I’ve always wanted to play the 1600 variant but can never find an open game.
Heres a better link.
If I was anywhere near computer savy enough I’d already have tried to start a game here.
Just don’t have one of either and you are set!!! 
I third or fourth Agricola, although once you know what you’re doing I suggest you start by “drafting off” the occupations and minor improvements, which reduces the role of luck considerably.
Similarly, I think Carcassone gets a lot better with a bit more control. The variation that my group always plays is to start by flipping over n+1 tiles, where n is the number of players. Players take turns playing these tiles until they’re exhausted. Then flip over n+1 more, and continue. (So the player who gets first crack at the face up tiles rotates around.)
This adds a bunch of interesting positional strategy without making it overwhelmingly cerebral.
I miss playing Car Wars. That was always a lot of fun.
Other favs, that have not been mentioned, would be Kill Dr. Lucky, Devil Bunny Needs a Ham, and this weird game from the early 60’s called What Shall I Be? (the career game for girls)
Acquire is an excellent game; is there an on-line server where the game is played?
Details are important. I used to prefer 5-handed, but my friends switched exclusively to a 4-player partnership variation.
The problem with Acquire is that with more than 3 players, it often moves too slowly.
If the group I play with tried that, we’d never get a game done. The amount of kibbitzing that happens as it is turns the game from a 30 min. walk in the park to a two-hour plus marathon!
I return to this thread to give a vote to Stone Age. This is like Pillars of the Earth meets Agricola. There is also an element of luck involved, which makes the game easier at times and frustrating.
You have tribesmen, and you can assign them to collecting wood, stone, brick or gold. For each tribesmen allocated, you get to roll a six-sided dice. To collect one wood, you need 3 points; brick 4 points, stone 5 points and gold 6 points. So if you have 4 tribesmen collecting wood, and you roll a 15 on your 4 dice, you get 5 pieces of wood.
Each tribesmen consume 1 food. You either send one tribesmen to farm (and only one player can do that per round) or to hunt (rolling the dice). You can also improve tools, which give you a one-time bonus to your rolls per round. You can also procreate, giving you one more tribesmen for the next round. Finally, you score by constructing buildings or taking a civilization cards (a Saint Petersburg mechanic is used here)
Overall, good fun, but I rank it slightly below Pillars of the Earth because of the dice rolling and the game seems to favor players with high population.
Munchkin is my personal favorite, but I don’t think it’s as much fun if you don’t have a grasp on roleplaying tropes (especially Dungeons & Dragons). It’s fun without, but cards like the Plutonium Dragon, The Nose, Stoned Golem and the Dread Gazebo are better appreciated by roleplayers. Luckily there are sets that lampoon other genres, like vampires (Munchkin Bites), space opera (Star Munchkin) and Kungfu movies (Munchkin-Fu). I still like the original best though.
Illuminati I prefer when I’m in a more serious mood, and like some more strategy. You set up a secret society by manipulating several orginazations and suborganizations, and you can try to control other’s secret society branches by taking them over. It can be a lengthy game though.
I recently stumbled upon Zombies!!!. It’s fun, but needs some houseruling to be played effectively (and more importantly, shorter).
I bought Hacker, although I’ve not played it yet. The concept I really like though.
I haven’t played board games in a while but one that I used to love when I was younger wasAxis & Allies. You really need 5 people to play, but when it’s done right it can be a TON of fun.
And, of course, there’s always Monopoly.
I’m partial to Munchkin Cthulhu myself, but it was the first one I played.
I’ve been trying to find rules online (like on boardgamegeek) for the partnership variant…how does that work? Is it just final results that are pooled, or do you add stock shares together, or share tiles and strategize before playing…?
I’ve played quit a bit of Case Blue via Vassal since it came out. Not for the faint of heart and I would only recommend it to the most serious of gamers. That said, it is a fabulous game and and excellent addition to the OCS line, which includes some great games.
I don’t see the game **Race for the Galaxy **here. It’s really a card game I guess, but falls into the San Juan/ Dominian catagory.
Really, all that needs to be said about boardgames is … visit boardgamegeek.
“Risk” was always a good time waster! Please see the link… I won’t be able to explain it concisely enough…
http://www.riskboardgame.com.au/
Scrabble is the one for me though, I start getting shaky (:D) if I haven’t played it for a week, although that tends to be online more than on a board these days.
Oh SWEET! I got Agricola and the original Munchkins for Christmas, without me even saying anything…turns out she was browsing boardgamegeek and decided I’d like 'em.
Crokinole is the Official Board Game of my family around the Christmas season; it’s really the only time we play.