We always did LAN parties before internet and high speed was big. So, the only person on your screen was on your team.
I worked at a computer store and got crazy deals on shit.
I waited till someone returned Switches or Hubs and tested them out real quick and bought them up cheap if they seemed OK.
My last house (in the city) one of my best friends lived directly next door.
We had two TVs in each house and I made and ran a cat5 cable from his living room over to my house and connected up a switch in each living room, then hung 2 Xboxes of each... We had Halo marathons. When done, I'd just roll up the cable and leave a switch at each house, so we could just roll the cable back out.
We almost ran a conduit between houses and were going to put 3-4 runs in, plus a few mule tapes in case we wanted to pull something else, but we never got around to it and I moved...