Keltis
Dominion
Wikinger (Vikings)
Die Säulen der Erde (The Pillars of the Earth, theme based on Ken Follett's book)
are 4 of our favorites of recent years.
Die Säulen der Erde was a huge hit in Germany, but especially the brilliant, fast-paced card game Dominion became the new Settlers/Carcassone over here. It became a smash hit and an instant classic after receiving all three German Game of the Year awards in 2009. More than 1 million copies of Dominion had been sold worldwide already in 2010. Unlike most other hit games (e.g. 5 of the 7 games mentioned in this post), Dominion was not created by a German game designer but by Donald X. Vaccarino from New York (and the fact that the man got a German wikipedia entry but not an English one tells you something about popularity of board games in specific countries).
I also always wanted to play Agricola, Caylus or Puerto Rico as well, but these critically acclaimed games are too complex (or sessions take too long) to be played in the family.
