Well, you'd be surprised how easily your wife can become engrossed with a cabinet. Both myself and my cab-building buddy have wives that were definitely opposed to having cabinets in their homes. Now the wives spend more time on the machines than he or I do!
Puzzle games are good: Puzzle Bobble, Magical Drop, Pnickies, Klax, etc.
--Funny side note-I showed my wife every puzzle game I could think of and she plays them all. Smiles all around, love is in the air, $500 debt for building the cabinet slowly being forgotten. 3 weeks later I decide to fire up Tetris for a go--she peeks over my shoulder and proclaims "What is that?"
She had never seen Tetris before. I just naturally assumed that she had played it before--who hasn't played Tetris? Silly me. She must be the last person in the US or Europe over the age of 18 to play it and I married her. Bless her innocent heart. It's now her favorite BTW--
You would also be suprised at some other games. My wife fell in love w/ Galaga, for all the reasons why it is a classic (not as stale as Space Invaders or Galaxian, not as frenetic as any other shooter). Hits the sweet spot for women.
Surprisingly, some of the games I would stereotypically consider "girls games" like Flicky or New Zealand Story she will have no part of.
What complex creatures women are . . .