Fundraising LAN Party suggestions needed

[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?

[Shrub]

After talking to a friend who also does LAN parties, we could only think of Hearthstone, which is free and has a safe chat with a few phrases. It's also playable on mobile and tablet, but of course that isn't a LAN party.

There's LoL, but as far as I know that has a learning curve. A strong one.

[matthewdenny]

How long does it take to play these games?

[TogetherSword8]

Originally Posted by matthewdenny

How long does it take to play these games?

I feel it would be easier to tell us how long of a game you are looking for, are you thinking of a 2-3 hour thing, or a longer period of 8-9 hours, or an overnight of as many as 15 hours?
Depending on your answer, that will influence what games we recommend.

[Shrub]

Originally Posted by matthewdenny

How long does it take to play these games?

Hearthstone varies from 5 mins to 30 mins a match.

[matthewdenny]

I think anytime. Would be acceptable. I just don't want to schedule two or three hours for an eight or nine hour long game.

[Jimmy Nichols]

We have done LAN Parties in the past. Both times we had the attendees bring their own computers to set up a local network for whatever the popular game at the time was. We also brought it loaned Systems (Playstation, XBox, etc.) along with board games so folks could go from station to station. Both of our events were overnight events. We sold concessions and charged a small amount for door entry.

[seg9585]

Originally Posted by matthewdenny

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

Any ideas?

Warthunder is a free game and is fighter plane related. The rounds are relatively quick and it can be a lot of fun!

Kerbal Space Program has a multiplayer sandbox mode as well, although I'm not sure if their free beta version is compatible. Either way, it's fun to play even *with* others on separate computers if not against others.

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by seg9585

Kerbal Space Program has a multiplayer sandbox mode as well, although I'm not sure if their free beta version is compatible. Either way, it's fun to play even *with* others on separate computers if not against others.

Kerbal Space Program needs to be modded in order to run multiplayer. The free demo version is not moddable, so you'll need to buy the full version of the game if you want to do that.

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

I would definitely recommend what others were saying about having multiple games as well as board games available. Hearthstone, league of legends, Dota are all games that are free and that the typical students who want to go to a lan party would probably like. If possible, I'd also recommend maybe having a party game like mario party or smash bros. Maybe have a tournament as well with a cheap prize like a gift card. If you can sell food, definitely sell food and drinks as well.

[snoman]

""""Defusing Bombs
I found the perfect game for FRC Team 16 Bomb Squad!

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BhHkvHcUfo

I feel this is an awesome team builder puzzle game for any team."""


Haven't played it but looks cool.. could have teams buy in and pay winning team or give prize . Ie. School teams. Pending school approval of course

[wazateer1]

If you are willing to create every computer a temporary account (which would also be required by LoL, Dota, and some of the other recommended ones), Team Fortress 2 is fun, short, and has a high replay value and low learning curve, and pretty much no progression other then item collection.

[TheStatisticMan]

Just found this conversation. Yes, games like League of Legends and DOTA 2 have really high learning curves. For those types of games, the attendees of these events would definitely want previous experience. If that's the intention of a LAN party, go for it. Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Party, Madden, FIFA, etc. are easier games to have as they can be played with no experience (not saying that a new player would be good; they just won't ruin an online multiplayer game like LoL or DOTA).

For a first-time event, I would stick with the second list of games and then consider adding LoL or DOTA. Keep in mind that a gathering with the second list will naturally be shorter because of the average game length. LoL or DOTA range from 20 to 50+ minutes (at least League); SSBB is about five minutes.

Hopefully this helps!

[Ariane Nazemi]

In my experience with LAN parties, usually the best all-around game is Smash. Even when I knew nothing about the game it was still fun to mash buttons and try to beat your friends. It's also very easy to create tournament brackets for Smash, and the new one can even have up to 8 players. Our team had a similar idea in mind and is planning to use a Smash tournament as the main attraction.

[matthewdenny]

Have any of you run a similar fundraiser? What admission charge worked well?