An all-night video game party may not have earned them a badge, but none of the Boy Scouts or Girls Scouts gathered at the Grange on Saturday night seemed to mind.

Hosted by Rochester Boy Scout Troop 31, the candy-fueled LanParty Lockin was cooked up by troop leader Mike Blanchard.

“We’ve basically recreated the Internet in here,” said Blanchard, who works in cyber security.

Local area network or LAN parties happen all across the world, and allow a group of people to connect to the same game and play simultaneously.

This year was the third annual event for the Boy Scouts and a first for the Rochester and Marion Girl Scout Troops.

“They like to do a lot of the stuff the boys like to do,” said Donna Blanchard, the Rochester Girl Scout leader and Mike’s wife. “The boys said they were cool with it, so here we are.”

With their headsets on and copious amounts of snacks to keep them awake, the girls set up a united front along the back of the room. Some of the Girl Scouts admitted that they were gaming novices, but others said they are hard core gamers.

“I play video games a lot,” said Christine Fisher. “I’ve stayed up twenty-four hours playing video games.”

Robert DeCosta, who is in a video game club with some of the girls, said his female counterparts were likely to be solid competition. Participating in his second LanParty Lockin, DeCosta said he was excited to play all night.

“I love video games. I love being around my friends,” he said. Adding, “This is probably the only chance I get to stay up.”

With Guns N' Roses and the Goo Goo Dolls blasting over the speaker system and a steady supply of pizza, the scouts trained their eyes on their computers screens and started their “friendly competition.”

Lest they forget to blink, a series of trivia sessions and physical challenges were planned throughout the night to get the kids up and moving.

Along with the games, the activities were an opportunity to win points throughout the night and prizes donated for the event. The person with the most points in the morning would win the “super duper grand prize”: a survival kit outfitted with a spork, multi-use tool and other useful items.

The troop leaders said this is a fun event for the scouts, but it isn’t going to become the norm.

Assistant troop leader Ron Reed said he is often asked “Can we do this twice a year?” The answer? “No.”

Camping trips will still have an emergency only policy for cell phones, but Mike said they don’t want to pretend that technology doesn’t exist.

“A lot of troops try to shy away from technology,” said Blanchard. “This is the one night we can incorporate it.”