Abalone

Abalone is one of those board games often described as “a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.” Its rules are simple and logical but the strategy involved can be far subtler and deeper. Like all such games, how challenging a match is depends upon your opponent’s level of skill.
Created in 1987, Abalone is a relatively new entry to this board game combat style category (whose catalogue ranges from Connect 4 and Othello, through to Go.) Two players battle via an army of 14 equal pieces, attempting to force their opponent’s pieces off of the board, while protecting their own.

With the two sides of equal strength, it is strategy that matters here. Find the right balance of defensive and offensive tactics, often depending upon your opponent’s playing style, and try to come out ahead. (Hint: try to keep your pieces bunched together as this helps in both offence and defence.)
The game simulation itself is smooth and functional without being too gaudy. The actual board game uses marbles as its playing pieces as they roll evenly from one board position to the next, and this is neatly duplicated here in the simple animation. There are no excessive or showy graphics. (And thankfully, no pointless visual representation of your virtual opponent, something I’ve always found highly annoying.)
Perhaps the minimalist style is less exciting to some avid gamers but for my tastes, especially with these kinds of games, it’s a case of less being far more. It’s the game itself you should focus on and not the flashy animation; excessive visual flourishes are unnecessary and an annoying distraction that only serves to slow the gameplay down.
The game has six skill levels, allowing enough variance in difficulty to accommodate the full range of players, from beginner to expert. It also has four different starting positions, including the standard starting position and the “Belgian Daisy” starting position.
If there’s any short falling to this simulation, it’s that it only allows for the standard two player game, whereas the board game can play up to six.
As you would expect from this kind of game, there are both a “Human vs. Computer” option and a “Human vs. Human” option, allowing you to play a friend. (Though not a “Computer vs. Computer” option, which can sometimes be interesting to watch, especially set on the hardest skill level.)
Personally I love these simple little desktop games where you can leave the window open and play just to idle away those boring moments while waiting something to download, etc, and this one is a great addition to the collection.