5 Hobbies That Shine Brighter with Self-Hosted Open-Source Tools for Your Friends

Your closest friends often share many interests, often including common hobbies. Some activities may be solitary, while others thrive on social interaction. Many of these hobbies can be further enhanced by integrating them into your home lab projects.

Game Nights with Friends

Manage Your Game Collection and Organize Game Nights

I often find myself attempting to organize a board game night, only to struggle with the logistics. Deciding which game to play, and determining an appropriate time and place can feel overwhelming.

BoardGameTracker can alleviate some of that stress. This tool helps you catalog your games, assess the value of your collection, and monitor borrowed items, ensuring nothing gets misplaced. Additionally, you can track games you own that remain untouched.

The platform offers session logging and player stats. For a more streamlined experience focusing primarily on these metrics, consider MeepleStats.

Travel Adventures

Ready to Plan Your Next Getaway

Traveling can be costly, so meticulous planning can lead to better outcomes. Whether you enjoy detailed itineraries or prefer a rough outline of your journey, several excellent tools exist for collaborative trip planning.

AdventureLog is a sophisticated travel planning application that allows you to manage locations you want to visit or have already been to, grouping them in various collections. This way, you can define trip timelines and formulate itineraries.

This tool works well for tracking desired destinations and can be shared with fellow travelers to gather opinions and suggestions. In contrast, TREK offers a more focused experience on immediate trip details, such as budgeting and managing expenses.

Books: Read, Lend, and Discuss

Build Your Digital Library

Credit: Tim Brookes / How-To Geek

Just like you might have a collection of physical books, a digital library for your eBooks is an excellent way to keep everything organized. You can monitor your reading progress and easily share books with family or friends.

By utilizing a platform like BookLore through a VPN or reverse proxy, you can extend access beyond your household. Each user can have their accounts to monitor their reading journey. Additionally, Audiobookshelf provides similar functionality for audiobooks.

If you and your friends are avid readers, consider forming a book club utilizing the self-hosted tool Hardcover Bookclub to plan your gatherings.

Movie Nights: Together Apart

Sync Movie Nights with Friends Remotely

Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek