New Games For A Retro Mood

By Harriet Barovick

Despite the continuing appeal of video and computer games, a growing number of consumers are returning to a low-tech, nostalgic pleasure: board games. From 1999 to 2000, sales jumped 23%, as such games as Monopoly, Clue and Cranium found a new audience in adults and frenzied families eager for a Nintendo-free way to socialize. Toy giant Hasbro has been running an ad campaign that plays on just this theme, urging loved ones to gather weekly for "family game nights."

The popularity of board games has spanned generations, and includes familiar classics and hot newcomers. The best-selling 67-year-old Monopoly can now be played in 34 editions, including I Love Lucy and Spiderman (featuring such properties as Green Goblin, a notorious Spidey foe). A Scooby-Doo edition of Clue was released last month. "Some of the resurgence is post-9/11 and some is part of an overall retro trend," says Maria Weiskott, editor of Playthings magazine. "But particularly during a soft economy, it's important to have something fun and affordable that families can do together. People are remembering how much fun the old games are." But they're also finding fun in new ones, like the best-selling Cranium. Launched in 1998, it asks players to act out, draw or sculpt phrases; more than a million copies have been sold. And the tiny, Toronto-based Faby Games saw its Wordthief (a word game played with cards) sell out when it was launched at Barnes & Noble in 2000 and become one of the chain's Top 10 sellers this year. Next up from Faby is National Trash!, a game in which players use sensationalistic words to create tabloid headlines to go with wacky photos. So when it's revealed that Professor Plum did it with the revolver in the study, a new generation of tabloid writers will be ready.

--By Harriet Barovick