I've had a lot of luck joining a run club, but there are other activity based clubs. The trick to these though is that you need to keep going to them for a while before you really start becoming friends with people.
What's really worked for me was working as a snowboard instructor on the weekend. I'm not saying do that specifically, but finding a second job based around teaching is an amazing way to meet other people who like meeting new people and being nice and sharing their skills and experiences. I should specify, the people I meet are other instructors. I've also met some people at events, like when I got my avalanche rec 1 cert.
I didn't have a problem with the length of the previous 3 games, but they were all fantastic. Does anyone have any tips for remembering all the stuff when you only play games like once a week or less.