Generating revenue in a recession is a difficult game, but a Miami entrepreneur has made the right moves in a growing industry: board games.

Eric Poses rolled the dice in 1997, when he founded All Things Equal and took off on a cross-country sales trip in his car. Since then, revenue has grown and he now finds himself in a countercyclical sales boom.

Board games traditionally do well during tough economic times. After all, Monopoly was launched in 1935, during the Great Depression. Last year, as total U.S. toy sales declined, board game sales rose 6 percent to $794 million, according to market research by NPD Group.

Poses said All Things Equal brought in $1.45 million in revenue last year. This year he projects that to grow to more than $2 million. But he will have to wait to find out if that projection is accurate, since about 75 percent of his company sales occur during the fourth-quarter holiday rush.

Board game makers attribute the recent boost in sales to consumers looking for a way to socialize without going out.

``When the economy is bad and people are feeling financially pinched, board games are very attractive,'' said Cliff Annicelli, editor-in-chief of Playthings Magazine, a toy industry publication. ``You can play them over and over again.''

Everyone -- from kids and parents to young adults -- has been getting into the game, according to industry leaders.

``It's growing across all demographics,'' said Pat Riso, vice president of global communications at Hasbro Games.

Reyne Rice, a toy trend specialist at the Toy Industry Association, said board games have been selling well even during the spring and summer, a time when sales normally experience a lull.

Poses said his company is having a good year. The company added Kmart as a distributor and sales were bolstered by a deal with retailer TJ Maxx, which bought the entire inventory of four games that had not sold well. Poses said ridding himself of the slow-selling inventory was not just a financial boon, but also an opportunity to start fresh.

`THE BREADWINNER'

``I lost a little bit of focus on the Loaded Questions brand, which has always been the breadwinner,'' he said.

This year Poses released more games that draw on Loaded Questions, including adult and travel versions. He also updated the content and the game pieces. For next year, he is working on a parenting version of the game.

And more adults without children may be getting exposure to board games sold through retailers like Borders and Barnes & Noble.

``Bookstores are becoming a big part of where people buy games,'' Annicelli said. ``The same customer who likes to read probably likes to play board games.''

Ellen Heney-Mizer, who handles board-game purchasing for Barnes & Noble, said the company looks for games that are a bit offbeat. She said the bookseller has had particular success with word games. Three years ago, Poses launched a game based on cartoons from the New Yorker magazine as a Barnes & Noble exclusive.

All Things Equal started with Loaded Questions. In 1997 Poses printed 5,000 copies of the game and headed off on a 16-week sales trip across the country, sleeping in his car or staying with friends and family. ``I'd splurge if I stayed at Motel 6,'' he said.

Though Poses only sold 1,000 copies of the game on the journey, Loaded Questions caught the eye of a Toys R Us representative, who ordered 7,500 units.

All Things Equal is still pretty much a game of solitaire for Poses. He doesn't have any sales representatives or distributors, and he handles all accounts himself. Recently, he has been able to pick up some public relations help from former employees of Crispin Porter + Bogusky who were laid off.

NEW STRATEGY

Poses now is placing his bet on social games that promote interaction among players, a game category he hopes is poised for more growth. A survey by market research firm GFK Roper found that 53 percent of respondents play games mainly to socialize with other players, beating out motives such as winning, strategizing to win and facing a challenge.

``People like to insert their personality into the game,'' said Rice, the trend expert.

And this is just the strategy All Things Equal plans to stick to, following the Loaded Questions model of integrating personal questions into the game.

``This game fosters the laughter,'' Poses said. ``It makes it happen.''