I am looking for a handful of games that I could have on hand for when a bunch of people come to my place and want to play a LAN party game.

Requirements:

- Just one game file, off-line, no Internet required. Just distribute the file with a USB flash drive.
- No configuration. It just works. No special configuration.
- Works on Win 10 an 11.
- Mouse and keyboard. No joysticks or anything fancy.
- Bonus points for Star Wars (I was hoping for Battlefront, but it looks like it doesn't do so hot)
- Best if for lots of players (like 20 or more), but less is good, too. Not sure how many will come over and play.
- Should be pretty old and easily run on a wide range of ages of laptops (some being rather crappy).


Any assistance would be appreciated.

1 game file?

You may want to not engage in piracy, unless you're also buying additional gift copies to give to the attendees and just using the pass-around-drive to make installing easier. Just because it's DRM-free doesn't mean it's actually free to give to anyone and everyone.

It's different if these are your own machines...

In times of 750+ watts power supplies it may happen earlier than in the 90s/2000s :D

Worms World Party Remastered comes to mind. Fits all the requirements + FUN!

Edit:
Racing games can be fun too, on GOG Flatout2 is pretty nice, bonus for the detruction derbi mode but it has 2 installer files.I would add Re-Volt but not sure if it has LAN support.
Otherwise Trackmania Nations Forever is available for free from the Website. Don't click the big buttons, the game link in in the bottom of the page.

For a few references, check one thread made long ago:

.
edit: sorry, I posted this before reading all you wrote. I was too enthused ;)

Caveats:
* not on GOG, you'd have to use "abandonware" site or buy CD off Amazon
* you'll want to check this out: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Game_of_Life (I had the Slowdown on 64-bit Windows issue) Not hard to fix though.
* max is 6 players
* goofy/corny (but fun 3D animations imo)

All that said, I want to suggest The Game of Life 1998

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Ideas from GOG games I own:

Terraria
Quake
the Unreals (of course, not sold anymore)
Serious Sams
Blood 1

Dont know many, but i can recommend Flatout 2. It is nice racing game. But it is maybe limited to 2 players. ..

An update for anyone who cares:
We did the party and it was awesome. We had snacks and beers and about 6 hours to kill. I already had a handful of the recommended games and bought a few more to give some additional recommended choices. We ended up playimg Quake 4 (all of our first time) and a big Empire Earth match late into the night (everyone else’s first time).

One of my friends was super impressed that I got the old games working and I directed him to gog and made a customer out of him (he needed more Empire Earth in his life),

Thanks again, everyone!

Hi! I play 6 - 7 player LAN nights with my friends, so maybe not all these are 20 player+, but still great fun.

So far my GOG recommendations are:

Flatout 2
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Kane & Lynch 2
SWAT 4
Project Zomboid

But if you're patient and resourceful, we have the most fun with:

FEAR Combat
Blur

Honorable mentions (that we used to play)

Sims 4 Multiplayer mod
OpenTTD
Civilization 6

Also, pcgamingwiki.com is your friend for how to fixes and essential improvements.

Slight edit on the piracy note: do not just give your GOG games installs out. I own 8 hand-me-down laptops and do all the setup before hand.