I wanted to tell everyone about a great, relatively new card game I discovered, called Dominion. Some of you have probably played it, but for those of you who have not, you're missing out. I highly recommend spending the 30 bucks or whatever it costs on Amazon and purchasing it.
Everyone seems to be talking about Settlers of Catan these days on HN, but if you want a real strategy game, that doesn't have the huge amount of luck Settlers has, try Dominion. I used to play a lot of Magic: The Gathering - I played in all the big national tournaments for years, so I have a special place in my heart for card games.
If I were to summarize why Dominion is good, I would say:
1) Though it is a card game, there is less luck than most card games because of how many times you draw each card.
2) It takes the best part of Magic (the deck-building) and turns it into the entire game.
3) It can be learned quickly, but it is difficult to master. My eight-year-old nephew picked it up in one game and loved it, and his mother (my sister) liked it too.
4) It's fun for 2-4 players.
5) The constant shifting of the cards means the game does not get old fast.
Anyways, if you have some holiday loot, get Dominion. Take it from a hardcore gamer, who has no affiliation with the publisher, Rio Grande. I'm just writing this because the game is great.
As an aside, I was shocked when I saw the name "Donald X. Vaccarino" listed on the cover of Dominion, because I remember that name. Back in 1998 or so, he maintained a page of original aphorisms. I can't find the page any more, but one of them realy stuck in my mind, to the point that I remember it word for word, along with his name, to this day. It was "any action you have to rationalize the morality of is evil".