No game has hit the table more at random events than 7 Wonders for me. 7 Wonders is a civilization development game where your goal is to score victory points either through development, building your wonder, or battling.
7 Wonders is a fantastic boardgame for introducing people to the genre. Its basic enough that most people can get it after a few turns of play, but complex enough to keep people interested. There are three ages that consist of 7 turns of choosing a card and passing it to your neighbor. This card can be developed (costs resources which are renwable), sold to the market, or be used to build a stage of your wonder. After each age is complete you take turns battling your neighbors in combat — which really just consists of who has the higher number. After the age is complete you grab another 7 cards and another 7 turns commence!
7 Wonders takes no longer then 30 mins once people are fmailiar with the rules, in the first game explainng it to my grandparents and 5 other people who weren’t really familiar with boardgames we did creep closer to 1 hour, though the next go around we finished in a quick 45 minutes! 7 Wonders is also a fantastic game because it can play up to 7 people, while also not having to worry about small icons or board in the center of the table, as you only worry about what is in your hand or infront of you.
While the game doesn’t have the largest strategic depth or crazy pieces or interesting rules that make you want to play again and again, I swear by the game’s easy learning curve to get people intersted in the concept of “boardgames”.