Hanabi - co op solitaire where you can't see your own cards. ~45 minutes, up to 5 players. It is a thinking game - how to give good hints to other players and how to interpret hints from others - did they give me this hint to play this card or do I need more info
Azul - relatively recent game. Tiling game where you take tiles from the center and place them on your own board.
Others that are good and can be played in under an hour:
Splendor and if you like Splendor, try Century Spice Road.
7 Wonders
Fleet - bidding on fishing licenses, fishing for fish.
Magic Maze - up to 8 people - 4 meeples exploring a mall to find the items to steal and then escape the mall. The catch is that each player can move any meeple in only one direction, and you can't talk. It's a race against the clock and there are no turns - everyone can move any meeple at any time.
6nimmt - good filler game that can fit up to 10 player with a round taking about 15 minutes. Can be good while waiting for more people to show up.
No Thanks - 30 minutes up to 5 people.
More complex:
Settlers of Catan
Russian Railroads - worker placement where you are building out a railroad and/or advancing on a science track
Power Grid - building powerplants and powering them - 3 hour game
Thurn and Taxis - map of Germany and you are building routes thru cities
Suburbia - taking tiles and building out a city
Yellow & Yangtze - only played once recently but liked it. Placing different leaders on the board and tiles and fighting other leaders.
If you're looking to try new games, there may be some boardgame meetup groups(on Meetup.com etc) where people will bring different games and split up and play (and teach) those games.
> Everybody you meet has a secret smile, and a secret pain.
There's another good quote I've heard: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Maclaren) I have heard it with " you know nothing about" at the end.
I was on a cave tour once and there was a crystal clear spring fed stream running thru the cave. The guide said something like the water looks good to drink but then we went around the bend and there was a giant pile of bat guano sloping down into the water.
(I read Three Body Problem + sequels in 2016. The first book I thought was ok. I really liked the second book - The Dark Forest - the Dark Forest theory of the universe I thought was quite interesting)
Azul - relatively recent game. Tiling game where you take tiles from the center and place them on your own board.
Others that are good and can be played in under an hour: Splendor and if you like Splendor, try Century Spice Road.
7 Wonders
Fleet - bidding on fishing licenses, fishing for fish.
Magic Maze - up to 8 people - 4 meeples exploring a mall to find the items to steal and then escape the mall. The catch is that each player can move any meeple in only one direction, and you can't talk. It's a race against the clock and there are no turns - everyone can move any meeple at any time.
6nimmt - good filler game that can fit up to 10 player with a round taking about 15 minutes. Can be good while waiting for more people to show up.
No Thanks - 30 minutes up to 5 people.
More complex:
Settlers of Catan Russian Railroads - worker placement where you are building out a railroad and/or advancing on a science track
Power Grid - building powerplants and powering them - 3 hour game
Thurn and Taxis - map of Germany and you are building routes thru cities
Suburbia - taking tiles and building out a city
Yellow & Yangtze - only played once recently but liked it. Placing different leaders on the board and tiles and fighting other leaders.
See https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame for a list of boardgames. See their ranking but also see their complexity rating.
If you're looking to try new games, there may be some boardgame meetup groups(on Meetup.com etc) where people will bring different games and split up and play (and teach) those games.