The first year I started requesting seed catalogs, it was mainly the tomatoes and hot peppers I was interested in. But once I saw the melon/watermelon sections in Baker Creek's catalog I was hooked. Over the past two or three years I have purchased Thayer, Kansas, Collective Farm Woman, Ali Baba & Orangeglo. I have started seeds of all of them this year since I finally have some outdoor growing space. I did try growing one of them indoors a couple years ago, but knew it probably wouldn't work - and it didn't. I did get some nice long vines however.
I've noticed some gardeners here have given up on watermelon, so I'm not expecting much success with them.
I admit a couple varieties I bought from Baker Creek the word/words rare or very rare caught my eye. Seems to make it even more worthwhile to grow out if a certain variety needs attention.
Jeff