I find myself dreading board game get-togethers.

If we need an excuse to hang out as friends I'd rather just walk around a state park or watch a movie. If we want to do nerd shit I'd rather go the whole hog and play an RPG where there's at least a sense of progression and continuity.

You have American style war games with tons of plastic toys and more abstract European style games that are about bluffing or bidding but with the veneer of a historical event and both are gay. You have a huge advantage if you've played the game before. The weird time limits piss me off too, like you could isolate the last disease to one island in Pandemic and devise a cure and still lose and I played a Batman board game where only had like 5 turns to fight so it made more sense to just ignore the enemies in favor of the mission instead of doing interesting stuff like a Batman vs Bane duel.

And I can't stand Cards Against Humanity. It's peak safe-edgy slop and everyone acts like you're a killjoy if you want to keep score and not just play until 2 AM.