If you like visual pattern matching, take a look at www.setgame.com
Brian
Ah Set! That’s a good one.
Another one along somewhat similar lines: Ricochet Robot.
Hurts the brain at first, but once you get it, lots of fun.
Board games? What’s wrong with drunken monkey sex? :rolleyes:
Not at all: if we ditched the card, we’d have to remember to dig it out before every two-person game, and remember to put it back before every larger game. This way, we just have to remember the rule when the two-person game happens.
We play “Reverse” cards that way in Uno, too, so it’s not a new rule to us. And three-turn turns are possible under the rules anyway, with two different cards: Take Another Turn, and Let’s Do That Again!
In any case, it’s not like Fluxx is the world’s best balanced game: it’s fun, but it’s not exactly deep, strategywise.
Daniel
www.cheapassgames.com was already mentioned above, but I can vouch for <b>The Very Clever Pipe Game</b> being a fun way for two people to while away an evening while remaining mostly clothed. We also have <b>Devil Bunny Hates the Earth</b> but it’s not as good for two players.
In any case, the website has lots of choices, and even if one of them doesn’t turn out, it’s not like you are out much coin. I heartily recommend that you give it a try.
Ah, you just reminded me of another one. Brawl, by James Ernest games, a division of Cheap Ass Games. (really, it’s just the games James Ernest made that were too well-produced to sell as “Cheapass”)
Brawl is a very fun 2 or more player real-time card game. Like the classic card game “spit,” there are no turns, you just slap the cards down as fast as you can and tally up the points at the end. Silly, but very fun.
Continuing in the Cheapass vein, “The Great Brain Robbery” is fun (and funny), as is “Give Me the Brain” (it’s a card game where you’re a zombie working at a fast-food restaurant and you can only function properly when you possess the single brain at the restaurant).
I also highly recommend Wiz-War. This one is fun and has a lot of replay value. I went to college with the designer (this was back in the '80s) and our whole gaming club was addicted to the game. Nowadays it’s considered a classic.
I really like Scotland Yard where policemen chase master criminal Mr. X all around a map of London. It is meant to be played with more than two people, but one of you can be Mr. X and the other all the policemen (who are supposed to cooperate anyway.) There is a newer version set in New York, with slightly different rules, but I like the original better.
If you are feeling romantic, try Enchanted Evening. This one is really good, and it naturally adjusts its level of spiciness to what you want. None of the successor games from the same company, or competitors, are nearly as good. We know since we developed our own game in this category. We decided not to try to market it, but it was fun working on. 
I’ve got a lot of digging to do. I’ve got some friends who are into Cheapass and I’ll take a look at what they’ve got but it appears that I’ll be running around for quite some time.
Axis and Allies would be fun except that no one can ever beat me. Except for the fact that everyone outlasts me because I get bored of slamming my infantry to Japan whose inevitably holed up in the island, desperately trying to replenish their infantry just enough bore me.
This is a good illustration of why you need to know what she doesn’t like or likes about things. I’m not fond of most of my role playing experiences - but I’ve only tried four times. And I suspect I’d really like it, if I could have the proper experience. I’ve been trying to do it for twenty years! My problem has been the people I’ve attempted to play with. Thus I like computer RPGs - especially ones that we can team together, like City of Heros or Diablo II.
My real life RPG experience:
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The first time was in college and the guys really didn’t want to play with a girl. So they killed my character 20 minutes into the game falling off a log into a stream.
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The second time I tried we had a GM who had us wander around a forest in circles for three hours before it was time to go home. I suspect that was simply bad GMing.
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The third time I’m still bitter about – Brainiac and I had started living together when a group of his friends decided to start a regular game at my house. As it was a guy thing, I didn’t invite myself along (see experience #1). But one of the guy’s girlfriends invited herself - and extended the invitation to another woman - so I thought “Great, here’s my chance.” And they wouldn’t let me play. Too many people (although a month later, they let someone else join). Oh, and I got to watch the two little children of the other woman while they all played - well, not officially, but she had two small children in my not childproof house she wasn’t watching. Did I mention I’m still bitter? I should get over it, it was ten years ago, but I’m still bitter. Eventually, Brainiac finally clued in to my well of bitterness and suggested they find some other place to play.
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The fourth and last time I really enjoyed - despite being the system and world I had the least interest in. But it was a group of people with responsibilities for small kids (3 under 2 - and later 4 under 3), so we didn’t get enough gaming done, and eventually had to throw in the towel. It was, largely, the same people from game #2 - just five years later and they’d decided that maybe I was ok - or at least not going anywhere.
With this in mind, I’d ask her what she is interested in playing and why. And what she isn’t interested in playing and why not. I’ve never found cribbage easy, but I like Rummy. If I’m going to bother to learn a game, learning it against a computer is more fun than having someone better than you teach you and beat you regularly. Which is part of my problem with cribbage. Chess takes too much concentration, I like games you can talk over. I used to love Monopoly (though it takes too long now) and enjoy Scrabble (except Brainiac has to learn to let me win one time out of seven). We also enjoy doing crossword puzzles together. i.e. I like word games and games where communication remains a priority (either within the game or as a side to a mindless game). Not games that take intense brainpower. I like cooperative games or games I can occationally win (nothing is fun if you loose all the time).
I’ve ordered both the Carcassonne Limited Edition (contians The River, Inns & Cathedrals, and Traders & Builders expansions) and Carcassonne: The Castle. They should be here Thursday.
FedEx must have been being conservative with their delivery estimate, just got my box a few minutes ago. The company (Boards & Bits) used an old Becton, Dickinson syringe box; kind of odd to see an AIDS warning on a box of games.