SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Staying in is the new going out. Enter the board game. Since the economy began its dive, board game sales have been rising, according to marketing research from NPD Group Inc.

During bad economic times, board games and the family game night start to make a whole lot of sense as a way to entertain everybody on the cheap. In other words, when times are lean, we're stuck with each other, so we might as well have some fun while we're at it.

In the Wordelman household there are parents Mira and Gary and kids Danielle, 17; Michael, 15; David, 10; and Madelyn, 9. The family lives in Foresthill, Calif., where it's chilly after the sun goes down. But on game night, there is a fire going and a broad, empty table in the dining nook. The room smells like the pecan pie and coffee that Mira is making, and if there's any homework left, it can wait until later.

The entertainment tonight is Cranium, a game in which teams race to the center of the board by solving puzzles, answering trivia and performing variations on charades.

Consider this: A brand-new Cranium set costs $24.99 on Amazon.com. If the Wordelmans played it only once, that's a few dollars per person for at least an hour of entertainment.

Danielle, a Loretto High School senior, is sitting at the head of the table reading the rules. She's thinking of studying in England and she's also been accepted to New York University.

Michael, a freshman at Jesuit High School, will head off to college in a few years.

Even in a good economy, paying two tuitions can be a challenge.

Those thoughts seem far away though, at least for now. This is game night, and it's boys against girls.

Catalyst for conversation

As is almost always the case with family game nights, more than just the game is being discussed.

For example, there is a tiny drama with Michael potentially going to Danielle's senior prom as another girl's date. Danielle isn't too keen.

But she's immediately distracted when the game requires that she perform something known as "Sculptorades." This means she has to mold clay to represent the word from the card she drew.

Danielle fumbles the clay and the time runs out.

"It's an atomic bomb, I was trying to make a mushroom cloud," she says.

Her team doesn't seem too disappointed; they're all laughing too much.

Out in Shingle Springs, Calif., the Spencer family is also big into board games.

Parents Michelle and Andrew and their two daughters, Mediae, 11; and Elizabeth, 9, live amid ranch land about an hour's drive from downtown Sacramento, Calif. They don't get cable or cell phone reception, so naturally, the Spencers have mastered entertaining themselves.

When they play board games, they like to play with other families and friends.

For the Spencers, board games, cards and charades are ways to get everybody going and connecting. The fun, they say, is what comes from the players, not the game.

"It's just a great time. We have friends in San Jose that we play board games with for entire weekends," says Michelle. "I love seeing which games set people off and really get them competing."

Michelle wants to play Blocks, a strategy game. But Elizabeth overrules that one. The family will be playing Whinny, another game by the makers of Cranium.

Some family surprises

In Whinny, players anticipate the likes and dislikes of the other players and score points when their guesses turn out to be accurate.

Elizabeth goes first.

It turns out she likes "pumpkin carving" the most and as a surprise second, she likes "remote controls." If she has the remote, she can pick the Disney Channel.

"So 'remote controls' represent power?" says Michelle. "This is why games are so much fun, it leads to interesting conversation threads where you just get onto other things."

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Top of the boards

Scanning the Web for the most popular and best-selling board games, these are the names that pop up on multiple lists:

• Monopoly

• Risk

• Scrabble

• Checkers

• Battleship

• Stratego

• Backgammon

• Outburst

• Password

• Chess

• That's Life

• Apples to Apples

• Cranium