Friday at LANWAR brings quiet early hours, gaming, community conversations, and Sapphire’s experience at one of the world’s longest-running LAN events.

My wife and I turned in early on Thursday night, around 10:00 PM, after a long day. Friday started with a quick run to McDonald’s for breakfast before heading up to the venue.

The LANWAR venue is open 24 hours a day, with staff always on duty. Right now, it’s the quiet time of the event, which runs from 3:00 AM until 9:00 AM. While there are still gamers awake, many are resting in the large sleeping area. This is something unique I’ve noticed at LAN events in North America of this size, a dedicated, free sleeping space for all attendees.

For a bit of background, LANWAR is one of the oldest continuously running LAN parties in the world. It began in 1998 — that’s 28 years ago — and has hosted at least two events every year, with only one exception when COVID caused a cancellation. In the early days, LANWAR even ran three events annually.

I started attending LANWAR in 2014, and it quickly became one of my favourite gaming events. The LAN gaming community here is diverse, welcoming, and incredibly supportive. The staff are outstanding. When I’m here, people often seek me out for a hug, a handshake, or a conversation about anything you can imagine — a lot about Sapphire, but also general computing and gaming.

In the early days, we ran a booth, but over time we evolved to simply have a seat among the gamers. I always keep an extra open seat next to me so anyone can sit down and chat. My wife usually takes the seat right behind me 😊

For me, Friday at LANWAR is a day of rest. I get time to do some gaming and enjoy lots of informal conversations. I love arriving early on Friday, enjoying the quiet hours, and talking with the hardcore LAN gamers. 

Friday also brings a full schedule of tournaments. You’ll find the expected favourites like Rocket League and Fortnite, as well as some non-PC events such as Poker.

Someone just stopped by and asked a great question: “Why write the blog so early in the day when all the events are later and you won’t have pictures?” The honest answer is simple — once the day gets going, I get completely absorbed in conversations and gaming. By the end of the day, I’m usually worn out and would forget to write the blog altogether 😊

The articles content, opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in SAPPHIRE NATION are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent official policy or position of SAPPHIRE Technology.

Edward Crisler
Edward is the definition of an “old school” gamer, playing computer games as far back at 1977. He hosted a tech talk show for 20 years and is now the North America PR Representative for SAPPHIRE as well as SAPPHIRE’s unofficial gaming evangelist. You can follow him on Twitter @EdCrisler.