Game night spends its first 45 minutes arguing about which game
“We own 60 games. Five people show up, one hates social deduction, we have 90 minutes — and we still stand at the shelf debating until someone gives up and picks Codenames again.”— r/boardgames ↗
BoardGameGeek has all the data but answers 'is this game good?', not tonight's actual constraint set — these players, this much time, their vetoes — against YOUR shelf. A collection-aware group picker is a tiny, joyful gap.
Board game groups with big shelves and short evenings
Build a game-night picker in Next.js. Import a collection from the BoardGameGeek XML API by username (player counts + playtime come free); set tonight's constraints (players, minutes, vibe, per-person vetoes); get a shortlist and a 'pick for us' randomizer, shareable by link so the group can veto before arriving. First 3 steps: (1) BGG XML API collection import + local cache, (2) the constraints form + filter logic, (3) the shortlist view with weighted random pick and a shareable result page.