Games LAN setup

[bigbad]

I have some question I hope you will be able to help me with or nudge me in the right direction.
I am setting up an Internet / Business / Games Cafe in a Alpine Ski Lodge in the ALPS of Victoria, Australia and have no idea how to set up the Games side on the LAN.
All the computers are new and the specs are 1700+ Athlon XP's with 512Mb SDRAM, 20Gb EIDE 7200rpm HDD and a 64Mb Geforce II 400MX card. The server is a 1Gb Duron with 512Mb DDR SDRAM, 2x 18Gb Seagate Cheetah SCSI III HDD and a high end RAID motherboard (ASUS A7V266-E).
I will be running Windows XP Pro and Office XP Pro on all 6 computers with 10/100 ethernet adaptors to an 8 Port Switch and then to an Internet / Email server running Unix 3DBS connected to an ISDN router then the Internet on an ISDN line (ADSL is not available).

The setup is as follows:
5 computers in the cafe being controlled from the sixth computer in the bar.

Questions are:
1) How do I set up the LAN for single and Multi play across 2 and up to 6 computers?
2) Do I need to load the Games software on all computers or can I use the control computer as the games server?
3) Can I get a multiple licence for games?
4) What are the legal ramifications of having a commercial games LAN?
5) How do I load the games software complete so a CD is not needed to use the games (no CD players on cafe computers)?
6) What are the most popular multi player games?

 

[tbad1986]

1) A simple crossover cable is all that is required for <b>two</b> computers.
2) It depends on games, but yes, you will most likely need the game on both computers.
3) Maybe, most likely you will have to buy it again.
4) If it's built into the game they probably want you to play it on a LAN.
5) I'm not sure about this one.
6) Counter-Strike, Team Fortress Classic, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, other Half-Life Mods...

 

[Mulga]

Wow, lotsa questions!
About the only one I can help with is 5. Copy the cd to a folder on the system's hard drive and install the game from there. It should then look to that folder for the files it needs to function. Only thing is, if you are looking at a number of games you will need bigger hard drives than 20 GB.

Re the legal implications, not sure in Vic law, definitely no gambling and I would advise you check with whatever state gov dept is responsible for alcohol, gaming etc.