Every year during the holidays, I research dozens of games, buy 5 - 10, play test them with friends and family, and then give them away as presents.
Some of the games below are not my personal favorites, but there are people in my life who really like them.
Some of the games below are among my personal favorites, but I don't have people in my life who want to play them on a regular basis.
There are some games missing from this list that I think I would like a lot but haven't had time to learn (e.g., Terraforming Mars, Wingspan). There are other popular games missing from this list that just aren't for me.
My personal preference used to be for long, technical strategy games. These days I play more co-op games or ones where kids and older people can all have fun. I respect that aspects like theme, artwork, piece feel, etc. matter a lot to some people -- but they do not ultimately sway my opinion of a game.
I love board games, but many of my most favorite games require only pen and paper or, better yet, only enthusiastic people.
I've provided public Amazon links for easy access to reviews -- not an endorsement of buying games from Amazon.