Yes. I am like you, I love playing first games. My playbook is usually: 1) create chaos. Everybody plays the same game where they pick a boring strategy, which

Yes. I am like you, I love playing first games. My playbook is usually: 1) create chaos. Everybody plays the same game where they pick a boring strategy, which makes the best calculator at the table win. Instead of trying to maximize my points, I try to increase the chaos around the table, increasing the complexity for everyone and pushing them to make mistakes. 2) in games where this is possible, I will try to sprint to trigger the end condition. As you say, people underestimate how soon the end comes. 3) be unexpected. A bad but unexpected move can be better than the good move in the first game. Try to identify which moves would have an excessive impact on the complexity and which makes everyone go back to the drawing board on their calculations. In general, chaos and havoc around the board have helped me usually.