Mark's #2: The Princes of Florence

Princes of Florence is the perfect balance between game length (70 minutes) and an unforgiving system. Any longer, and it would be soul-deadening to play out the final rounds when you know you've lost all hope of winning. Any shorter, and there isn't enough time to make meaningful decisions in this game's Spartan structure (7 auctions, 14 actions).

As it is, this game cries out to be played over & over - experimenting with various combinations of building & buying, exploring the game space & enjoying the heck out of it.