having "cartoon mischief".
Speaking of ESRB if you haven't already looked into the Rating Systems such as ESRB those will straight tell you which games you will not be allowed to host.

Otherwise I would advise the following.
1. Compile a list of multiplayer competitive games that do not contain any of ESRB's content descriptors that your school would not approve of they can be found at ESRB's site
2. Create a survey with those top games and distribute it throughout the school and gather data on "What game would be best." As well as things like timing of party and other logistics. Most schools would require permission for distribution of such a survey and "someone on chief delphi suggested it." is not permission.
3. Plan the logistics from there.