Recession Resistant Games Grab Our Attention

When our economy is down, sales of board games go up. Monopoly came out during the Depression and Trivial Pursuit hit it big during the recession of the early '80s. When people spend more time at home, they rediscover that there's fun just waiting to happen in their game closet. And it's not just the tried and true games that get played. People are discovering new games as well. According to the market-research firm NPD Group, board-game sales in the United States climbed 6 percent in 2008 to $794 million, while overall toy sales were down 3 percent.

This summer many of us on tighter budgets will take "staycations" at home and board games are a really inexpensive way to enjoy that time with family and friends. Compared to dinner and a movie, games are downright cheap. Last night we played Monopoly as a family and the game was more fun than I had remembered. My kids (13 and 10) loved it, and my wife, who is all about "nesting," thought is was great time. Probably because she won.