Word Spy - LAN party

LAN party (LAN par.tee) n. A gathering where people bring their own computers, connect them together into a local area network (LAN), and then play computer games (particularly first-person shooter games) against each other.
—LAN partyer n.

Example Citations:

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 5, 1999

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

Earliest Citation:

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 4, 1997

Notes:

Wired's Jargon Watcher Gareth Branwyn suggested today's word.