Hive Pocket goes on every vacation with me; its portable, indestructible, and can be played anywhere. Will also usually bring: Love Letter, Tides, SpaceShipped, and a deck of cards for Regicide/Scoundrel/Loot-The-Loop/etc. Will sometimes try to bring Bang! The Dice Game, Anomia, or Happy Salmon if there’s a potential for party games being played.
Console support ruins games that otherwise could have been truly amazing games because they need to be watered down to support controller-based gameplay and weaker specs (see: Cyberpunk 2077).
SpaceShipped, Marvel Champions, Arkham Horror, Hero Realms, Onirim. I also really enjoy this geeklist (not mine) Modern Solitaire/Solo Games Using ONLY a 52-card standard deck. Regicide, Scoundrel, and Card Capture were my favorites but lots of great games on there.
I usually read the rulebook, then find a video (ideally “Watch It Played”, Rodney is a treasure) to confirm my understanding of what I read and/or clarify anything I didn’t. This is usually sufficient. Another cheeky way to learn a game is to play it on BoardGameArena where the system won’t allow you to play the game wrong.
I got into playing Out of Space for a while, lots of fun.
there is a dynamite side. if you roll dynamite, it cannot be re-rolled. have 3 dynamite showing will end your turn and you lose a life.
One I haven’t seen mentioned yet, Dreamscaper. Its an action roguelite about a girl who battles her inner “demons” at night and lives her life in a new town during the day.