By now, you’ve likely seen some of the growing conversation around tariffs, shipping delays, and how they’re impacting the board game industry. It’s a lot to take in, and we wanted to share how these changes are affecting things behind the scenes—and what we’re doing to navigate them.
Like many publishers, we manufacture our games in China, as there simply isn’t the infrastructure in the U.S. to support large-scale board game production. Until recently, we were managing under a 20% tariff rate—difficult, but workable. However, the U.S. administration has now announced a massive increases on board games imported from China.
To put it plainly, that level of tariff could cost more than the actual production of the games themselves. It’s a devastating hit for small independent publishers. And what makes it even more challenging is the lack of predictability. Building a reliable fulfillment plan becomes nearly impossible when costs can shift so drastically overnight.
Where Things Stand
Even with all the uncertainty, we’re pushing forward with production prep for our latest games. We’re keeping projects moving through pre-production, reviewing proofs, and staying in close communication with our manufacturing partners.
At the same time, we’re adjusting our fulfillment timelines and strategies:
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We’re postponing final shipping and pledge manager decisions for any of our crowdfunding projects until games are closer to arriving in the U.S., so we can respond to whatever the tariff situation looks like at that time.
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For U.S. orders, we’re exploring all options—absorbing as much of the cost as we can, delaying shipments if needed, and even considering asking for a small contribution if tariffs remain this high.
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For Canadian and Mexican backers, we’re investigating alternate shipping solutions to avoid additional fees.
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International backers outside North America should not be impacted by U.S. tariffs and will continue to be served through regional fulfillment hubs.
We know delays and uncertainty are frustrating, especially when you’re excited to get your hands on a game. We feel it too. But we’re fully committed to getting every game delivered, and we’re doing everything in our power to minimize added costs and disruptions.
We’ll continue to keep you updated as the situation evolves. Your patience and support mean everything to us right now.
With gratitude,
The Team