What favorite new board game would you suggest to others?

The game "Puerto Rico" has won many awards. But I believe it is for three-five players only. Pure strategy. It takes awhile to get used to the rules... But the people are saying once you understand them, you can't stop playing this game. Take a look. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewitem.php3?gameid=3076

I would echo comments about cooperative games. Games such as Fury of Dracula, Shadows over Camelot and Arkham Horror are fun. Railroad Tycoon (if you can get a copy) is a good game. Struggle of Empires is an excellent game though a heavy game. Imperial is a good medium weight game based on investing in the European imperial powers of late 19th century. Any of the above i would recommend as both challenging and fun. If i had to choose one for you - go for Struggle of Empires - alliance auction is fun. If you want something lighter: Settlers of Catan, Medici or Antike.

Apples to Apples or Boxers or Briefs...they really make you think

Betrayal at House on the Hill http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10547 50+ scenarios... many of them are based off of or are like horror movie plots. When the "one bad guy vs the rest of the players" moment comes, there's some planning, as well as some thinking as u go activity for each side to win the scenario. For the good guys, there's alot of planning and teamwork on who should do what, who should give found items to other players who wuld make better use of it, and who should be sacrificed for the greater good. Diff game every time Scene It (reuiqres DVD player and TV) Has physical board game component, but questions and other aspects are done through DVD. The movie and tv editions are popular, but there are more specific categories like Disney and music. Careers is kinda old, but the it is interesting indeed. U choose your goals to achieve (how much $$, happiness, and fame) and go about earning all that. Not 100% realistic of course, but a good tie-in with actual careers ppl go through in life. To me, this is more of a "multi-dimensional" monopoly Settlers of Catan do get the 5-6 player extension as well, since main game is only 3-4 players, unless u do teams. There's definately thinking in this game. -decide whether or not to trade, since when u trade, you're helping not just yourself, but also your opponenets. Also decide on what to trade and in what ratios -decide on how to get your 10 pts.... luck and some controllable factors play into this. -do this over that, or wait till later for that

My two current favorites are Blokus and Dread Pirate. Both are relatively simple to learn but take a lot of thinking to master. Blokus can be found at most Target stores and bookstore chains carry Dread Pirate. Though Dread Pirate is a bit more pricey, it is definitly worth the extra cash. The details put into this game are wonderful.

Lord of the Rings and Shadows over Camelot are 2 very good modern board games that are essentially cooperative, the players as a whole against the game, a combination of puzzle, resource management and cooperation. And great fun too! These require the extra thinking you mention but there are also many other similarly complex and strategic games available both online and in specialist games stores. You may need to hunt for your local on as your average toy shop will not have these games but its worth a look.

The akham horror I love this game...

Game of Life. Skip -Bo, is a brilliant card game, which tends to get heated (in a friendly kind of way) whenever we play it!

HEY WE HAVE THE SAME BACKGROUND!!!!!!!!!!!