Betrayal is of course fun. Likewise Arkham Horror, especially if you have an
app for the location cards (disclaimer, I have not used the app, and $3 in order to not have to bother with location cards feels like a scam, but I'd probably still pay it if I was gonna play somewhat regularly).
The
Firefly board game actually isn't too shabby. I've played it a few times and it seems to continue to have plenty of life left in it for repeat play.
Carcasonne is a decent tile building game that runs about 30-40 minutes every time. A nice quickie and the expansions can spice it up as well. It is a minor pain to sort back out expansion tiles though if you don't want to permanently leave em in.
For the joke option I cannot resist:
D&D 4.C; Tordek in the Dragon's Lair with the Flaming Axe.
It's a dark night, when the group assembled at the Archmage's castle. What started as a wonderful dinner party has turned into a ghastly scene. The Archmage has been murdered (by a doppelganger, no less). The doppelganger hides amongst the group hoping to escape, but it didn't count on two things. First, the castle is magically sealed until the murderer is caught. And second: you're on the case!