“Four screens, two controllers, one shelf.”
Team games on the network, co-op nights, a retro corner and board games for the breaks. Here is what really gets played at Harbour LAN, in genres rather than brands.
“The Friday line-up.”
Friday is mostly team-based: five-a-side objective games, racing leagues, a rotating strategy ladder and a few competitive builders where the winner is whoever's base falls over last. The one requirement is that a game has to behave itself on a wired network, which weeds out the fussy ones early. If a game needs a long download, we ask people to pull it down at home the day before. A good Friday has three or four different games running at once, each with its own cluster of tables and its own running commentary.
Wednesdays are for cooperating. Small teams of two to four work through survival and campaign games at their own pace, which is the best way to learn what a game is asking of you. Somebody who has played it before sits alongside and keeps the hints short, because the quickest way to spoil a puzzle is to solve it for someone. It is also where many of our regulars first found a genre they were sure they would never enjoy.
Thursday is league night, covered on the friendly tournaments page, and Sunday starts with a newcomers' hour: easy games, patient teachers and no scoreboard anywhere in sight. Nobody has ever been asked to prove their skill at the door, and it makes a gentle landing for anyone who is nervous about competitive play.
Saturday belongs to the corner at the back: cartridge consoles, tube televisions, side-scrolling platformers, split-screen racers and puzzle games for two. It is loud and silly and nobody keeps score. The board game shelf is open on all five nights, and the only expectation is that you put the lid back on properly. A few deck-building games, a stack of dice and one enormous jigsaw live there, too.
Team games
Objective matches and five-a-side
Co-op campaigns
For two to four, hints kept short
Retro corner
Cartridge classics, two controllers a round
Tabletop gaps
Short board games between lobbies
“Bring what you've got.”
“Will my old laptop do?”
Almost certainly. Most Friday games are chosen because they run on modest machines, and the Wednesday co-op games are lighter again. If yours struggles, ask in the chat server and one of the club's spare machines can be set aside for you for the night. Bring your own mouse and headphones if you can, since those are the things people are fussiest about.
“Can I just watch?”
Yes. Most newcomers do for the first half hour, usually with a cup of tea near the retro corner. When something looks like fun, somebody will offer you a spare seat or a spare controller, and you can say no as often as you like. Plenty of people have a happy first night without touching a keyboard at all.
“What if I don't know the game?”
Say so out loud. Someone will teach you the basics during the first round, and the team will hand you a role that suits a beginner. We would rather lose a match than lose a newcomer, and the ladder survives either way. Everybody in the room has been the beginner at some point, and most of them still remember it.
“How a first night goes.”
Walk in
Come any time after doors open at six. Say hello at the table by the entrance, grab a mug and find whoever is wearing the crew lanyard, who will point you at a seat and explain where the cables live. If the room looks busy, wait a minute; someone will notice you and wave you over.
Watch a round
Take your tea to the retro corner or stand behind a friendly shoulder. Nobody expects you to jump in. Watching a lobby fill and a match unfold teaches you more than any rules page, and it gives you time to decide which kind of game you'd like to try first.
Join a lobby
When you're ready, put your hand up. The crew will find a team with a spare slot, sort out any download in the background and make sure the first game is one you'll enjoy. If it isn't, say so and the crew will find another one.
Stay for tea
Halfway through the night everyone stops. Mugs go round, someone sets up a two-player game on the old television, and you will meet the people you were just playing against, and probably find out that the one who beat you is terrible at the retro games.
Help pack up
Roll a cable, wipe a table, stack a box. It takes ten minutes with the whole room helping, and it is the quickest way to stop being the new person. By the second Friday you'll probably be showing someone else where the cables live.