Tagging onto this: there's tons of games to play that have regular tournaments. I run Warhammer 40k tournaments for my local store, and while you occasionally get tryhards that are less fun, the overwhelming majority of the community just feels like a bunch of people getting together to play plastic soldiers for a day. The new Disney game Lorcana is taking off, and there's tons of different tabletop games besides just board games to try at a local store!
Tagging onto this: there's tons of games to play that have regular tournaments. I run Warhammer 40k tournaments for my local store, and while you occasionally get tryhards that are less fun, the overwhelming majority of the community just feels like a bunch of people getting together to play plastic soldiers for a day. The new Disney game Lorcana is taking off, and there's tons of different tabletop games besides just board games to try at a local store!