Funnily enough the (only) LAN parties I ever experienced "back in the day" were pretty similar to yours:

1. there was one smallish computer lab tucked under a stairs in the science department in university, in which all of the computers had been "compromised" in some fashion & games installed for student LAN parties. Mainly after hours for those living on campus.

2. In the first tiny little company I ever worked for we'd have them in the office on occasion.

For your "traditional" types - how did people transport their computers? Laptops?

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ElevenLathe 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

You just loaded up your enormous full tower PC and 17 inch CRT monitor in the back of your friend's brother's cousin's friend's station wagon, and made it happen. I had a Rubbermaid tub that I would use to lug the tower and all the necessary cables and accessories. A properly gaming-specced laptop would have been absurdly expensive (they still are) and a bit like cheating anyway.

	▲	darrylb42 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I had a lanboy? case that came with a carry strap. The case was also mostly aluminum so it was pretty light. Not many people had laptops back then. Managers at work maybe had one. Most people had a proper desktop.
	▲	pimlottc 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Don’t forget your speakers! Got show off your highly refined collection of mp3s…

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kentonv 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Laptops??? There weren't gaming-capable laptops in the 90's, and besides that, the ultimate status symbol at a LAN party was lugging in your 80-pound 20" Sony Trinitron CRT.

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doubled112 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I vividly remember the desk holding my 15" Trinitron slowly bending under the load, but I don't know what it would have weighed. I'd imagine that 20" was a bear to get out of the car and make your way inside with.

Similarly, I'm not sure how 13 or 14 year old me got a 27" Trinitron TV downstairs by myself. 34 year old me would need an entire bottle of Advil for sure.

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vgb2k18 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Mate, my pentium 100mhz laptop played quake, carmageddon and nfs with at least 15fps in the 90's~

	▲	hypercube33 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I did bring my dell craptop with that I scrounged parts from 3 nonworking used business ones together...it had the ATi Mobility 1 (Rage 128?) and could do half life 1 if you really tweaked things or Quake 3. That aside, it sucked performance wise even with a Pentium 3. My main PC and 19in monitors were what we drug around to LANs all over. There used to be an old movie theater in North Branch MN that was converted to basically a permanent LAN Party where people would just come and go. Movies and bands would play on the stage on weekends or something, too. Best time of my life.

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lucideer 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

This is what I thought which is what confused me - I guess lugging around CRTs just seemed a little much.

I don't live in the US though so perhaps we just missed out on that rite of passage not living somewhere where kids are more likely to have access to a car.