MarauderIIC

Stardew Valley.

It’s 2D, co-op, not difficult or punishing, has few inputs, and is approachable mechanically.

“Sure, I like a challenge”

Yup, pretty much this. I have a small touchscreen Arduino device that I keep plugged into my PC. When I hit a button on the touchscreen it sends some text over serial (which is really a USB wire). I have a Python script on the PC that continuously reads from the serial port and parses the received data to figure out what to do. Specifically it tells my Discord bot to play a sound :)

I remember when Warframe had Pay For Revives. Not sure if that was Steve.

But many things in Warframe are much more player friendly these days.

I tried Hammerwatch for about 45 minutes and came away bored, unfortunately.

I picked up.Bloons TD 6 but it just triggers all my mobile game micro transaction alerts.

I finished Dredge - it was about the right length for the gameplay loop for me. I had a good time with it on my steam deck.

Sure is

Also just saw Godzilla Minus One. It was good

I have four total at an oval-shaped table, so I dunno. Check out a few things; see what might work for your particular situation. You may even have to try a couple different things.

You could get a foldable card table if you need something larger, for example.

You put so much effort into your post but my simplistic answer is: we put TV trays next to the players. Like the kind you use while sitting on a couch, not lap trays - the ones that have legs down to the floor.

To shreds, you say

“Tape measure”

I measured my fists. Does well enough.