Hitchhiker’s guide to Game Distributors
This list is regularly updated.
My post about Manufacturers was very well received and I got a request to do one about distributors. I do get asked from time to time to provide this info anyway, so I might as well make a page about it, right?
There are a couple types of distributors and just a few large ones that dominate the US market. There are also fulfillment/consolidation services that help you get easy access to all these distributors and a warehouse to store your products. So it’s important to note the differences.
At the same time, many of them have alternate forms of doing business with you (a publisher). Some will allow you to do what’s known as “Flooring” – which means they will charge you a fee for space in their warehouse and will buy from you on consignment (thus only paying you if / when your product sells). The advantage of Flooring is that the distributor doesn’t run out of inventory – which is a major problem in this short-order front-line driven marketplace we live in today.
I do not recommend working directly with the distributors unless you’re a larger publisher. If you use a consolidator they will more then pay for their services by getting your game sold more often and to more companies than you could ever do on your own.
Also, see my post on how to get into distribution as a new publisher:
http://www.jamesmathe.com/how-to-get-into-distribution/
Consolidators
| COMPANY | SERVICES | PROS | CONS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impressions Aldo Ghiozzi website | Warehousing and direct to distributor sales. | Access to most distributors world wide. | Storage fees. |
| Publisher Services, Inc website | Warehousing and direct to distributor sales. | Access to most distributors world wide. Access to Target and Barnes & Noble and other mainstream outlets. | Isn't taking on new clients |
| Indie Press Revolution website | Retail and wholesale. | Indie RPGs | No board games |
| Game Salute Dan Yarrington website | Full service: Kickstarter, Layout, Printing, Warehousing, Convention support. | One stop shop. | Limited market penatration |
| Hit Point Sales website | Warehousing, sales, and wholesale. | Gain access to some distribution. | Pretty much the same company as Game Salute |
| Amazon FBA website | Warehousing and direct sales | Fast delivery | Complicated and people can mess with your listing. |
US Distributors
| COMPANY | SERVICES | PROS | CONS |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACD Distribution website | Midwest, East & West coast locations. | ||
| Aladdin Distributors website | Regional | ||
| Alliance Game Distribution website | Flooring. Fulfillment. | Midwest, Eastern, Southern, and West coast locations. Plus one in London, ON CANADA | |
| Diamond Comic Distributors website | Mostly just comics | ||
| Flat River Group website | |||
| GTS Distribution website | 9 locations. Heavy on CCG. | Light on RPG | |
| Mad Al Distributors website | Regional | ||
| Premier Hobby Distributors website | Light on RPG | ||
| R&M Distributors website | |||
| Southern Hobby website | Mostly MTG and supplies. Light on RPG | ||
| WarPath Games Distribution website | Heavy on the miniatures | Regional | |
| WorldWise Imports website |
Worldwide Distributors
| COMPANY | REGION | SERVICES | PROS | CONS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcane Tinmen | very small | |||
| Arcanus Distribution website | Mexico | |||
| Avalon Trondheim | very small | |||
| Bergsala Enigma website | Denmark | |||
| Boardgamecafe website | Malaysia | |||
| Boosterbox | very small | |||
| Brain Games SIA website | Latvia | |||
| Brave New World website | Germany | Small | ||
| Coiledspring Games website | UK | Targets younger market | ||
| Distrimagen | very small | |||
| El Duende | very small | |||
| El Viejo Tercio | very small | |||
| Esdevium Games website | Europe | Large | ||
| Everest Wholesale | very small | |||
| Fantaspielpelit | very small | |||
| Freak | very small | |||
| Good Games Distribution website | Australia | |||
| GROSNOR Distribution website | Canada | |||
| Grosnor Sports Cards | very small | |||
| Jolly Thinkers Centre website | China | |||
| Kaissa | very small | |||
| Kanga | very small | |||
| Lion Rampant website | Canada | Large | ||
| Millenium | ||||
| Paradigm Infinitum | very small | |||
| Pegasus Spiele website | Europe & Germany | |||
| Pixel Park website | New Zealand | |||
| PixelPark | very small | |||
| Raven Distribution | very small | |||
| Spiral Galaxy Games website | UK | Fulfillment & Distribution | ||
| STGS Edwin Games | very small | |||
| Swan Panasia | very small | |||
| Ulisses Spiele website | Germany | |||
| Universal Distribution website | Canada | |||
| Ventura Int'l | very small | |||
| Vincit | very small | |||
| Wargames Club | very small |
I also found this great list of non-USA distributors and partners on Gigamic’s website:
More Non-USA distributors
Fulfillment Centers
These services will help you ship your game around the world to your end customers (like Kickstarter backers). They are good to use to help avoid your customers paying import/VAT taxes on the goods as you can ship within the EU. This is usually called being “EU Friendly”. Also, since shipping out of the USA is so damn expensive, your costs in the end (even though you pay the VAT on the wholesale price of your goods) ends up being less in the end. But it is more work / logistics. My company, Minion Games, ships to only USA backers and has one of these services send to all the non-USA backers (even Canada).
| COMPANY | CONTACT | SHIPS FROM | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aether Tower Inc. | aether.tower@gmail.com | Mexico | Mail to Texas |
| Aetherworks website | kickstarter@aetherworks.com.au | Australia | |
| Agility website | CAChen@agility.com | China | |
| Amazon FBA website | Multiple Countries | Issues with product listings changing. Requires barcode on everything. | |
| Attacke website | andreas.miksch@attacke-agentur.de | Germany | Reliable but expensive |
| China Division website | michael@chinadivision.com | China | |
| Collext website | hello@collext.com | UK | |
| Flat River Group website | kkrieger@flatrivergroup.com | USA | $2/shipment Fedex |
| Floship website | steve.suh@floship.com | China | |
| Fulfillrite website | info@fulfillrite.com | USA | |
| Funagain Games website | fulfillment@funagain.com | USA | |
| Game Surplus website | games@gamesurplus.com | USA | |
| Games Quest website | fulfilment@gamesquest.co.uk | UK | Cheap service. Slow to process. Tracking only in UK |
| Happyshops website | projekt@happyshops.com | Germany | |
| IdeasPatcher / Nift website | vcullot@morningplayers.com | France | Several bad reports |
| Lets Play Games website | nick@letsplaygames.com.au | Australia | |
| Logistico website | rz@logistico.de | Germany | EU 2.50/shipment DHL |
| Quartermaster Logistics info@qmlogistics.com | USA | Great feedback | |
| Send From China website | fulfillment_sales@sfcservice.com | China | Only good for small packages. Damage on larger packages. |
| Sendwich Logistics website | maxi.ebert@sendwich-logistics.com | Germany | |
| Ship Naked website | USA | Sometimes poor communication and delays | |
| Shiphopper website | info@shiphopper.com | Europe | |
| Simple Global website | sales@simpleglobal.com | South Korea | |
| Snakes & Lattes website | games@snakesandlattes.com | Canada | |
| SpainBox website | manuel@spainbox.com | Spain | |
| Spiral Galaxy Games website | sales@spiralgalaxygames.co.uk | UK | Great Feedback |
| Starlit Citadel website | trwong@starlitcitadel.com | Canada / USA | |
| Unicorn Games website | info@unicorngames.com.au | Australia | |
| VFI website | coyotegames@live.com | China | |
| Wayland website | chris@minervagames.co.uk | UK | |
| YesFulfillment website | hello@yesfulfilment.com | UK | |
| ZhenHub website | vincent@zhenhub.com | USA |
Also, see Jamey Stegmaier’s detailed blogs about fulfillment and his experiences:
https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/lessons/shipping-and-fulfillment/
https://stonemaiergames.com/fulfilling-your-dreams-via-a-fulfillment-service/
Check out this very detailed Google worksheet that has a bunch of shippers listed on it (not it has several tabs at the bottom):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bx2h-oZ-ZcNdKw-yyAUfl-BbWOjmqP6tYu9jTKPxfnI/edit#gid=1844848505
UK also has ourselves and we do distribution and fulfilment, we’re working on a tie up with Game Salute and have been their UK Distributor for a while.
Coiled Spring are ideal if your game is targeted at the younger market.
This was very helpful. Thanks!
Looks like “WarPath Games Distribution” is now, “Golden Distribution.”
http://www.goldendist.com/
BoardGameManufacturing.com – We design and manufacture board games so this is great information for our customers! Thank you for this valuable info! Much appreciated!
Really rookie questions here from someone just trying to figure out this industry.
If I was to work with a Consolidator and Manufacturer. Do Consolidators handle initial order fulfillment if we did a Kickstarter?
What about future order fulfillment if we set up a website for online order? Do Consolidators handle those or do they just handle working with distributors to get games into stores?
Thank you so much for all this great information!!!
Some consolidators do, most don’t. Online orders are on you, not your consolidator. They really only help you get into distribution. There are fulfilment companies like Games Quest that can help you ship Kickstarter.
Thank you, I can’t tell you how useful I have found your site to be so far. Thank you for the time, experience and wisdom!
Wow, what a great resource, thank you very much.
James , your blog is awesome and is a big help. I owned a game store a while back (sold it when I moved closed to family) and am planning to open a new store. One thing I was wondering as far as distributors go, Alliance and GTS and such have hobby games and ccgs. Where do you find generic stuff like Parcheesi, Dominoes, chess sets, checkers sets, etc. Thanks for the help!
Most of the time you don’t want to deal in them unless they are premium wood versions as anyone who’s price sensitive will just go to Walmart, Target, or Toys R’ Us. So there are a couple places that do nice wood stuff like Wood Expressions. You’ll have to order direct most likely.
Hi James, We have a new game we have currently stocked in our own storage but I’m having trouble trying to figure out how to get a consolidator. Where might I contact one for Seattle WA? We are looking for a way to get our game noticed. Any advice on how to do that? People like the game but nobody knows it exists. We have a website and facebook and two stores holding it but by ourselves it’s very slow going. Is a consolidator what we are looking for?
Thanks!
You really should have been in talks before you printed the game. It’s extremely hard to get into distribution these days unless your game is already a known quantity – face it 2000 other people are in your shoes. Stores are getting too much product already. Your really on your own with going to conventions and promoting the game yourself these days. I have other blogs mentioning how to promote yourself.
Just adding David Westnedge Ltd. to the list for UK & Ireland!
I’m a bit confused on the basic functions of the links in the chain. Assuming a designer creates the game at the beginning, and a retailer sells the game at the end, would you mind talking a bit about the difference between a distributer, a consolidator, a fulfillment center, and a publisher?
Thanks!
Sure, the quick answer is:
Game Designer – they person with the game idea who made a working prototype that is fun to play. They usually pitch this to a Publisher to make it into a complete product to sell to retailers.
Publisher – the person who thought up and planned and executed (like a movie producer) a game idea. Most of the time they are just outsourcing to contractors like artists, game designers, etc. They are also the ones that put up the money and take the risk on the production of that game.
Fulfillment Center – This is a company that helps you direct ship to end customers as a publisher. Usually used to fill the Kickstarter to backers. They really are only there to help you sort/pack/ship and are not taking any orders from anyone but the publisher.
Consolidator – these days there are so many small companies, another middleman steps in to help out. Since it’s hard to get into distribution (as a publisher) these days, if you can get into a consolidator they will then sell to the distributor. Thus your products will get restocked at the distributor more often.
Distributor – a company the retailers order from that has many items from many publishers in stock. This saves them time and shipping.