Source: Joe Gill, brandrepublic.com blog, Sep 09 2009:

For every global recession there is a silver lining. Last year’s sales of board games in the US were up by 23% to $808 million according to a Forbes report in July. This is likely because board games are recession proof to the extent that they are a cheaper alternative to other kinds of entertainment, such as the cinema or computer games.

Historically board game and puzzle sales in the US are about ten times sales in the UK, with Germany the world’s second biggest boardgames market.

And so there is little surprise that we are launching in the US this fall and launching our German ‘Die Zeit’ edition of About Time at the Frankfurt Bookfair and at the Essen Spiel games fair next month in Germany.