I thought we had a board games thread but I guess not.
Anyone have any suggestions for some easy to learn, fun to play, with reasonable skill requirements/skill ceiling tabletop games? Something you'd play with older folks, not so kiddy, not too taxing on older brains either and not boring like chess (or I guess Scrabble or Monopoly).
I was thinking something like Settlers of Catan or Risk but maybe there's cooler stuff around, also maybe not so warlike theme to make it viable for the whole fam to play together. Gonna have to see if whatever you suggest is available locally and fully translated etc. too so probably not some niche or super new thing.
It looks like they have Wingspan already but it is pricy. At the moment I'm thinking Carcassonne 20th Anniversary & some Wizard thing for some simpler quicker fun (or is there something else instead of this, also called Fantasy Wizard, google for that + board game and it'll show, it only has cards and a score board).
And as
ExistentialThought pointed out, there's another version of the game simply called 7 Wonders, which is a four-player version. I've never played it, so I can't really speak to how the dynamic changes there.
Parks was the first game that jumped to my mind, it's very pretty, not too many mechanics but allows a lot of strategizing, and conflict is minimal to none. The expansion is really nice too but it does add a layer of complexity.
7 Wonders is the "o.g." version, it has a 2-player "mode" but it's intended for 3-7 (or more, with expansions) players. It's pretty fast even with max players IF everyone knows the rules because everyone takes their turn and does their thinking at the same time. It's my favorite board game (so far) and I always try to make people play it, the base game is pretty good but I definitely recommend Leaders expansion as it adds a lot of dynamics with a very simple addition. 7 Wonders Duel is fun but it's a quite different gameplay compared to the other 7 Wonders. There is ANOTHER 7 Wonders variant that came out recently called 7 Wonders Architect that I haven't tried yet but might be good for this.
Most of my friends / family liked Photosynthesis a lot, I thought it was fine but not one I'd play all the time, it is pretty though, and novel.
I haven't played it myself but Everdell looks like a good one to fit the bill too.
All that said - I think Catan holds up. Most people I know that don't want to play it are just over it because it's been around forever and people have played it a ton. It's a very solid game (despite the absolute curse it has towards me never getting any rolls) and pretty easy to understand.
