Brazilian LAN House 2003

Brazil, 2003. Broadband just arrived and it costs a fortune. You open a LAN house: six beige PCs, R$3 an hour, cash or caderninho.

The customer is not a number. You know each one by name, nickname and tab; you decide who plays on credit and who's sent home to fetch cash. Push too hard and the kid disappears. And kids never disappear alone.

The connection is the final boss: 512 kbps for the whole room. One customer opens Kazuumba for a 700 MB movie and everyone's Counter Ops stutters. Throttle him, ban him, or pull the cable.

Gamers want clean ping and tournaments. Normies want Orkontro, Fotologão and MSM Messenger. Everyone shares the same pipe. Keeping both crowds happy is half the game.

The building fights back: everything on one circuit. Money came in, buy four more PCs. Business grew, open a second room with another eight and reinforce the wiring. If the power drops during the Saturday final, that's on you.

Like in the old days, this game doesn't spoon-feed you: no guiding arrow, no twenty-minute tutorial. The winning strategy is the one you figure out yourself.

Features:

• 6 PCs, one modem, one freezer. Grow to two rooms, if the caderninho allows.

• One 700 MB download takes the whole room's ping with it.

• Jamming printers, stolen mouse balls, and pamonha on the street: 2003, unfiltered.

• Caderninho credit, Saturday tournaments, big screen for the classics.