Castles of Burgundy

You roll two dice and use the numbers to take tiles from the main board to your estate. You build cities, raise animals, and conduct trade to score points. There are ways to mitigate bad dice rolls. I usually suggest this one when we have friends over who do not play a lot of heavy stuff. It is straightforward and gets people talking across the table. The rules take about five minutes to explain, and then everyone just gets it. You will find that the mid-game really tests how well you can adapt to what others are doing. I keep this on my shelf because it reliably fills that gap when we want something engaging but not overly taxing.