I second everything you said. For me Settlers is at the sweet spot for board games where "casual" and "serious" intersect. You can play it with non-gamers, ga

I second everything you said. For me Settlers is at the sweet spot for board games where "casual" and "serious" intersect. You can play it with non-gamers, games last an hour and a half (Monopoly never finishes that quickly!), and pretty much everyone enjoys it on their first play and understands it on their second. On the other hand, board game geeks happily play it and the game rewards skill. It scales well with player experience.