Man, that stings to read because it sounds so familiar and so sad in a quiet way. No big blowup, just a slow fade from real life stuff and everyone getting worn down by new rules every week. I feel for you, especially dropping to just you and Dave in the kitchen after three good years. The good news is your plan sounds right to me, because the two things that killed it were rule overload and scheduling, and a fixed two-hour window with a game everyone knows fixes both. I'd add one small thing: keep a short list of games the whole group already knows so nobody has to teach anything on a Thursday, and save the heavy stuff for that monthly night when people can show up ready to learn. You're not alone in this, lots of groups shrink like that and then come back once the pressure is off.

Noticed the same thing at the bike shop last year. Guy behind the counter told me my 15 year old ride was fine and just needed a $20 tune up, then pointed at the wall of new bikes and said "that's where the money is." Made me realize how much of what we buy is just boredom and ads working on us. Same deal with phones, kitchen stuff, even cars now. Stuff is built to last way longer than we use it. We just get talked into upgrading by people who profit from it. That REI guy basically handed you free money.