My friends don't want to learn chess

Because; The game is mostly about memory. You win because you memorize openings, traps and tricks.

Not exactly true. In endgames, the main idea is to find where the pieces belong, and how to get them there. Finding single moves without ideas will eventually lose the game.

For a titled player, yes; for anyone under 1800, no.  He who blunders last loses, and that's about board vision and just plain paying attention.

flip the coin around and say to them the challenge is not to fall for cheap tricks and traps.

as for opening if you get a feeling a players is making a lot automatic moves from memory find a way to change something in the opening that makes it an error to make the normal moves.

"You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one."

but I guess your friends isn't interested in learning chess no matter what you say.

it is dangerous to play from memorized lines without knowing the ideas and have an understanding of chess.

Learning takes effort while just playing and recalling your prior disasterous position is eay.

I can see their point. Why they won't play with me.  It's not a game you can sit down and just have fun. First you have to learn the rules. Then you have to learn how to keep from being tricked by someone who memorized a few ways to win against beginners. After two years of playing I still get tricked and trapped by more experienced players. I'll just keep on playing, and losing., for fun. I'll just play OTB checkers with my pals.

I dont agree with them at all but putting this aside, there is an easy solution: teach them chess960 ( also called 'fisher chess' )

Explain them that Bobby Fisher himself invented this type of chess to prevent any sort of memorization and opening theory.

it is just a matter of time before opening lines to remember based on different 960 exist. I guess it is already made. 960 isn't completely random. both side have pieces set up the same way.

Clearly you dont realize what are you saying. There are exactly 960 different initial position, this make practically impossible to memorize even the first 2 moves, mind you go over that.

Obviously for compures and engine made databases, its not a problem, but the initial possibilities are so huge that make impossible to proceed this way for a human. You have to rely in your understanding of opening concepts, ad try to apply them.

The "random" refers to the initial setup of the backrank pieces, which happens to be same for both players. But look at it this way: with the regular initial position, there is already a huge, huge amount of opening theory. Multiply that by 960 with Fischer chess. The mainstream opening theory is already too vast to comprehend and memorize, let alone a 960-fold of that.

I'll talk to them about playing 960. How can I convince them that it's more fun than checkers? Can I set up the board anyway I want as long as both sides are equal? Sure I can. Maybe even start out with no pawns, or just a queen and no rooks, bishops or knights.

But why should them play chess? Seems obvious they don't like it. To invent fairy variations is not a good approach IMHO. Do you play go, for example? If you don't, what is the reason?

None of my friends play chess. What I did was to look for other chess players. Now I play OTB and have some new friends, too.

If your friends play checkers and regret chess because its "all about memory", they are quite strange people.

Checkers its even more easy to "memorize" due to the lower number of possible moves. I think they are just scared of the chess complexity. If they dont want to try chess 960, try to find new friends as pulpofeira suggested.

ah.. and chess960 its not just "putting random pieces in random places". There are few restictions, as  "bishops must be in opposite color squares" and "king should have rooks in each side". Also castling its a bit different.

Read about chess960 (fisher chess) on wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960

Edit: the following link explain how to generate the positions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960_starting_position

At the barber shop we play checkers while waiting for our turn. Sometimes takes hours. I'll just play their game. Hopefully, someday they will forget I brought it up and quit making fun of me.

Indeed. Once a guy, a certain Garry Kasparov, said what makes chess so awesome is you can develop your own interesting ideas at any level, even if you are a beginner. You can enjoy it from day one. But you aren't forced to like it if you don't want. 

I'd say an inferiority complex is recognisable in your friends' behaviour.

ah.. and chess960 its not just "putting random pieces in random places". There are few restictions.

Can't I invent my own game and call it, "not chess 960"?

And, btw, are you sure is not the barber who is tricking you?