Cartagena

At its core this is a very simple game - it's like Colovini looked at Candyland and turned it into a strategy game. (That's meant to be a complement). It's a race game in which you have to get all your pirates to the other end of the track. Play a card to move a pirate to a matching symbol on the board; the catch is to get more cards you have to move your pirate back to where you or someone else has a pirate or two stationed. So it's all about managing your position in relation to others; if you leave a pirate behind it can be very difficult to catch up, but not getting out ahead makes it easier for other to leapfrog you.

The newest edition comes with a range of variable setups and additional rules to allow you to play how you want, adding in the obstacle of a boat passage with limited seats, playing backwards, or with special powers, which are thematically fun (you can rob other players with a gun card, light a lamp to look at the next cards in the deck, etc).

Some not bad old-school german-style family entertainment to be had here.