Sometimes learning the rules can be tedious and annoying, but the more you play different games the more you see the same mechanics come up and it makes it easier. For us, the highs are worth the lows. We aren't the only ones either, the market is doing well: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/board-games-market-...
You and your friends might be better served with a more casual game...or maybe it's just not your thing.
I saw that the event closures substantially affected these growth metrics, what does that mean? are people playing so intensely training for events that they ruin their board games and have to buy additional copies? are the events causing the most interest in certain board games? are the events selling that much of the board game on the spot?
I don't know anything about this market aside from small teams launching new games on kickstarter and occassionally one of those getting a distributor for perpetual sales.
There are some game shops that encourage playing but I don't know that I'd call it successful...just not enough money moving to justify the space.