THE owner of High Wycombe's cyber cafe is hoping to cash in on a new craze among computer game fans which he has witnessed growing in epidemic proportions at his own venue.

Teams of players regularly meet up at Explorers internet cafe in Frogmoor to play computerised war games in which they can all take part at the same time on linked terminals.

Owner Ian Snowball, who has a high-profile background in marketing, is not one to miss a business opportunity and is now planning Britain's biggest computer gaming tournament which will bring hundreds of the best gamers together to compete for cash prizes.

"The computer games market is a phenomenal growth area," said Ian, who left his job as number two at Hitachi Europe in order to open Explorers seven months ago.

"In High Wycombe alone there are four shops I can think of which specifically sell computer games. Gaming is huge and it involves all age groups."

The craze for playing networked computer games has been flamed by online gaming, where people can compete against each other over the internet. But LAN (local area network) gaming has the advantages of being more sociable and instant games cannot be spoilt by slow internet access problems.

"People don't sit in dark rooms playing computer games alone any more."

"The gamers who come in here to play Counter Strike [a combat game] talk tactics beforehand and really work together as teams. There is a lot of banter and bonding going on."

With professional gamers able to earn more than £100,000 a year on the international games circuit, tournament organisers predict that, far from being considered nerds, they will gradually attain the same status and wealth as top athletes.

Ian, 41, hopes some of the world's best 'cyber athletes' will attend his tournament the UK National LAN Tour 2001 which will run over a series of weekends during the summer holidays in Glasgow, Manchester and London at venues large enough to hold up to 2,000 people. At least £3,000 is up for grabs in prize money.

Ian's staff will set up a computer network for contestants to plug into with their own computers or laptops to play the three most popular 'shoot 'em up' games of the moment Counter Strike, Quake and Unreal.

All the finance is in place and with Ian's impressive track record in business, it is sure to be a success.

Explorers has seen a business growth of more than 700% in its first seven months and has made a trading profit every day except for the day Wycombe Wanderers played in the FA Cup semi-final. And all this with zero advertising.

Furthermore, as the internet becomes more widely available to the public at home Ian expects his business to flourish rather than wither because the number of internet-aware potential customers will grow. As well as offering internet access and games on 15 computers, his cafe has colour laser printers and a fax machine available. It is licensed and sells snacks and drinks from 9am to 11.30pm every day (Sunday, 10am-11pm).

The venue is available for private parties, IT training courses and plans are in the pipeline for a homework club. For more information, call Ian Snowball on 01494 445724