Trying to Interest People in New BoardGames

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Just read a post on BoardGameNews from a guy who tried to get a couple of his friends to play modern board games and they refused regularly. - http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/tom_rosen_joe_and_bob/

I've noticed some of these same qualities in my college students. Specifically - they don't want to read rules to learn new games. They see games like Colossal Arena and Race for the Galaxy are too complex, have too many pieces, take too long to set up. And some of them do take a while to learn or to set up - but the games seem worth the effort with good game play and different ways to win.

Not sure what to do about it - any suggestions?