Good gravy, are you people serious? Twilight Struggle may be (and indeed is) a fantastic game, but (barring nuclear war) there's no way you can finish it in under an hour, and two first-timers going at it are totally going to founder, even if they have enough historical awareness to understand what they're doing! And Arkham Horror? I have known only one person, who has dozens of playthroughs of that (also good) game and a specially set up storage box, who can get it set up in less than an hour. Playing it that fast would require being some kind of savant. Why not suggest Dominant Species? Or 18C2C? Hell, American Megafauna is designed for two players! Come on now, let's give the [wo]man what he (sorry, with a name like "Queen Michael", it's hard to tell) came for.
Here are a few that actually meet the listed qualifications:
- The Duke is a chess-derived game that only accommodates two players. It's short, it's simple, there's some surprising depth to it, and best of all, the website has a print-and-play version (having a print-and-play version of a game is always a good sign; it's essentially the developer saying "we have so much faith in our game that we'll let you play it free"). Also of note is The Duke's... cousin, I suppose you'd call it, Jarl, which uses the same rules, but has a more complex tileset, and tends to be a bit slower and more tactical. Both are worth a look, but I'd start with The Duke.
- Patchwork, another only-two-player. The theme seems a trifle strange (assembling a quilt), but it fits with the mechanics. The game is, again, fast and simple, with depth provided by some interesting mechanics that (initial setup aside) leave very little to luck. As with many of Uwe Rosenberg (the designer)'s games, it can seem like there's quite a bit going on at first, but a clear reading of the rules should make it all very clear.
- 7 Wonders: Duel. Not an expansion for 7 Wonders (which has quite a few, and is an interesting game in its own right, but may not even be playable with only two. Duel is its own game, and works on the theme of civilization and monument building in a package that shouldn't take more than half an hour.
- Star Realms, a deck-builder that's light enough to be quick, and heavy enough to be interesting.
Of those that handle more than two players...
-You can shouldn't have any problems getting in a round of Carcassonne in under an hour (especially with just two!) unless you really get stymied by the rules.
- Kingdoms, by Reiner Knizia, incredibly generic name aside, works well with two- though, as is usually the case, is better with three or four. It's short, very quick to learn, and as with anything that has Knizia's name on it, has some surprising strategic depth that may not be apparent at first glance, but quickly reveals itself.
- Splendor is less luck-derived than it seems at first (that's true of a lot of modern board games), and can be learned vanishingly quickly. If the others on this list are too short for your taste, give it a look- if enough people are at this event, someone will probably be playing it; it's quite popular.
All in all, it's a wonderfully fun hobby with (as you might expect) a lot of cross-pollination from the video gamer community. It's also experiencing something of a renaissance these days, so if you're not scared off by the sight of hundreds or thousands of different titles, being discussed by incredibly enthusiastic nerds babbling nonsensical terms you don't understand (in case you weren't sure why there was a lot of cross-pollination), there's a lot of fun to be had. Plus, while it's expensive, only one person has to bear each cost, and it's not like they'll ever cease to be backwards compatible! (Well, unless it's something like Dark Tower).
