Check Out Games At The Library!
If you're a gamer on a budget – or just want to try before you buy – see if your local public library loans boardgames.
Speaking personally, my own nearby library has dozens of great games: a diverse collection of various themes, play styles, and complexity. A library checkout was how we decided that our household really liked Mysterium!
Our library also features an occasional "game trade table," where visitors can bring in unused games or puzzles and exchange them with others' offerings. (Oh, and as I was double-checking this post, I discovered that my library also hosts an adult Scrabble club!)
If your library doesn't have such offerings, considering chatting up the librarians or ordering caretakers and see if any of these ideas are feasible for them to do. Who knows? If enough of the community expresses interest, maybe your local gamers together can get . . . a loan! (See, like, "a library loan," but it's also "alone" but it's "together" and . . . Oh, just go enjoy your local library!)
-- Steven Marsh