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"I prefer 'recession resistant,'" says Phil Jackson, the global head of Hasbro's games division. "People are looking for home-based entertainment, and families turn game night into a family ritual." After the September 11th attacks and the popping of the tech bubble, families cut back on travel and unnecessary spending to spend more time with each other, a psychological trope called 'nesting.' Board games benefitted. Now, in the midst of an historic recession, Jackson notes, "For games, our time has come."

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Joe Sequino, vice president of Winning Moves, Danvers, Mass, agrees. In 2008, his business held quite steady, he says. "We hit our number. We didn't have a banner year, but we reached projections."

Winning Moves concentrates on classic games and classic brands, such as Super Scrabble, a larger version of Scrabble, and Risk 1959, a replica of the original version of the game, including its wooden pieces. Risk 1959 is not a light purchase at $40, but so far in 2009, it's been Winning Moves' second best seller. Sequino cites the nostalgia factor and the quality of the wooden pieces as the driving forces behind its successs. "Consumers are more confident to purchase something that has a brand they already know," he explains. Retailers, meanwhile, benefit not just because of the classic branding but also because they know big box chains "won't be selling the same product for $10 less," Sequino says. "The opening order for certain brand games is prohibitive. With us, it's not."

Game maker Briarpatch, Millburn, N.J., is also enjoying smooth sailing despite the inclement economic weather. "I'm almost leery to say this: Our business is doing well," says Marc Shinderman, general manager. The company is neck deep in recognizable, evergreen licenses such as Thomas, Goodnight Moon and Scholastic's I Spy series.

"These are classic children's properties," Shinderman says. "Unless people stop reading all together and stop having children, I think we have a long future in this business." He expects classics to lead the market in 2009. "Classics are strong year after year. Consumers will gravitate to them."

For Endless Games brand recognition has also been important. The South Amboy, N.J.-based company has been holding steady due at least in part to growing popularity for CBS' Million Dollar Password with Regis Philbin, for which it produces the home version. "Regis is a major reason why people are going back" to TV game show games, the company's Brian Turtle tells PLAYTHINGS, noting that "holding steady is like going up in this economic climate." But while Turtle predicts that many game companies will also play it a little closer to the vest this year, he says there is still a need for "that shoot-for-the-moon attitude or else there will be no innovation."

He adds (with a bit of gallows humor), "Monopoly was created during the Great Depression ... I don't know what this year's Monopoly will be."

A few game companies are indeed hoping to rely on innovation and the uniqueness of their offerings to attract new business in this economy.

"It has to be something no one else does," says Stuart Kaplan, founder of U.S. Games Systems, Stamford, Conn. "You can't go with the same (cash) cow every year because it will dry up. You have to capture the imagination of the buyer."

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Other companies are relying on party games to round out their offerings, though the nesting theory still applies, they say. Five-year-old North Star Games, Bethesda, Md., is a good example. Though the economy is currently in turmoil and unemployment rates are skyrocketing, North Star predicts 100 percent growth in 2009, according to company founder Dominic Crapuchettes.

"Our revenues have been growing an average of 135 percent a year," he says. "That doesn't mean much for the first few years when you start out at $0 revenue, [but] last year we grew at about 125 percent." His staff grew as well, from two to five people, plus he recently landed shelf space at Target. Crapuchettes—and, yes, he's already heard all the jokes about his last name—attributes his company's lofty expectations to two important factors. The party game market—which is North Star Games' bread and butter with offerings like Wits & Wagers (a combination of trivia and friendly gambling) and Say Anything (where players jot down answers and try to guess each other's favorites)—is not as price sensitive as family games. Secondly, he's banking that budget-conscious consumers will opt to spend $30 on a board game they might use 10 times over the year rather than $50 per person for one meal at a restaurant. "$30 or $40 is not a huge expenditure for a party game. For a family game, $30 may be too much of a risk considering the child may never play it again."

Appropriate pricing will likely play a big role for game makers in 2009, they tell PLAYTHINGS. According to Shinderman, consumers will be spending smarter, using coupons, seeking lower price points and curbing impulse buying. "Instead of a 'grande' coffee, it might be a 'tall.' Instead of a $30 game, it might be a $20."

Finding ways to keep price points consumer friendly without hemorrhaging value is also the plan for Endless Games, Turtle notes. The company's Quick Picks line of travel-sized offerings retails at $10. "It's an impulse buy, and it's environmentally friendly because you're not shipping air," he explains. New to the line this year is Quackgammon (speed backgammon) and X-Ceter-O (a version of tic-tac-toe in which a player always wins; it never ends in a tie).

Retailers concur: Consumers are now extremely price sensitive. "Where people would normally spend $20 on a birthday present, now they want the present, the card, the wrapping and tax below $20, so they'll buy at around the $15 range, " says Debbie Smith, owner of Toys that Teach, Richmond, Va. At her two stores, Bananagrams has been "huge, huge" thanks to a price point under $20, portability and "killer packaging," she says, while Mindware's Qwirkle (a cross between dominoes and Set) has also been in high demand.

Bananagrams has also sold well at Toy Crossing. Rayment keeps a tree on the counter and "about one in 10 customers walks out with one," he says. Travel-sized games, like magnetic parcheesi and chess, and on-the-go versions of staples like Battleship, have also moved extremely well, helping keep his store's sales about even with last year. "Games with simple rules but complex play work best with us," he notes.

At the end of the day, keeping afloat in this economy requires strong partnerships between game makers and the retailers on which they rely, a balancing act when games draw the attention of big box chains.

Genevieve Collonge, floor manager at The Wooden Horse, Los Gatos, Calif., says her store probably won't restock Cranium games now that they're owned by Hasbro. "We stopped carrying Hasbro games because we couldn't keep up with the quantity they wanted us to carry," she says. "It's a shame, because Cranium makes great games." The same thing happened with LeapFrog when the electronic learning toy maker transitioned to mass retailers, she tells PLAYTHINGS. "They outgrew us," she says sadly.

North Star Games faced a similar situation, Crapuchettes says. Although the company has a "problem" many game makers only wish for—Target likes its products, especially the multiple award-winning Wits & Wagers—specialty retailers typically steer clear of products that are discounted at big box chains.

"Once the specialty retailer learns he won't be undercut, most are okay with it," he says. In fact, because of the relationships North Star has built with independent shops, in-store demos helped drive an average of 94 games per store for December 2008, whereas Target moved about 40 per store, he says.

Briarpatch has also been able to straddle both the specialty and big box channels of distribution by staying true to its pricing structure. "If a retailer wants to sell for a short price, that's their choice," Shinderman tells PLAYTHINGS. "We haven't changed our business model or cut corners in order to get into mass. Could we have had better volumes? Probably. But we decided to stay true to who we are."

Endless Games' Turtle emphasizes the importance of embracing specialty retailers. "We try to accommodate [them]," he says. "We have only two items at the mass market level. Independent toy stores can really demo an item, hold game nights and educate the floor staff. In mass market, they want it all on the box."

These specialties of specialty—knowledgeable staff, in-store demos, game nights and gift wrapping—will keep game customers coming back, regardless of the economy or competition from mass, independent retailers say.

At The Wooden Horse, management focuses on keeping staff and customers well informed. "Massive amounts" of training educates staff on the stages of child development, Collonge says. The store also holds community events, including educational lectures about what makes a good toy. "When times get tough, this helps us maintain a good customer base," says Collogne. "You can't buy word-of-mouth reputation."

Shinderman recognizes times are tough for specialty retailers but he urges them to "ride it out." There will always be a place for the independents, he says. "If you start to run scared and worry the customers won't come in, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy."