As family and friends gather for the holidays, there are some evenings where you may find everyone sitting around with nothing to do. One of the best ways to have fun with the whole family is by playing games together.
Usually, people bring along laptops with them when they travel. Since most homes are equipped with Wi-Fi, and since most people bring along their laptops wherever they go, there are a lot of ways you can use that network to host some excitement. What excitement, you ask? Well, if you're trying to come up with fun party games this year, I encourage you to make use of that Wi-Fi network and host a few networked games amongst your guests with laptops.
If you need help setting up your Wi-Fi network for LAN gaming, make sure to check out Karl's instructional guide. I recently covered a cool LAN game you could play called WarZone 2100, but there are a few more games that especially lend themselves well to Wi-Fi LAN gaming with the family.
Play RISK
You've probably played the strategic board game called Risk, but you've never played it like the Yura.net SourceForge project. So fire up your laptops and then download and install this desktop version of the RISK board game.
When you first launch the game, one person can launch the server and the additional players can attach to the game server.
Game play can get pretty grueling as each person takes turns situating their armies across the globe, and then attacking neighbors in order to conquer the entire world. The game automatically handles rolling the dice and calculating gained or lost armies.
The game can get pretty heated as you completely wipe out your opponents. The game is pretty addictive so if you're going to try it out, plan to set aside a couple of hours at least.
Play Poker
If you prefer classic card games more than board games, you'll love the multi-platform game PokerTH. When you play this game, it's like sitting around a huge billiards table with your friends and playing round after round of Poker.
If you're hosting the game, just select option three from the main menu and configure the game settings, including the number of players, how much cash each player starts with, and other details.
The graphics are pretty decent, especially considering the game is free. It's a lot of fun to try your hand at bluffing to see if you can get the other players to fold.
When you're networked together on the same Wi-Fi network with this game, there's no need to worry about dealing with cards, chips, or keeping track of everything. The application does it all for you.
Armagetron
There's no getting around it, Armagetron is one of the best Tron clones out there. This game is built upon the lightcycle sequence from the movie Tron, and I have to say that it definitely does the movie justice. The pace of this game really does get your heart pumping. Setting up a multiplayer game is a breeze.
Just configure network setup in a couple of quick steps and you've got your game server ready to roll. One very cool feature of this game is that you can split your screen into up to four views to see all four players.
Racing through these levels are wild. You'll either crash into your opponents forcefield, or you're going to crash into your own, but one thing is for certain - you're going to crash.
The point is - who is going to hold out the longest? Do you have what it takes to stay alive as each of your opponents collides into a wall at full speed? Challenge your guests to a heart-pounding game of Armagatron.
Warsow - A Family Friendly First Person Shooter
The most popular type of LAN party game is definitely the first person shooter, but there aren't many FPS games that are suitable for all ages. Warsow is unique in that way because the characters are more cartoonish than anything else, and when you shoot, you're blasting electricity, not bullets.
Once you've got your local server running, additional players can log in and look for your local server to join. Once they do, all of you will be in the virtual world where you can configure gameplay to be a free-for-all, deathmatch, duel, or anything else.
The environment and scenery is of a quality that you'd expect from some of the latest FPS shooting games - it's only the character and weapons, as you can see in the image above, that are cartoonized.
There's a lot to be said for a good old-fashioned sit-down with family and friends for a coffee and a chat. There's a place and time at every family gathering for that. But, once the conversations have died down and people start looking for something interesting to pass the time, give these games a shot and transform your holiday gathering into an event that your guests are sure to remember.
Do you know of any other cool games that would be great at a party? Try these out at your next gathering and let us know how it went. Share your experiences in the comments section below.
Image credit: stokfoto
