Alhambra
Alhambra (designer Dirk Henn, various publishers including uberplay) is a game about palace-building, although the thrust of the game has more in common with stock-holding games like Acquire. This is hardly a surprise, since Alhambra is a reincarnation of Stimmt So!, a stock-holding game. It has won various awards, including the 2003 Spiel des Jahres, and is appropriate for 3-6 players, although it can be played with 2 players plus a "dummy" (named Dirk).
The main components of this game are building tiles of 6 different types (drawn from a bag), and money cards (of various denominations, 1 through 9) of 4 distinct and non-exchangeable currencies (drawn from a deck). Unlike most games, if you ever pay more money than required, you do not receive change, making the role of banker much easier!
There are always 4 money cards available for drafting, and 4 building tiles available for purchase. The currency required to buy a building depends upon which of the 4 vacancies it fills, while the cost is printed on the tile itself.
On each turn, you decide whether to take money, purchase buildings, or renovate your alhambra. If you pay the exact price for a building, you can take a bonus action. Purchased buildings can be placed immediately in your alhambra, in accordance with 5 simple caveats, or placed in reserve for later placement. At the end of your turn, the available money cards and building tiles restored to 4 each.
There are three scoring rounds (the first two triggered by drawing a scoring card from the money deck, the third triggered by running short of building tiles). Players score points for holding a plurality of a building type. Points are also scored for having placed tiles so that your alhambra has an external wall.
Alhambra is simple and light - it is challenging to summarize this game without recapitulating the entire rulebook - but has enough weight for a decent gateway game. It plays fast with little downtime, and available options change so quickly that there is no point in planning your move before your turn comes. This allows the conversation (and/or the wine) to flow freely in between turns, until someone realizes to ask, "Oh, is it my turn?"
Rating: 8 out of 10 Dirks