US Board Game Industry Faces Major Threat From 54% China Tariff.

The board game industry is beloved for its innovation, close community, and, well, narrow profit margins. The latest tariff news, though, is a kick to the wallet that could have disastrous consequences for the industry, say those on the front lines.

Jamey Stegmaier, designer of popular titles like Scythe and Wingspan, shared a note this week that he’s “just so sad and demoralized” by a new 54 percent tariff on Chinese-manufactured goods imported to the US. “Last night I tried to work on a new game I’m brainstorming,” he wrote in a personal blog post, “but it’s tough to work on the future when the future looks so grim.”

For the designer of some of the most popular games in the world, it’s an uncharacteristically intimate and vulnerable note—and a sentiment many in the industry agree with.

A Status Quo, Broken

America’s board game industry is more or less dependent on Chinese factories for its production needs. Germany has board game manufacturing facilities (Germany is sort of the home of modern tabletop gaming in general, if you wanted to go back). Still, if a publisher has production needs beyond simple printed cards and boxes—custom plastic miniatures, wooden tokens, specialty dice, die-cut game boards, etc.—they’re more likely to send them to China.

Doing it in-country is, in theory, possible, but it is effectively not a realistic solution for any company currently in the US market. Stegmaier recalls being quoted $10 by a US manufacturer. For $10, he said, he could get a Chinese factory to print, box, and ship an entire finished game. The empty box at the US factory? Cost $10.

“It is worth repeating,” Stegmaier wrote in his post. “THIRTY PERCENT.”

Stegmaier and other industry experts have noted that most companies have tight margins, particularly small and mid-size publishers. The American board game market in recent years has seen a wave of startups and small to medium-sized companies launching new titles to meet surging demand. Most of these companies have no way to absorb such a cost increase. Others have no wiggle room to renegotiate their budgets because orders were already placed before the tariff was announced.

“I cried after reading [Jamey’s post] because the impending disaster is so, so bad,” tweeted Meredith Placko, CEO of Steve Jackson Games, a company behind such titles as Munchkin and Gnomestrong. Her company, like most in the space, makes use of international manufacturing for the exact same reasons.

“To make anything, anything at all, in this country,” tweeted Rob Daviau, cofounder of Restoration Games and designer of Pandemic Legacy, “would require so much mass production that we would never be able to achieve the kind of profit margins you need.”

Industry Heads Raise Alarm

Meredith Placko has been vocal in the days since the announcement as well, posting on Twitter and sharing an in-depth account of why domestic manufacturing is simply not an option at this time.

“I get it, I know it sounds bad,” she wrote. “But the reality is it’s cheaper to import from overseas than to produce the same goods here. Period.”

Players and Fans Will Bear the Brunt Too

There are other, secondary concerns for an industry that expects to lose dozens if not hundreds of independent small and medium-sized publishers. When companies need to cut costs and there’s no way to maintain production overseas, it often means higher prices for consumers.

In some cases, designers are also worried that to meet certain prices, publishers will cut corners on production values, resulting in a generally lower-quality game. In other cases, designers worry that publishers will simply release fewer new products if they can’t maintain profit margins. That means shrinking product lines.

Shrinking product lines are a serious concern for the retail stores that make up the bulk of a board game company’s sales, many of which are small businesses already feeling pressure from online sales.

In many cases, many gamers will likely just turn to the boxes already on their shelves, including those shame-faced “shelves of shame” many gamers have: boxes of unplayed games already bought from years past.

“I’ve got games coming in, in China right now,” Stegmaier wrote, referencing how some publishers have already ordered games and had them in production. “I’m heartbroken for the people who won’t be able to pay this bill on games that are already in production.”

“Customers are going to pay either way,” tweeted Mike Selinker, designer and owner of Crooked Tree Games. “Either they pay a higher price for games when they ship, or they pay a higher price because stores and game companies go bankrupt and there are fewer games for sale.”

Limited Options, Little Hope

Designers have shared ideas on social media and online publications for creative workarounds, such as moving shipments through non-US distributors, but most of these routes have similar issues, as the tariffs don’t hit Europe or other markets in the same way. (As Stegmaier notes, 65 percent of his games get sold in the US).

Others in the industry have noted that for some companies, it’s a matter of games already ordered that are at the production stage or further. The tariff can’t be avoided for those games since it’s a tax on the shipping at the border, not on the cost of the product. “I have 8,000 games leaving a factory in China this week,” tweeted California-based Chris Solis, head of Solis Game Studio. “Now I need to figure out how to come up with the import bill to pay for them.”

The Association Behind Game Manufacturers Asks for Change

The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), an organization that represents game publishers and other companies in the space, has been active and vocal in opposing the new tariffs. So far, those efforts have not been successful.

“We just don’t know yet how companies will handle it,” Daviau told BoardGameWire. “The truth is, we could be looking at a great collapse in the hobby gaming market in the US. There is no plan to handle a situation like this if it comes to pass.”

A simple solution to that? “STOP THE 54% TARIFF,” Daviau said. “It is that simple. No, it’s easier than that. There is no solution at this point that I know of that is any fun or even just remotely uplifting.”