NEW YORK, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Take out the dice and put back the mouse, the toy mavens say. Despite the high-tech craze, the traditional board game is still alive and kicking.

While video and electronic games have stormed the market, traditional board games -- from two new Harry Potter selections to the classic Monopoly -- are doing just fine.

In 1999, the last year full-year statistics are available, the sale of board games rose 21 percent over the previous year to $381 million, more than the 6 percent rise in overall toy sales, according to Toy Manufacturers of America Inc.

That is still a far cry from the $5.5 billion video games took in 1999, but the trend for board games is better: video game sales only rose 12.5 percent in 1999 from the prior year.

Human interaction is the driving force behind the renewed interest in board games, senior executives in the toy industry said on Sunday, the opening day of the American International Toy Fair, the largest toy trade show in the Americas.

``You can't gather around a computer for warmth and attention,'' said Larry Balsamo, president of TDC Games, a board game maker.

Mark Hendon, general manager of Las Vegas-based game maker Talicor, said ``There seems to be a rebirth in board games, people wants to enjoy each others company.''

And for Patty Henderson, chief executive of Zani Co., a newly started game development company who was looking for inspiration at the Toy Fair, board games offer quality time for those fleeting moments still available for the family.

``In some ways board games have replaced the family dinner, it's the one chance for many families to have everybody sit together for a few hours,'' said Henderson.

MAKE-IT-YOURSELF MONOPOLY

There were lots of games to be inspired by. The Game Zone section of the Toy Fair was overflowing with new, imaginative games: from the retro ``I Love Lucy Trivia Game'' from Talicor and ``Acronymity'' -- an acronym guessing game from Acronymity Inc. -- to adult board games like ``Dirty Minds'' or ``Sexual Secrets,'' both from TDC Games.

Many of the games seem complicated. While U.S. toymakers often complain that American costumers are less patient than their European counterparts, the success of games like Wadjet by Timbuk II Games Inc., an adventure game that includes a 1,500 word background story and accompanying charts, testify to the existence of a U.S. market for more advanced games.

But it was not only new games that were being advertised, some of the classics are also moving into the 21st century.

Take chess, one of the world's oldest games, known at least since the 6th century. That hasn't stopped Wood Expressions, a maker of traditional wooden chess games from branching out. The company has launched chess games with pieces inspired by the Simpsons (Bart Simpson is the pawn), Kermit the Frog and Star Trek.

The same goes for Monopoly, a more recent classic. TDC Games now offers a make-it-yourself Monopoly set, basically a desktop publishing program that allows users to design their own Monopoly game.

NEW HARRY POTTER GAMES

Like most industries, the board game market is dominated by more well-know games. Pressman Toy Corp.'s ``Who Want's to be a Millionaire'' sold more than three million copies last year, according to Geoffrey Hand, export manager with Pressman. And Mattel Inc.'s (NYSE:MAT - news) UNO card game, now in its 30th year, continues to be a bestseller.

And toy giants like Mattel are not showing any sings of giving up on the board game market.

This year Mattel will release two brand-new Harry Potter-related board games. One, the ``Casting Stones Starter Game,'' will include casting stones with computer chips that enable them to be used in other Potter products Mattel will launch this year. The other is the ``Hogwards 3-D Game,'' a three-story board game that promises to take children through the first Potter-book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

But Harry Potter and Mattel doesn't scare Bill Stephenson, president of North Maple Grove, Minn.-based, Spy Alley Partners LLP, who invented Spy Alley, a who-is-who kind of guessing game in 1997.

Stephenson said he lost money the first year, broke even the second and made about $30,000 in profit last year. That was far from enough to allow Stephenson to quit his day-job as a grain elevator operator, but enough to retain his optimism.

``Games is what I want to do, the grain elevator is just a headache,'' he said.