Organizing a LAN party at my apartment next month. 8-12 people. Never done this before. What do I need besides a bunch of ethernet cables and a switch?

Game list so far: Counter-Strike, Quake 3, StarCraft, Age of Empires II. What am I missing?

Get a 16-port switch (even if you only need 12 — trust me, you'll fill the extras). Cat5e cables in various lengths. Label everything or the cable spaghetti will drive you insane.

Power is the thing people forget. 12 PCs + monitors pulling from your apartment's circuits WILL blow a breaker. Map out your outlets and split the load across multiple circuits.

Add Unreal Tournament and Warcraft III to the list. Also have a backup plan — someone's computer will inevitably not work and they'll need to troubleshoot.

Bring a fan or two. 12 PCs in a room generate insane amounts of heat. Also: snacks and caffeine. Lots of both.