LAN party
n. A gathering where people bring their own computers, connect them together into a local area network and then play computer games — particularly first-person shooter games — against each other.
Other Forms
Etymology
Examples
2000
Players frequently get together at what are called LAN parties — short for Local Area Network — where scores of gamers link their computers together at one central location for a weekend of competition, Marler said.

Gamers find each other through Internet links such as http://www.lanparty.com.
—Chase Squires, “Internet warriors training locally,” St. Petersburg Times, January 30, 2000
1999
Forget about BYOB. This soiree is BYOPC — bring your own personal computer. The gathering is what's known as a LAN party, a celebration that centers around slaughtering one another's on-screen foes in the company of close friends.
—Jenifer Hanrahan, “Web Warriors; Conflict and camaraderie make a party out of computer war,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 05, 1999
1997 (earliest)
A full-scale battle is being fought with fierce intensity in Richmond this weekend — on computers.

It is a Lan Party, otherwise known as a local area network. And in the midst of a selection of computers and confusion of wires are about 15 young computer buffs engrossed in games linked up to the same network.
—“Battling with the network,” The Nelson Mail (New Zealand), October 04, 1997
Notes
Wired's Jargon Watcher Gareth Branwyn suggested this word.
Filed Under