this is how she gets me
Recently we added 4 more plays of Jambo to the tally, which we split 2-2. As it is, this is a major victory for yours truly.
However, we also started playing a new one -- Hive, which I got on sale a while back.
The closest analog I can think of to Hive is actually chess, although Hive is obviously far, far less complex. This is also one of the only games I can think of where there is truth in advertising on the box: each game is extremely quick, taking anywhere from 10-20 minutes. (For almost any other game in the collection, you have to add maybe 30 minutes to an hour to what the box copy says.)
The other interesting thing is that Hive looks like its own sculptural modern art piece; you create the board as you go, and the thick wooden pieces are a nice change from the usual cardboard and plastic you usually see around a game table. The object is to surround your opponent's queen (the blue queen bee in the middle), while avoiding the same thing yourself.
Both of the 2 games we've had so far have involved one person seizing on the other's grave mistake (usually involving the powerful soldier ant pieces), pressing on to victory.
As we were drifting on to sleep that night, my beloved rolls over and dreamily says to me: "I think Hive is one of those games you'll win all the time. Now, don't get me wrong -- you can't win Jambo to save your life -- but I can't think 6 moves ahead like you do in Hive." And, having said her piece, she drifted off to sleep, knowing that she'd set my gamer mind a-tizzy.
She's just mean, that one.