Carcassonne (Rio Grande Games)
This is an excellent tile laying game whereby players pick face down cardboard squares from a pile, each of which has a piece of terrain illustrated upon it. The player then has to lay the tile on the table so that it joins up with tiles already there. So, fields must line up with fields, roads with roads, walled cities with walled cities. Thus, a map of a medieval town slowly emerges. As you lay the tiles you may place wooden counters on them to claim them eg. thieves can be placed on roads, farmers on fields, knights on cities. These counters then earn you points depending on the size of the farm, city or road.

The rules seem a little complicated on first sight (witness the growing look of despair on friends faces as you explain the rules) but once you're a few rounds in it becomes very straightforward, as there's only a handful of different options open to you on each turn.

We've found this to be a very engaging game which combines the satisfaction of a jigsaw puzzle with strategic play.
Seeing the map of the city grow as each player lays a tile is interesting (make sure you start on a big table) and as the cities grow and start to merge into each other a new level of strategy opens up.

As the game goes on and the tiles become fewer, it becomes more tense as you strive to complete your cities whilst trying to not help your opponents complete theirs.

We also bought the Inns & Cathedrals Expansion which brings an extra set of tiles to the game, a few extra rules, and also provides the facility to have up to 6 players so I would thoroughly recommend purchasing that.

All in all, a great game which is very reasonably priced in the scheme of modern board games.

www.riograndegames.com