1.We carried our heavy computer towers in laundry baskets and had fun doing it.
2.But sometimes our computers didn't survive the trip to the LAN party.
3.You couldn't play online back then. You had to meet up in real life if you wanted to play video games with friends.
4.Every one of us also brought a 30-pound monitor along too.
5.LAN parties meant improvising. Lawn furniture became makeshift desks, and garden magazines became mousepads.
6.But we didn't really need a table – only snacks.
7.There was no wifi, or wireless mice, or keyboards – cable clutter was a chore.
8.And you always had to invite that one friend who owned a hub. Without a hub, you don't have a network, and without a network, you don't have a LAN party.
9.It was a miracle to make it through the night without anyone tripping over the network cable.
10.LAN parties required absolute concentration.
11.LAN parties were always cramped, and everyone had to snug together. (Which is maybe why girls never came? Not enough room?)
12.The venue didn't matter. We would spend entire weekend in dank, unfinished basements. All that mattered was the gaming.
13.When the parents weren't looking, we'd trade our stashes back and forth across the network.
14.Back then, computers were so slow that you'd spend a lot of time just waiting.
15.Sometimes your friends would have really cutting-edge modded computers that made everyone else jealous.
16.The games all had lousy graphics.
17.If anyone was doing a little too well, they'd get called out as a cheater by everyone else.
18.A healthy, nutritionally balanced meal was the most important aspect of every LAN party.
19.You had to learn how to sleep sitting down.
20.We almost never saw any girls or women at LAN parties.
21.The worst was trying to untangle all the cables at the end of a weekend-long LAN party.
22.The sleepless nights, the bleary eyes, and the smell... oh GOD the smell. There's just no forgetting a good LAN party.
