Darwin Gamers

02/06/2026

Bit of a nerdy follow-up from the Darwin Gamers LAN.

We pulled some stats from the day and honestly, some of them are exactly what you’d expect from a proper local LAN.

TrackMania somehow peaked at 19 players, Team Fortress 2 got nearly 3 hours of play, CS GunGame still goes hard, and Pirates, Vikings & Knights II made an appearance because apparently we are all still living in 2008.

The LANCache also did its job properly. At one point it was serving 53.8GB locally and saving 33.3GB of internet, with a cache hit ratio up around 98%. Which is good, because watching 40+ people all try to update games over Starlink at the same time would have been a war crime.

Also recorded:
47 total attendees
45 unique clients
24 game servers running at peak
34 gamer tags captured
24 pizza choices logged
80 pieces of chicken consumed

BBQ Meatlovers was the top pizza, which feels legally correct.

Thanks again to everyone who came along, brought gear, helped troubleshoot stuff, shared files, joined random servers, and generally made it feel like an actual old-school LAN instead of just a room full of people quietly sitting on Discord.

29/05/2026

Today is the day. See you at Ludmilla Primary School. Follow the posters.

26/05/2026

A few people have probably seen the earlier Darwin Gamers LAN posts already, so this is just a last-minute shout-out rather than another big sales pitch.
The LAN is this Saturday, 30 May, and there are only a handful of tickets left.
We’ve got the file server loaded up with about 79 game archives / 359GB across the LAN shares, including game installers, packages, and ISOs etc. The plan is still very much “copy it over the LAN and play”, not “everyone arrives and destroys the internet at 10am”.
Internet-wise, we’re load balancing a few Starlink dishes. That should give us some connectivity for Discord, sign-ins, auth, updates and general emergencies.
The Discord has also been set up, and the invite email has gone out to attendees. If you bought a ticket and haven’t seen it, check spam/junk just in case. After the LAN we’re planning to open the Discord up more broadly so Darwin gamers have somewhere to organise games, find people, and hopefully bring a bit of the local gaming community back together again.
Also, if any local businesses or people want to throw in a last-minute prize, we’d genuinely appreciate it. Doesn’t need to be huge. Vouchers, gear, merch, useful gaming stuff, weird fun stuff. Otherwise the prize table may end up being Red Bulls and Mi Goreng packets, which is funny but probably not our best work.
If you were already thinking about coming, this is probably the last nudge.
Tickets: darwingamers.org

23/05/2026

Not trying to cause panic… but there’s only about 10 tickets left.
If you’ve been meaning to grab one, this is probably the part where you stop meaning to and actually do it. darwingamers.org

19/05/2026

LAN kicks off at 9:00am.

Please start downloading and testing a few games before the day so we’re not all sitting around watching progress bars.

The rough plan is:

9:00am – Arrive, set up, troubleshoot
10:00am – Icebreaker games
11:00am – Big group games
1:00pm – Lunch
Afternoon – Chaos, classics, free play
Secret challenge – No spoilers
7:00pm – Dinner
After dinner – Free play, rematches, whatever people are keen for

This is not a locked-in timetable. It’s just to help get people playing together early.

Main server list:

Just Cause 2 Multiplayer
Team Fortress 2 MvM
Team Fortress 2 PvP
Garry’s Mod Prop Hunt
TrackMania Nations Forever
Factorio
Counter-Strike: Source
Day of Defeat: Source
Battlefield 2
Altitude
Quake 3 Arena
Xonotic
Unreal Tournament 2004
OpenRA
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Armagetron
Dino D-Day
Pirates, Vikings & Knights II
Savage DRX
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
Skyrim Together Reborn
Tribes 2

Optional backup games worth having installed:

Minecraft
Terraria
Valheim
Project Zomboid
Barotrauma
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Supreme Commander
Left 4 Dead 2
Killing Floor 2
Wreckfest
Golf With Your Friends
Duck Game
Stick Fight: The Game

We’re trying not to rely on online-only games, so LAN/offline-friendly stuff is best.

Bring headphones. Update Steam. Don’t be the person downloading 40GB at 9:30am.

Plug in. Game on.

29/04/2026

1 MONTH TO GO. Get your tickets here www.darwingamers.org

19/04/2026

Get your tickets for the LAN party here. 30 May DarwinGamers.org not long to go now!

06/01/2026

Darwin Gamers 2026 LAN is happening.

We’re forming an organising committee now to lock in planning, logistics, and delivery. If you’re keen to be involved and can commit some time, hit me up directly.
We’ll be holding an initial planning meeting towards the end of January to set scope, roles, and next steps

21/12/2025

After 10 years — the LAN is coming back. Stay tuned.

17/05/2024