Hitchhiker’s guide to Game Manufacturers
Tabletop Game Manufacturing Companies
I’ve personally used half a dozen card and board game Manufacturers over the last few years making our dozen or so games. I will share my personal thoughts / opinions below on these companies. But I have also contacted other publishers to get their first-hand feedback on other board game Manufacturers.
These Manufacturers are primarily for cards and board games but most can do dice and miniatures too. Usually, they can get other things done as well (like our Foam Dice or Metal Coins). But that’s the niche I know and so that’s what I write about.
Also See: The Art of the RFQ
Your mileage may vary… I welcome comments and input from others to help fill in the blanks (only if you have direct personal experience)… If you’re asking for my personal recommendations they would be: Panda GM, Long Pack Games, Wingo Industry, Bang Wee, and GPI.
(NOTE: This list is regularly maintained and should be current. Please send us any updates.)
- The charts below have multiple pages, so click NEXT to get more. Also, some may side-scroll.
MOQ = Minimum Order Quantity
COMM = Communication level (to an English speaker)
TIME = Timeliness of production
FIX = Problem Fixing and customer service
COO = Country of Origin (where it’s actually made)
RATING SCALE: Poor/Fair/Good/Excellent
Game Manufacturers
MANUFACTURER | QUALITY | PRICE | MOQ | COMM | TIME | FIX | PROS | CONS | COO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
360 Manufacturing website | Fair | Low | Poor | USA Front Office | Had many delays and failed to deliver anywhere near time promised. High error rates. | USA & China | |||
Ace Card Company Website | Fair | Fair | 'Low' | Good | Fair | Fair | Mostly Cards | India | |
AdMagic Website | Good | Med-High | Fair/Good | Good | Good | Free Setup | Uses MeiJia so you might just want to get a quote direct. | USA & China | |
Allied Fortune Industrial Website | China | ||||||||
Altenburger Spielladen Website | Excellent | EU location | Germany | ||||||
Annboli Agnes Lau Website | High | 2000 | Excellent | China | |||||
BangWee Games Website | Good/Excellent | Low | 500 | Good | Good | Good | Low MOQ | Wood & Dice sub-par. | China |
Board Game Manufacturing Website | Good | Medium | 500 | Excellent | US Office | China | |||
BoDa Board Game Co. Website | Good | Low | 1000 | Good | Good | Fair | Slow | China | |
Cangnan Longda Website | Metal Coins & Tokens | Low | Any | More finishing options | Coins only | China | |||
Cangnan Longda Plastic Products Factory Website | Metal Coins | China | |||||||
Cartamundi Website | Cards= Excellent | Med-High | 3000 | Good | Good | Good | Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) is 3000. | USA | |
CartamundiUK Website | Cards= Excellent | High | 500 | Fair | Fair | Fair | Smaller MOQ then the USA affiliate | UK | |
Cheering Production Website | Good | Low | 1000 | Good | China | ||||
Chicago Game & CardWebsite | USA & China | ||||||||
Delano / EPI Marketing Website | Good | High | 1000 games 500 for cards | Good | Fair | Good | US Company. Domestic printer, great customer service and communications. Cost effective and timely shipping. Print time 4-7 weeks depending on game and time of season. | price point. Need slightly larger to mid size runs to be cost effective. They cannot do custom plastics, dice, etc... | USA |
DoFine Games Website | Fair | Low-Med | Good | Good | China | ||||
Gameland Website Email | Good | Low | 500 | China | |||||
Grand Prix International (GPI) Website | Excellent | Med-High | 2500 | Excellent | Good | Excellent | Great quality products used by some big names in our industry. | Above avg MOQ | USA & China |
GRANNA Website | Good | Medium | 1000 | Average | Good English, great for EU game developers | Sometimes replies take a long time | Poland | ||
HCH Games Website | China | ||||||||
Holinail Website | Good | Good | Good | Makes miniatures | France & China | ||||
Ink Play Games Website | Taiwan | ||||||||
LCM Group Website | 1500 | Excellent | China | ||||||
Liso Toys Website | 1000 | China | |||||||
Liya International Website | Makes toys & can do fulfillment. US Sales office. | China | |||||||
LongPack Games Cy Website | Excellent | Medium | 1500 | Good | Good | Good | Can get odd items made that are not board/card games | China | |
Ludo Fact - Asia Stephen Website | Excellent | Low-Med | 1500 | Good | Owned by the Germany company so quality is important to them. | China | |||
Ludo Fact - Germany Frank Jaeger Website | Excellent | High | 1500 | Good | Good | Fair | Work for many game publishers so knows what you want and understands the board game business in the USA | Didn't make good on failures that were their fault. Ludo Pact their partner company has slaps you with extra charges. Accounting is messy at best | Germany |
Magicraft Website | Excellent | Good | 1500 | Good | China | ||||
Meijia Website | Good | Low | 1000 | Good | Poor | Poor | Several large companies use them and they make CAH | China | |
Ningbo Eastar GM Website | Excellent | Medium | Good | China | |||||
Ningbo Lijia Industry Co Website | Fair | Low | 5000 | Poor quality control and customer service. | China | ||||
Ninox Games Website | Excellent | Medium | 1000 | Very Good | Excellent | China | |||
NSF Arjan Bink Website | Excellent | Medium | 1500 | Chipboard was excellent. | Doesn't do mini-Americian card sizes | Netherlands | |||
Panda GM Michael Lee Website | Excellent | Med-High | 1500 | Fair | Poor | Good | Canadian company overseeing China factory. Does work for many game publishers. Provides EXTRA bits. | Slow to quote | China |
Prime Line Products Website | Good | Many product types | China | ||||||
PrintNinja Website | Cards=Excellent | Cards=Low, Wood=High | 1000 | Excellent | Excellent | Good | If you're doing anything but just cards in a tuck box they are very expensive. | China | |
Product Greenhouse Website | Ecellent | Medium | Good | Fair | Good | (Brokers) | |||
Product Vision Int. Teri Jaymes Website | China | ||||||||
QPC Games website | Excellent | Medium | 500 | Good | Fair | Fair | US Company & overseeing China factory | USA & China | |
Ricowell Website | China | ||||||||
Shanghai Hopes Website | Made Gloomhaven | China | |||||||
Shanghai Magicraft Website | Good | Good | Good | Goes out of his way to make sure quality is as expected. | Had some card quality issues. Ex: Top card in a deck was bent while packing, etc. | China | |||
Shenzhen Senfutong Paper Co. Website | Fair | Medium | 1000 | China | |||||
Strom Mfg Website | Good | Medium | 1500 | Good | Good | Good | English contact 815-498-9555 | ||
Trefl Website | Good | Medium | 1000 | Fair | Fair | Fair/Poor | Know what they are doing | Slow to quote | Poland |
Whatz Games Website | Good | Low | 1500 | Fair/Good | Fair | Good | 12/2017 - they are currently overbooked and not responding. Avoid using for now. | China | |
WinGo Industry Leon Website Video | Excellent | Med-High | 1000 | Good | Makes a decent produce when you're very specific. Cheap shipping. | Card quality isn't great. Boxes wrinkle with sharp edges. | China | ||
Yangjiang Kamings Trade Co. Website | Fair | Med-High | Any | Good | Good | Good | Makes X-Wing? | China |
Miniature Manufacturers
MANUFACTURER | QUALITY | PRICE | COMM | PROS | CONS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Defiance Games Facebook Page | Good | Fair | Good | Sculpted custom miniatures | Miniatures production company that has failed to produce on several projects. |
Drawlab Website | Good-High | Excellent | Fast delivery to EU | ||
Ninja Division Home Page | Excellent | Excellent | |||
Soda Pop Miniatures Home Page | |||||
Troll Forge Home Page | Excellent | Excellent | Sculpted custom miniatures. Has a forum with many artist to hire. |
Print on Demand Printers
MANUFACTURER | QUALITY | PRICE | COMM | PROS | CONS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ArtsCow artscow.com | Good-Excellent | Good-High | Poor | Allows onsite cropping, | Only does cards. Takes a month to ship from China. Must be 54 card deck. |
BoardGamesMaker DriveThruCards.com | Excellent | High | China | ||
Create Space createspace.com | Good-Excellent | Good-High | Good | Part of Amazon. Provides a store-front. | Only does books |
DriveThruCards DriveThruCards.com | Excellent | Good-High | Excellent | Can make excellent expansions to existing games. Cards can be bought with a plastic box. Several sizes. Provides a store-front. | Only does cards. |
DriveThruRPG DriveThruRPG.com | Excellent | Good-High | Excellent | Can do several sizes and hard cover | Only does books. |
Ivory Graphics GameMaker.Ivory.co.uk/ | Cards= Good Box,etc= Fair | Good-High | Good | A print on demand company that can make just a few copies of your game. | Boxes are flimsy. You must use only their bits selection. |
LuLu lulu.com | Good-Excellent | Good-High | Good | Provides a store-front. | Only does books |
MPC makeplayingcards.com | Good-Excellent | High | Good | Can provide box. | Only does cards. In multiples of 18 cards. |
Print & Play Games printplaygames.com | High Quality Prototypes | High | Excellent | Hand crafted custom jobs even with chipboard | Small quantities only. |
Printer Studio printerstudio.com | Excellent | Good-High | Good | Allows onsite cropping, Does Linen finish. Ships in 10 days. | Only does cards. |
Superior POD website | Good-Excellent | Good-High | |||
The Game Crafter TheGameCrafter.com | Cards= Excellent Box,etc= Fair | Good-High | Excellent | A print on demand company that can make just a few copies of your game. Several size cards. Provides a store-front. | Boxes are flimsy. You must use only their bits selection. |
Cost of cards comparison of POD companies:
http://oneblogshelf.blogspot.com/2018/06/print-on-demand-playing-cards-cost.html
Factory Tours
Our friends at Thornhenge Games visited several factories in China recently and did a great write up about them. You can find that here – http://thornhenge.com/factory-tours/
Jolly Games has some links to Manufacturers and DYI tips.
http://www.silcom.com/~tomjolly/design2.htm
KS Homework – Getting Quotes From Printers
http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/kickstarter-homework-lesson-1-quotes-and-setting-prices/
Wikipedia has a list too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_manufacturers
A BGG user posted this about several companies they tried to work with:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/952551/manufacturer-run-down-influence
Don’t forget to join our Facebook Group for more interactive discussions:
Tabletop Game Publisher’s Guild – https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopPublishers/
Tabletop Game Kickstarter Advice – https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopKickstarters/
Card & Board Game Designers Guild – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GameDesignersGuild/
Written by: James Mathe
Great list! We’re getting ready to pick a manufacturer for our Chaosmos Kickstarter, so this is an amazing help!
(A small typo on the list – “NFS Games” should actually be “NSF Games”)
James,
What a great post! I am starting to dig thru your other posts and thanks for all the insights you share!
\I am thinking of doing a small(er) run of custom coins, and was wondering what manufacturer listed above did you use for your coins? It looks like they do great work, I’ll have to wait for my Dragon Coins to arrive to be sure though! 🙂
Thanks again James!
Thanks for the list James. This is a great breakdown. Exactly the type of stuff us amateur kickstarters need.
Excellent list!
I’ll second the comments on Cartamundi: I used them for my first game and the final quality of the product was excellent. Their prices vary depending on which country of origin you pick (I was offered space on the US or China production lines), and their minimums, at last contact, tend to depend mostly on component count and production facility. (our minimum order was different between the US and China lines too)
Hope that helps!
For the first time publisher, how many quantities do you guys recommend? 500 OR 1000?
Printing under 1000 is not possible at a reasonable price without going to POD services. The manufacturers who are willing to do only 1000 copies tend to be those that are more desperate for work (thus, maybe they don’t do as good of a job so they don’t get repeat business). So I tend to avoid them. So the answer is typically 1500 as that’s a reasonable price point and quantity to sell. I would not do 2000 or more unless your Kickstarter pre-sold 500 or more copies.
Thank you for your answer. It just seems daunting to print 1000 games (for now) without any pre-orders. What can I do to feel confident about committing for this kind of investment? Talk to retailers? Talk to distributor?
That is what you use Kickstarter for. Set your goal to what it costs to make 1000 and it either funds from support for the idea or it doesn’t. Of course a lot also depends on your ability to market it. If you’re having issues with all this – then maybe you’re better off shopping the game around to publishers. And no, you do not talk to Distributors as they will not pre-order from you. Most won’t even support you directly if your game does get printed. It’s a crowded market. That’s why fulfillment companies like Impressions exist.
If however you’re ONLY doing a card game, then services like http://www.DriveThruCards.com and http://www.TheGameCrafter.com and http://www.PrinterStudio.com can do decent POD cards in any quantity.
Add Reaper Miniatures. I don’t know how they can help creators, but they bailed out Torn Armor when Defiance Games refused to return the money given to them, citing miniature renders that they could not use. Likewise, I’d remove or wholly not recommend Defiance Games. Do a search on them on the Dakka Dakka forums.
Thanks for the info, tho. I find it frustrating, as a backer, that the manufacturer for a game is rarely mentioned. IMO, Who the manufacturer is is *very* important in my backing decision.
I recently contacted Paragon Packing based on your recommendations. Just thought you may want to be aware of the following MOQ:
“We manufacture domestically. Our minimum order quantity is 5,000 games. We have a $100 charge per quotation.
Thanks for your interest in Paragon Packaging.”
Yikes!!
Yeah, they seemed overly smooth talking when I spoke with them. They look to be a company that is more interested in just taking money from dreams. Which is obvious by the fact when I asked them if they had a MOQ they said no. Yet they tell you 5000 which is probably true. USA companies cannot be competitive under 3000 units.
MPC seem to be getting into fulfillment services too now.
I used them to POD a couple of sets of cards for play-testing, and haven’t spoken to them directly about what they offer in terms of fulfillment – but from their website they certain talk as if they can do it. Will let you know when I actually contact them what they say they can do.
Hi,
Just want to introduce a new website http://www.boardgamesmaker.com, for supplying all kinds of board game component without MOQ. Please feel free to visit. 🙂
boardgamesmaker.com
Very helpful James, thank you for the list.
I was working with the Ninbo Lijia Company, here is the update on their production (in my case).
First order: quality was good with some minor problems – box top/bottom did not have enough difference in size so box was a sort of hard to open; in some sets pawns were of the same type, but different plastic (while most were from normal in some sets blue pawns were translucent); prints were very good
Second Order: quality has dropped (but this could be due to very short deadline we had); specially in cards, board game was still very good, but again punched card stands were in wrong color (all blue stands came orange …)
accept their sales guy who does speak good english their language skills were quite poor
they do tend to achieve the deadline with minimum delays (few days)
they are trying hard to get every customer demand done
you can check some of their products (images) on our website: http://www.valueadgames.com
You were right – go read your blogs! Very informative list! Thanks!
Is the MOQ for Paragon supposed to be 500 instead of 5,000? You mention that it does small runs, but 5,000 is a lot larger than all of the others.
Thanks originally they told me they did… but they were just yanking my chain as when people they were not excited about working with asked, they set the high amount. So they can do small but only if they want to. Irritating.
When I looked at your list, I couldn’t believe that someone would go at that lenght to help others in the business. Thank you very very much for being so helpful.
You’re welcome. All we ask is you pay-it-forward and help others (and/or back some of our games!)
Hello, this list is very helpful and it’s a crowd world… I also recommend Reading:
http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/3878/choosing-manufacturer-learn-my-expensive-mistake
Thank you so much James for helping us out!
C.
This is an awesome list, I have used several of these manufacturers.
James do you have any recommendation for large volume orders (7-10,000)?
We typically use Manufacturers in China but are a bit worried about qualiity and timing (long shipping times) going over 5,000 units
Any recommendations for us? We are leaning towards Admagic or an American company.
Thanks!!
If you’re doing enough volume then Grand Prix International (GPI) is a great company that Steve Jackson and others use regularly. I wouldn’t order that much unless you have a Kickstarter that did 75% of that number or an existing hot selling game – else you’re throwing money away. Admagic and many others do NOT make games in the USA, maybe some card only games, but mostly they all just get China to make them and play the middle man. If found the company that Admagic uses to make CAH and when I got a quote from both parties I saw the same typos and all Admagic did was add $1 to everything (which doesn’t even make much sense as it’s not a %).
Great points James, I will definitely speak to GPI and I believe Weijei is admagics manufacturer.
My thoughts were using the US based company like admagic because we would have more recourse if something happened to production (large amount of games we’re damaged, etc.)
Also, Panda games is located in Canada but has there own operations in China. However, they seem to barely respond to quotes and communication is iffy. I think GPI is a great option though.
I would rather not go into specifics, but luckily we do have a hot selling game. Several of your articles helped us a long the way so keep doing what your doing!! We contacted several of your distributors recommended and got picked up by PSI. Thanks for your help!
James,
I’ve read your articles and pages and pages from your website over the last year. As always, it’s organized exceptionally well and easily accessible to designers and developers alike. I’m excited as a game developer for several games, including one, TAU CETI, which was ranked as the #9 Most Anticipated Game of 2016! This list will prove exceptionally beneficial in the days and weeks ahead.
Cheers,
Joe
I don’t know if this is updated regularly, but I recently got my card game printed through PrintNinja and their MOQ was 500. Price was the best I could find especially for that quantity and they were really top notch with their customer service.
Yeah if you do cards only PrintNinja is competitive and has small MOQ. But add anything else and they are expensive.
Hi James,
We’re considering using PrintNinja for our game cards. Do you recommend we use a separate company for our game box and rule sheet?
100% no way. Get all your game made in one place and don’t self-assemble. That’s a very bad idea.
James:
Thanks for the invaluable help provided by all of your posts.
Recent experience with Pandagm:
Specs in Panda recent quote for my game showed many (arbitrary) important deviations from specs I submitted. I’m still waiting for corrected quote 10 weeks after initial submission of specs. The question on their website, “Does-panda-have-a-queue-of-projects-waiting-to-be-manufactured?” remains unanswered by the company after 9 months and 348 views.
Questions:
Any recent experience as to whether the quality of Panda production remains “excellent”?
Any recent experience with quality of board game production by Delano?
They as well as many other printers are swamped with all the Kickstarter games. Since they are the one I recommend most, they get huge amounts of demand put on them. There are other great printers out there, if you’re not happy with them choose another. They are slow with quotes, but I wouldn’t wait more than 1 month. As for Delano, the last game I saw from them was a few years ago, and they produce in the USA so to keep costs down they do rather cheap quality bits and thin cardboard – much in line with POD companies like TGC. So I would never print my game with them.
At the top of the page Delano’s quality is rated excellent. Yet you would never print your game with them. I have been in touch with them about producing my game. Should I reconsider?
Quality ratings are very subjective. If you order something they can handle well (like a simple card game and chits) then some people have reported they are very happy with them. I personally wouldn’t use them as the quality is sub-par compared to lesser price China prining.
i had similar experience to yours re quote from Panda, and process involved exasperating gaps during which there was no progress. But in the end, CEO came through with delivery on promised date (December 2016), and quality was truly excellent.
Extremely helpful list. Looks like we’ll burning more midnight oil as we devour these!
I posted a comment noting something that needs to be updated but I forgot to mention: THANK YOU so much for this list! I am looking to launch a game on Kickstarter later this year and this list is the basis of whom I am contacting for getting quotes and such together. It has been invaluable to me to have one list to go off of instead of having to rely on Google searches (which can be bought and bargained for).
Anywho, wish there were an easy way for me to send you a crisp $5 bill as a Thanks!
Thank you so much for posting this and everything else you do!
We used Whatz Games to manufacture Transylvania: Curses & Traitors. I would give Whatz Games an excellent mark in each and every category. They were great to work with.
I’ve been referencing this list for years and for many reasons. Thanks again for being such a huge help to the game designer, publisher, creator community.
Thank you so much for providing this list!
I would also strongly recommend Germania Figuren in Duisburg, Germany (http://Germania-Figuren.com/gx2/index.php?language=en). Michael Cremerius works with several artists and sculptors, many of whom switched to him from their previous mouldmakers or casters when they were dissatisfied with their quality. The gentleman is a quality fanatic who replaces brittle parts like spears with steel for durability, while maintaining relatively reasonable prices so that collectors can have their own custom figure series produced.
Apart from Germania Figuren, you cannot go wrong with Troll Factory, as Mr. Haberkost is also a pleasure to deal and work with.
Yes, all the Chinese crapsters are cheaper, but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.
I’d like to put in a plug for Liberty Playing Cards if you’re doing a card game. They specialize in 54 card decks (and multiples of that), but I’ve had great success with them doing printing and domestic US fulfillment of 200 card games, so they are flexible. And unlike China, they can print and start to ship in 10-15 business days. Great if you do a Kickstarter and want to deliver fast to prime your retail market for a longer lead time, lower-cost China shipment. I’ve done two card game Kickstarters with them as my printer, delivering to backers lightning fast after the Kickstarter closes.
Their website: http://www.libertyplayingcards.com/
James, thank you for assembling this awesome list. I have 4 games in different phases of development, and have used TGC for the first one, just to give test-players a “real” game to work with. The box design is a little odd, but looks good. The ink on the cards smeared when sliding them on the table to flip over – definitely not good. I recently got a quote from Board Game Manufacturing, and they appear to be able to do everything I need at a reasonable cost. Any chance that you’ll be updating this list in the near future?
The list is kept current as I find more information. But not many people send me any updates.
Hi James,
This list invaluable. Let me add my thanks. What I am finding because we are doing a card game in the same format as Cards Against Humanity. ie: 275 poker side cards in a box that holds 500. Some of the card printers don’t have the boxes and the plain insert to hold the cards in place costs a fortune. Also it’s pretty clear that who will do the prototype & samples for the Kickstarter will not be the same people who do the long run. If you were doing a game like ours, who would you use for the short and who for the long? Also the shipping seems horrendous $1.60 US per game. Clearly I am naive.
Any advice would be super appreciated.
My advice is to join our Facebook group and learn. In short, though the world doesn’t need another CAH game. If you’re doing just cards you can get things done in the USA at a reasonable cost but if you need boxes or bits, you have to do the whole thing in China. DriveThurCards.com, TheGameCrafter.com, and Print & Play Productions are a good place to get prototypes made depending on what you need. https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopKickstarters/
Paragon Packaging is no longer manufacturing games, despite the information on their website. Confirmed with a company representative October 2016.
Such a comprehensive list. Thank you very much James and also the commentors who add on to that list.
Hi James,
Thanks for this amazing list! I really hope we can find a company that fits our needs 😀
Do you maybe know a company that sells these VHS looking plastic boxes lot’s of miniature games use (see example below)?
http://www.6s2hit.com/viewtopic.php?f=407&t=1237&start=0
No but most China manufacturers have no issues with making or outsourcing to get plastic done.
Thanks James, we are going to launch a kickstarter in 2017, a game with 32 high quality miniatures. We need a printer that gives us the highest quality in miniatures and components. Do you know who CMON works with? Who manufactures the miniatures?
Nope sorry. I don’t have much info on minis.
One of the things that worries me the most is the issue of distribution. Do you know if when the game is printed they label each box with the patron’s address for distribution? Because WinGo now offers a Kickstarter pack that looks quite interesting, they offer all in one. What we do not want is to produce the game send it from China to a store that we rent, tag everything and have it come back to command. Most of the contents of the boxes will be the same, pledge + all sg, but there will be many others that have addons or expansions, the distribution seems to me one of the most complicated things in the whole process.
Thanks James has helped me a lot this web.
No fulfillment (which is what you’re talking about) is very rarely handled with the manufacturer. We’ve used Games Quest in the UK to ship outside the USA and are very happy with them. “Ship from China” is another company but only really does well with small games.
James – what do you mean by the first sentence of this paragraph? Are you saying that order fulfillment is rarely handled by the manufacturer? Or something else? I was under the impression that manufacturers usually handled order fulfillment.
This is not the forum for these many questions. Please use our facebook forum. No manufacturers rarely handle fulfillment. Fulfillment to customers is YOUR problem.
By the way the MOQ of Whatz have just told me that they are 3000 units.
MOQ can sometimes be based on the product you’re having quoted. For example it doesn’t make much sense to print 1000 units of a game with custom dice.
Exactly, they have told us that they need 3000 copies for the manufacture of the miniatures.
I see that you are an expert on the subject, your advice is very useful to me. THANKS!!!
the admagic one says – “Uses MeiJia so you might just want to get a quote direct.”
What does this mean?
It means they are just agents taking a cut by sending your game to be made by them anyway. You can bipass the middleman.
Thanks. I am surprised to learn that Cartamundi and Delano are the only two companies actually manufacturing in the USA (for large print runs) – or am I missing someone?
Hello, the Meijia website http://www.board-games.cn/ is not correct, does anyone know your web to contact them?
Like all the other fine posts, thank you for all this great information James. I will join your Facebook forum today! I had my game produced several years ago with Board Game Manufacturing. It’s an environmental and educational board game and I chose them because the price was good, they would do a low quantity, they would use recycled materials and gave the impression the games would be made in the US. Maybe they do produce some games in the U.S., but in my case I did not find out my games would be made in China until they brought up the long shipping time. I was generally pleased with the quality, although I have no way to know if they used recycled materials. If you use their services I would specify every detail. A few last minute assumptions turned into cheap solutions after approving the prototype. http://www.polareclipsegame.com if you are interested 🙂
Hi James, there’re more and more requirements for short runs and even mini runs like 30-50pcs in the market. I get inquiries for 100pcs-200pcs, 250pcs-500pcs now and then. We accept these orders not because we have no capacity to make long runs, nor we have no bigger orders in the production run.It is because people have the requirements. Many new developed games and creators want to have a try with their games with limited budget. So we want to give them the opportunities for production. However, we strongly suggest a production from 500pcs or 300pcs at least if the products are not used as samples. The total cost to make 300pcs almost the same to make 100pcs for mass production. Then the unit price will be rather high for 100pcs which is not unusual for a game in the market.
Some people will consider shipment cost when they decide the q’ty for the order. We have a way to cut the cost down. We ship a small part by courier and then the main part by sea.
If you have any questions or requirements, you always can reach me to send e-mail to annie@customedcards.com. I am ready to answer any questions about production, shipment, samples, pricing, and more as long as I know.
Hello ! Thanks for all of that, it is so helpful 🙂
I have a question for making cards : I would like to get them in booster packs (and then in booster packes boxes). Making cards is not that hard. But foil bag are hard to find. And of course all have to be made together, with good quality. A good example is Star Realms expansions booster. But I can’t find a solution. Do you have any ?
I do not – but I know people in our Facebook group do. If you’re thinking of static boosters like Star Realms I guess that’s ok but it adds a lot of costs. If you’re thinking random packs, please read my blog on why not to do the CCG method.
Hi James, I’m surprised you did not include Lijia Ningbo in the list. Is not it a recommended factory? They manufacture for Hasbro.
Thank you, you do an awesome job.
Hi James
Thanks for the list. Are you working on a game of your own now? Can’t find your facebook page.
Please help me. I’m looking for a china manufacture for the production of box- size 10 x 20′, a game board
19 1/2 x 19 1/2′, and a box insert with seven compartments. The game is complete except these items. All the graphics for the board and the box are complete on PDF FILES.
I recently had a horrible experience ordering a special die made from china. After they sent samples to me for review, I went ahead with the order for which I paid for , in full, I received a much smaller size die. Instead of a 18mm, I received 12mm. Co. was: JinJiang Group Co. Ltd. XingBan Industrial Area, JinJiang, FuJian, China 362200
Pretty much all the manufacturers on our list are ones that we trust. If they have faults we list them. Stick to our list and you’ll be fine. I don’t know what you expect me to do with the info you provided. Accurate specs and samples are key to getting what you actually need. Please ask general questions in our forums and not here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopPublishers/
Let me try another approach and more direct.
Can you recommend a person or company, for a fee in China that would inspect a game board and box order prior to shipment to the U.S.A.?
Great list, James! Thank you so much!!!
Hey James,
Extremely good resource, thank you. You mentioned that PrintNinja was expensive for all but cards. I looked at their sample price for board game set on this page: http://www.printninja.com/printing-resource-center/printing-options/custom-game-printing/sample-pricing
How would a similar set price compare elsewhere with a comparable manufacturer to them? I am new so I am uncertain if expensive would mean 10% more or 50% more. Thanks in advance. – Tom
James, thank you so much for this amazing list. I grabbed it and turned it into a spreadsheet.
I’ve contact many manufacturers on this list that you listed as having Excellent quality. So far, Magicraft has by far the best price, by far.
I’m wondering if you (or anyone else who has used them) could elaborate further on your experience with Magicraft – what did you use them for, were all components excellent, and were there any gotchas?
Please update your list – QPC is now doing business as ShuffledInk.
James, With your helpful information I have been able to complete my Board Game project and looking forward to my next journey into selling my game to individuals and select companies since my game is very focused toward a select group. Question: What is your opinion for the dollar margins one can expect to achieve in selling direct?
Your response would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again and continue the good work.
A.N. Jason
Typically selling through a consolidator will net you 36% of MSRP or so. Selling to a distributor will ned you 40% of MSRP minus shipping expenses. If you sell to a retail store you should expect to do so at 50-55% of MSRP plus pay the shipping. I’m not positive what you refer to as selling direct. So if you mean direct to stores then you margin is 45% or so. If you mean direct to customers through Amazon or your own website or Kickstarter that can vary a lot, but one would assume around 75% margin at the end of the day.
Thank you for this wonderful DETAILED information. Where may I find information on the best way to warehouse, process orders and ship games to customers.
Hi! Wondering if you have any info or experience with anyone that is using recycled/sustainable materials for custom games? We have quite a few pieces but so far have only had success finding someone to make our map from a sustainable source and they aren’t even game makers.
While noble these kind of things are a real pain for production and can double the price of your parts. I personally don’t have any tips to give you other then contact some manufacturers on my blog list and see what they say.
Hey James,
Just a heads-up – Longpack is 1500 MOQ.
Thanks.
What about Color Magic PTE in Singapore? Reputable manufacturer or not?
Never heard of them. But most manufacturing is starting up around the world outside of China. India for example. Ask them for samples and references.
James, Thank you so very much for your valuable information, very helpful. After a lot of time spent looking for a manufacture of my game box, game board, and game box insert, I decided to try BangWee Industries for these services as 500 copies were their minimum requirements which is what I wanted. First sample was very poor quality, but the second sample much better but the box cover had several wrinkles which they indicated would be corrected in the production run. I just notified BangWee 1/27/19, on my intent to send them their required 40% down payment on or about 2/19/19 using Paypal. Their response was, “could I use my bank directly as they are having issues with Paypal”? After I contacted Paypal, I learned there is a Red Flag on their Paypal account. Not sure what is going on but wanted to alert you and your viewers of this issue and will keep you posted on outcome. I may be looking for another manufacture very soon.
Have a good day and again, thanks.
99% of the time you need to pay China factories with a wire. Paypal takes a LOT of money and isn’t a reasonable way to send thousands of dollars. BangWee is a solid company many have used and paypal can sometimes play “games” so this wouldn’t set off alarms with me. If it was a smaller unknown company maybe.
James, As an update on 360 Manufacturing, Cartamundi purchased the 360 production facility (ex-Hasbro) in September 2015. Since then we have worked to bring 360 up to Cartamundi service levels. We have a new team managing “New Business” and would appreciate the opportunity to work together again.
Ok, but the website is still active with the same name so unless they tell me to change it I’ll leave it.
Hi James, thank you for maintaining this list! We picked Gameland to manufacture our game earlier this year and they’ve completed a small run for us. The quality was good, for very competitive prices (we compared a few quotes). Communication was good too – the person we’ve been in touch with has always been responsive which is one of the reasons we picked them. She would always respond quickly over WeChat, send pictures and hop on a call when needed.
James, Please advise your readers to use companies in China that are members of Alibaba’s Trade Assurance program. Should they experience an issue with their shipment order, etc.. This Trade Assurance program could protect their investment. I experienced a major issue with a company and with Trade Assurance and was refunded my 40% down payment in 7-business days.
Keep up the good work with your site information.