My old board game group used to just play the rules as written, no questions asked.
Honestly, last Tuesday, our friend Dave brought over a new game and spent 45 minutes explaining his 'house rule' about resource trading that involved actual hand gestures and a ceremonial dice roll. Ngl, we all just stared at him until someone finally asked if he'd even read the manual. Has your group ever had someone try to rewrite a game before you even played it?
Ever have that one person who treats the rulebook like a suggestion? In my experience, it just adds stress before you even start playing. I feel your pain on that one.
Yeah, and what kind of rules do they usually skip? Like, do they argue about setup, or just make up their own scoring halfway through? I had a friend who would always "forget" how movement worked in Catan to get better spots. It got so you couldn't trust any move they made.