One former sales rep at tonight’s ASTRA party at FAO Schwarz called it “a normal Toy Fair”—in and of itself a noteworthy achievement considering the run-up to the show has been anything but normal amid global economic troubles and months of bureaucratic wrangling that looked like there might be nothing to actually show at this year’s show.

Walking the show floor today wasn’t nearly the doom-laden gloom fest some predicted. Generally, exhibitors were feeling fairly upbeat to have come out of 2008 still in one piece and when asked, were nearly unanimous in reporting better than expected business in January. And while the days of jam packed tradeshows look more and more to be a thing of the past, at least for a while today Toy Fair looked like a place people wanted to be, with aisles busy enough to keep most exhibitors content and nothing particularly vexing for people whine about.

This year, "Across the board, all the manufacturers seem really aware that people have a little less to spend," says Hartshorn. Some toy lines have even come down in price. For example, Hasbro's Fur Real line is now making mini versions of its toys to make them more affordable.

The first few vendors told me they were concentrating on product around $10-15 because of the economic troubles, so I started a quick and totally unscientific poll of the vendors. When asked what they thought of the economy and if they were doing anything differently, most of them said that the less expensive items were selling very well and a few companies even mentioned delaying the launch of more high priced toys. Almost everyone said the fair was better this year than last with an increase in sales and traffic. Not surpisingly the ones that said this year was worse, were also the ones who kept reading their blackberry for a minute or two after I stepped in their booth.

U.S. board-game sales rose 6 percent to $794 million last year, while total toy sales declined 3 percent, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. Game sales have risen since last summer, when dwindling disposable income made the “staycation” a popular alternative to holiday travel, according to Reyne Rice, a consultant at the Toy Industry Association Inc. in New York.

“When you buy a $20 game, it can last,” Rice said in an interview. “You can pull it out year after year.”