  The algebraic area probability distribution of closed planar random walks of
length N on a square lattice is considered. The generating function for the
distribution satisfies a recurrence relation in which the combinatorics is
encoded. A particular case generalizes the q-binomial theorem to the case of
three addends. The distribution fits the L\'evy probability distribution for
Brownian curves with its first-order 1/N correction quite well, even for N
rather small.
