A macro shot of the Settlers of Catangame board in the middle of a game. It may look a little odd (full shot at right), but trust me, it's one of the best board games I've played in a while. It's part Monopoly, part Risk, but just generally a good time for 3-4 players. One of the best things about it is that there are so many variations on gameplay that you could play a thousand times and have a very different game each time. At least it seems that way after playing only twice.

The game may seem a little complicated in the beginning (it did to me), but once you've played one short game you'll see its basic rules are relatively simple. Anyway, if you enjoy board games generally, I highly recommend this one. And if you find you like it, you can also get an expansion pack to add 1-2 more players, plus the Seafarers of Catan is another add-on to add entire new levels of play. I'm guessing if you played with 6 players and the Seafarers expansion you'd be playing for hours but that may be exactly what you'll want to do once you've tried this game.

(No, the game-maker didn't pay me to lavish praise on the game; it was just surprisingly entertaining.)