Had my first taste of a "non-traditional" board game this week when I bought Pandemic and played it with the wife. We both absolutely loved it, and have played it several times since (took us 3 attempts to win the game on the easiest difficulty). Hopefully we'll have a 4 player game of it tonight as some friends are coming around.
Are there any other great games in the same mould, perhaps that are co-op like Pandemic is? The wife can get a little frustrated if I always win (she won't play me at Monopoly any more), so games where we work together will always go down well.
Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert should be your next port of call, there.
After that... maybe Ghost Stories if you enjoy a game giving you an absolute kicking.
Thought of a few more that scratch that co-operative itch pretty well, too:
Space Hulk: Death Angel - Brutal, brutal, BRUTAL difficulty, but an exceptionally tight and well designed little game. Cheap, too.
Elder Sign - For fans of dice rolling and Cthulhu Mythos stuff, this has a lot of fun and theme to it. Those not enamoured with the inherent reliance on luck that comes with dice rolling, stay far away.
Castle Panic - Light, simple, fun. You should probably grab this at some point (probably before graduating to Ghost Stories).
Red November - Think the videogame "FTL: Faster Than Light" as a boardgame. You run around trying desperately to fix problems with a submarine before it explodes. Or before you get too drunk, pass out, and burn to death in a flaming sealed room. It's tough, and takes some getting in to but once it clicks it works very well.
A Touch of Evil - Amazing production value, surprisingly deep yet easy to play, and it genuinely leads you on what feels like an adventurous race against time in an old Hammer flick. Can also be played competitively, too. It's almost like a slightly lighter cousin the grandaddy of all co-operative adventure games....
Arkham Horror. Until you're well versed in the world of board gaming and
know that you have the time and patience for the big guns, stay far, far away from this behemoth. It's amazing, but also punishingly hard and takes a loooooong time to play.
People also say good things about
Flash Point and
Shadows Over Camelot, but I haven't tried those yet so don't know how well they run with two players.
