Successful Gaming

A lot of people will tell you that the key to successful gaming is to get involved and have a good time. Pfftt. My key to successful gaming is to get everyone else to do the work for you. Mundane tasks like setting up boards, shuffling cards, gathering seats. Let the other suckers do this for you and you're well on your way to being a success in the real game. The social game that accompanies every board game. First things first. Choose your group carefully. Get a group that has just enough people to need you to play, but not too many so that your absence won't be missed. Secondly, feign interest in playing the games. This is especially convincing if you don't actually give a rats if the game gets played at all. That way, when asked if you want to join in, respond lethargically, "Yeah, sure. Do you wanna set it up, and call me when it's done?" Usually, the instigator will be happy to do this as they were the one who wanted to play in the first place.
When called, sit down and enjoy the game.
Conversely, at the end of the game, if you win, scoop up and chuck all your pieces or cards into the box with gusto, and get up away from the table ASAP. It helps if you cover your getaway with prancing about and exclamations of your gaming supremacy. These actions will give your half-assed packing up the facade of overexuberant clumsiness, which no one will pick you up on.
If you lose, knock a small number of your playing pieces over (but not too much) and storm away from the table in a fit of abuse and swearing. Never smile. It's good to be on home ground here so you have a room to retreat away from persecution.
All this can take time to perfect so its always an idea to head away from bringing in new faces to games. Each attempt at getting away with a game with minimal effort is a balancing act. Too little and you'll end up helping the other schlubs with the setup and pack-up. Too much and the backlash might end up with you doing the packing all yourself.
Happy gaming.
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And by happy I mean slack.