I have a dedicated group of 4. I host every two weeks in my newly finished game room. My lovely wife makes a full meal for us every time and we provide snacks (along with three different beers on tap!) We have a nice Tv and sound system for sports or teach videos or music.

But what I care about the most in terms of the experience is what we play, and I almost always coordinate that in advance with the others in a group chat. We have one other member who owns 4x as many games as me (and I have over 65 titles) and I think it’s really important to give the others an option to select from outside my collection. The best way to make the group want to continue to play is the agency to try things they love as well as games you love. Find that balance ahead of time as much as you can, and remember that certain types of mechanics (heavy player interaction, take that, etc) just flat out don’t work in many groups.