Axis and Allies is good… But it takes around two hours to set up for each game. Hence the computer version is better, but it doesn’t qualify for “Board Game” status…
Another hurrah for Die Siedler von Catan. Everyone likes sheep. Sheep say baa.
Anybody played Starfarers (Sternfahrer)? I’ve seen it but not played yet. I’m afraid it’s a bit like the Cities and Knights expansion–gilding the lily, adding needless detail to a game whose chief virtue is elegant simplicity.
Another great game, which can accommodate 2 to infinty players, which is perfect if people are wandering in and out, is Ricochet Robot, a.k.a. The Brainhurt Game.
I loved Scrabble, until a few friends taught me a variation called Speed Scrabble. Now I’m hooked on that. Problem is, it’s hard finding people who will play with me.
Love Balderdash, but never get to play it.
Scrabble is my all time favorite board game. Balderdash is also a lot of fun but I always win. (What does this say about me?..) I also enjoy the version called Beyond Balderdash – more ways to lie! (er… bluff, I meant bluff.)
Trivial Pursuit when I can round up at least three players. Very often we have just two, and then I love a simple strategy game called Pente.
see why I like you so?
I adore chinese checkers.
and ** scrabble**,too.
If you enjoy Ricochet Robot, you might enjoy these online puzzles:
http://www.thegamesjournal.com/puzzles/Robot1.shtml
http://www.thegamesjournal.com/puzzles/Robot2.shtml
http://www.thegamesjournal.com/puzzles/Robot3.shtml
http://www.thegamesjournal.com/puzzles/Robot4.shtml
Have fun and don’t peek at the answers too fast, it will completely SPOIL the puzzle.
RISK - I actually have Axis & Allies, but no one wants to take the time to learn it and play. I’ve never played Diplomacy, but it sounds cool from what I’ve heard. Still, a good game of RISK will take 2-3 hours with my friends.
** Monopoly **
Matter of fact, I haven’t played it in a while… may be time to dig it out.
“Starfarers…” is neat; rather than needless detail, however, I got the personal impression that they dumbed it down a little bit. Also, each player has this prototypically-phallic rocket ship, onto which snap “fame rings”, booster thingies representing the speed of fleets, and cannons representing general combat ability. The rocket also acts as dice–there’s a few colored balls rattling around inside it, and the bottom bit is clear, shake it and a couple fall down into it, the different colors being numbers. That kind of thing makes it a great game to play with bright kids, I think. My gaming friend’s little nephew really thought it kicked butt, by all reports.
“Ricochet Robots” is great; even when you lack partners to share the brainhurt with, it’s entertaining to tackle it solitaire. While many games don’t preclude chatter throughout them, RR is best played in intense, often grim, silence. Also, it can be used as a really beautiful demonstration of how even light boozing affects mental powers.
Not mentioned so far: “Cosmic Encounter.” The older version by Mayfair, and emphatically not the current bastardization of it by Avalon Hill. The game really shines with five to six players.
Scrabble.
For all of the other Scrabble fans, the book Word Freak, by a reporter who took a leave of absence to play competitive Scrabble, is highly recommended. Of course, it makes you want to memorize all of the seven-letter bingos, but it’s a great read.
Another Trivial Pursuit vote. Especially if you get at least 3 other players. 2 players is kinda boring, 3 is ok, but 4 people or more is best I think.
Clue is the best game ever! I don’t think that was mentioned yet.
The Mayfair version? Back in my day, we used the original Eon version.
Another vote for Axis and Allies… but not in the pure form. When we got into about the third hour of playing and Germany would have red chip stacks of heavy bombers, we thought something was screwed up. Germany usually won about two turns after attacking with those heavy bombers – 20 of them with 3 attack dice each means an easy win.
So we found a new board online with better subdivisions of countries and regions and more accurate point values, as well as introducing better rules for neutral countries. Than we changed unit prices, made a whole new tech tree, and introducted other special units. By using a good printout of the new board (it is almost exactly the same size of the ‘real’ game board, and taped together very well) and the new prices and rules, it’s an amazing game. It lasts six hours easily.
-Psi Cop
DIPLOMACY!!! And if you disagree with that, I’ll be over your border before you can say, “I thought we had a deal!”
Anything “Catanish”. I am somewhat obsessed about that series: called the local “Wizards of the Coast” store for three months until “Starfarers” came in, and bought it the same day it shipped. Even got a discount, prolly because of the “pity factor” from the manager, one gamer to another. 
As far as wargames go, I like “Wooden Ships and Iron Men”, “Quebec: 1759”, “The War of 1812”, and “A House Divided”.
Cheapass Games make some cool products, too: “Kill Dr. Lucky” is GREAT.
And finally, a nomination that isn’t tecnically a board game: the “Nuclar War” series, with all the expansions. Sick fun.
I’ll vote for Trivial Pursuit, even though I can’t get many of the sports questions.
My fondest dream is that someone will one day gift the world with on-line versions of Monopoly, Scrabble, and Chinese checkers, so that I can play with you all.
Well, gee…nobody’s mentioned chess???