My first engine game was Everdell about two years back at a friend's place in Austin, and I had the same flip happen where I thought the cute animal art meant it would be light and boring. Turns out chaining critters and buildings into a big combo turn is seriously addictive, and it plays in about an hour once everyone knows the rules. Race for the Galaxy hooked me the same way too, you build a little tableau that feeds itself and suddenly you are running away with the score. Both of those give you that same feeling of your cards working together like your crows and hummingbird did. Just watch a quick how to play video first because the rulebooks make them look harder than they are.

Funny how the cheap fix is usually the one that works. Same thing with sleep, people buy $200 pillows and it turns out going to bed an hour earlier was the whole answer. For bench work a stool you can set high with a foot rest beats any fancy chair, your mileage may vary though.