I've played Carcassonne with kids who couldn't read yet; it's great! No language dependence whatsoever! OTOH, I typically teach adults how to play Race for the

I've played Carcassonne with kids who couldn't read yet; it's great! No language dependence whatsoever! OTOH, I typically teach adults how to play Race for the Galaxy by starting out with a few hands of San Juan... It's a very similar, but much much simpler game.