Gateway games - (“the game” that gets people interested in other boardgames)

1. Carcassonne – tile lying about building a country side and cities
2. Settlers of Catan – settling a continent and using resources
3. Hey that’s my Fish – penguins eating fish
4. Zooloretto – set collection and managing a zoo
5. Ticket to ride – set collection and building rail roads
6. Lost Cities – set collection archeology card game

Popular Euro or designer games - (emphasis is on rules and not on fancy bits or pieces)

1. El Grande – area control, auction in medieval Spain
2. Cartagena - hand management pirate escape game
3. Puerto Rico – economic resource game
4. Agricola – medieval farming
5. Alhambra

Ameritrash style - (emphasis on great art, cool bits, dripping with good theme)

1. The Adventures – Indiana jones type temple escape
2. Runebound 2^nd edition – Dungeon crawl type game – but outside
3. D&D games – Ashardalon, Drizzt or Ravenloft
4. Descent – huge, epic dungeon crawl
5. Memoire 44 – WW2 combat

Cooperative style - (a group against the game not one winner)

1. Last Night on Earth – Zombies
2. Ghost Stories – Light horror
3. Pandemic – Killing viruses
4. Shadows over Camelot – Fantasy
5. Battlestar Galactica – Science Fiction

Deck building – (where building your deck is part of the game)

1. Dominion – light fantasy theme
2. Thunderstone – fantasy dungeon theme w/ player interaction
3. Resident Evil – horror and zombies
4. Quarriors – combat dice building game

Party games – (quick game, many people)

1. Wits and Wagers - trivia and betting game (don’t need to know the answers)
2. Apples to Apples – word play type game
3. Gift trap – good gift giving game
4. Werewolves
5. Bang