While at PAX, I had the opportunity to play Race for the Galaxy. Here is the BoardGameGeek description:
In Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations by game cards that represent worlds or technical and social developments.
Each turn each player chooses one action, but the others will share in the actions chosen, each player secretly and simultaneously chooses one of seven different action cards and then reveals it. Only the selected phases occur. For these phases, every player performs the phase’s action, while the selecting player(s) also get a bonus for that phase.
This game, ranked 12th of BGG at the time of this writing, is fantastic. It is one of those games that takes a moment to “click.” Once it does, however, the flood gates open, and a world of strategies starts appearing in your mind.
The only thing that I found frustrating was the timing. That is, I felt my strategy was sound, but my opponents arrived at their win condition before I could reach mine. This is a matter of experience, though, and I suspect I will get better over time.
If you get an opportunity, go out an pick this game up. Thank you, Locke, for introducing this game to me.