The Tao of Gaming

• Times Square, the latest 2 player game in the Kosmos line (I believe), is a weird two-player tug-of-war card game where you are tugging five people (towards your bar), but the people are all special. I only got to play once, but it was intriguing. Have to try again.
• The Architects of Cleopatra -- looks stunning, plays average. Now, we had played with five players and I've heard that four is best. I personally think three would be better. It's not quite a fixed-fun game, but it's probably better with fewer players.
• California played well, but we only played with three, which I think helped. I hadn't heard of this, and not sure how to describe it. But it has a novel theme. You furnish your houses to impress your guests & neighbors. Apparently California has a higher class of guests and neighbors.
• We got in a teaching game of Here I Stand. Despite the clean looking rulebook, we did get a few questions that we had to just shrug and move on. My opinion of the game is dropping, but I'd like to try again (possibly the shorter 3-turn game that starts with people in a more advanced position) to see if my suspicions about this are confirmed.

In any case, this is all single playings. I'd play all again and I'd consider buying any of them (for different reasons).