Mark's #38: Carcassonne

Another "two games in one" entry for my top 100 games:

• With 2 or 3 players, Carcassonne is primarily an exercise in tactics, pushing your luck & card (well, tile) counting. It's tense & fast-moving & rewards smart defensive play. (This is my favorite way to play, btw.)
• With 4 to 6 players, Carcassonne becomes more about negotiation & getting your fingers into as many pies as possible. Still a good game, but not as much fun for me.

Either way, you can enjoy this one in 31 different flavors (kind of like Baskin-Robbins) as there are 3 large box expansions, 2 small box expansions, and 4 spin-off games. (I rather like Ark of the Covenant, one of the spin-offs... and not because it's "religious", either. It just works very, very well.)
Given my druthers, though, I prefer playing 2 player with Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders and King & Scout.