A 90s-style BYO-rig LAN party for Age of Empires II lands in Lower Haight on Monday, Aug. 10, 6 p.m. to midnight — free to attend, 60 spots, RSVP required, beginners taught.

If your idea of a good Monday is dragging a desktop tower onto a bus, this one's for you. The Faight Collective is turning its Lower Haight space into a 90s-style LAN party for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Monday, Aug. 10, from 6 p.m. to midnight at The Faight, 473A Haight St. It's free to attend, but there are only 60 spots and you have to RSVP — the organizers ("Lower Haight Local") are running sign-ups through a Partiful page, and posted the invite to r/sanfrancisco over the weekend.

Here's the catch that separates this from a bar night: it's bring-your-own-rig. You supply the laptop or computer, a monitor, and a mouse; the room supplies power, ethernet, and — per the organizers — a stock of Monster Energy. The game itself isn't provided either. You'll need to own AoE II: Definitive Edition (about $20 on Steam) and, crucially, install it before you show up — it's a ~20 GB download you do not want to be starting at 6:05 on The Faight's Wi-Fi. The organizers' setup page at lowerhaightlocal.com/aoe has install walkthroughs for Mac (via Porting Kit) and Linux (Proton), which is the tell that this is run by people who actually LAN.

The night runs in three blocks: 6–8 p.m. open play, where they'll teach total beginners; 8–10 p.m. a bracket tournament for experienced players; and 10 p.m.–midnight more casual grudge matches. All skill levels are welcome.

The insider move: if you've never touched the game, come for the 6 p.m. open-play window and skip the tournament — that's the part where someone walks you through a build order. Bring a real mouse (trackpad micro is misery) and an ethernet dongle if you own one. Lower Haight is Muni-bus territory — the 6, 7, and 22 all run within a block, and there's no BART close, so don't count on a quick train out at midnight.

If you've only got two hours: the 6-to-8 p.m. open-play block is the whole point — that's where beginners get taught. Claim one of the 60 RSVP spots before it fills, and install the game ahead of time so you're playing, not downloading.