I'm GameWhat hot, new pastime is inspiring entrepreneurs to launch businesses?

A business-based board game is actually inspiringentrepreneurial startups. Ed Patisso is just one of many who havelaunched businesses after playing Cashflow 101, which was createdby Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bookRich Dad, Poor Dad. Some entrepreneursare finding the board game, which teaches financial principles foraccounting and investing, can create wealth-and not only in aMonopoly-money kind of way, but in real-world dollars.

Patisso, for instance, foundedAmerican Real Estate Equitiesin Mineola, NewYork, after playing the Cashflow game. The company, started in2002, offers solutions for homeowners in pre-foreclosure, mortgagefinancing and real estate services. "[Cashflow 101] suppliedthe missing link," Patisso, 30, says. "I'd takenaccounting courses in college, but there's nothing like how theCashflow 101 game is structured-it helped me learn to managerisk. [Before I played], I didn't really understand a balancesheet or income statement." Patisso, who still plays the gameoften with gaming and business community groupNYC Cashflow,expects his sales to hit $250,000.