Hot on the heels of Trump’s latest punitive tariff war against China, comes news  that Price Johnson the COO of Cephalofair Games (‘Gloomhaven’, ‘Frosthaven’, ‘Jaws of the Lion’) a small board game design company based in Lafayette Indiana has appeared on CNN, and said that his company is almost completely paralysed by the new tariffs imposed on China.

https://cephalofair.com/blogs/blog/planning-our-initiatives-tariffs-part-2

So why are US board game publishers in particular being so badly hit ? The answer is that most modern board games are printed in China, usually either by LongPack Games, a printing company based in Shanghai, or by the Jin Hui Printiing company in Shenzen near Hong Kong, which both offer high volume low-cost printing, warehouse and shipping services at competitive rates that European and American companies simply cannot match.

The potential risks of depending on an off-shore supply chain located in China was graphically demonstrated in 2017 when a large warehouse fire in China destroyed the entire EU Kickstarter stock of a brand new board game by Vital Lacerda called ‘Lisboa’  - a game which ironically enough was based on the great earthquake and fire that destroyed the city of Lisbon in 1755. The publisher Eagle Gryphon Games had to delay the launch of that game for months while it was  reprinted.

The global board game market was said to be worth around $14.37 billion USD in 2024, and is projected to grow to $32 billion by 2032, with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 10.5% within that forecast period.

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/board-games-market-104972

The US board game market was projected to be worth around $2.87 billion USD in 2025 with a CAGR of 4.23%

https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/toys-hobby/toys-games/board-games/united-states

The grim reality of the situation now facing US board game manufacturers has been documented within the last few days by Cardboard Edison who carried out a new survey that asked US board game publishers —>

“If the U.S. maintains tariffs on China of 104% to 125% or more, we want to know how it would change your approach.” (The announced high-end figure rose to 145% while our survey was still active.) - 62 of them replied.

https://cardboardedison.com/tariffs

- 90%  say they would have to pass on the increased costs to customers.

- 66%  say they would have to print fewer copies in smaller print runs.

- 56%  of the companies say they expect to delay their current plans.

- 74%  say they will be signing fewer new games from designers, and may claw-back tariff costs from designer royalties

- 41%  fewer publishers said they would be making dice-based games in particular.

- 23%  fewer publishers say they will be making  board games at all under the new tariff scenario.

- 16%  say they are considering moving to digital formats

- 13%  say they are considering moving to PNP (print & play)

“These tariffs will be devastating to our industry,” said AnnaMaria Phelps of Violet Daisy Games. “I hope the community can help rally around publishers large and small to continue to produce fun, unique experiences for lovers of all things tabletop.”

Oh no, this is my favorite game that I bought and never opened. Since this is in the Lounge I want to add that I recently read reports on Chinese manufacturing and supply chains and there is a sense that the Western world is severely underestimating their integration and capabilities.

The most striking opinion I read (cannot recall from where though) is that the West is competing with a version of China from over 10 years ago. Instead of fearing IP loss and competition, they should bring Chinese companies to the West with similar stipulations for foreign companies in China (e.g. regarding ownership) and then steal the crap out of Chinese technology to deploy in the West.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/opinion/trump-tariffs-china.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EE8.JSNH.GoggAq-yaOGD&smid=url-share

It was fascinating and impressive but ultimately deeply disturbing, a vivid confirmation of what a U.S. businessman who has worked in China for several decades told me in Beijing. “There was a time when people came to America to see the future,” he said. “Now they come here.”

[...]

But you’re also wrong if you think that China only cheated its way to global manufacturing dominance. It did cheat, copy and force technology transfers. But what makes China’s manufacturing juggernaut so powerful today is not that it just makes things cheaper; it makes them cheaper, faster, better, smarter and increasingly infused with A.I.

[...]

China starts with an emphasis on STEM education — science, technology, engineering and math. Each year, the country produces some 3.5 million STEM graduates, about equal the number of graduates from associate, bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs in all disciplines in the United States.

When you have that many STEM graduates, you can throw more talent at any problem than anyone else. As the Times Beijing bureau chief, Keith Bradsher, reported last year: “China has 39 universities with programs to train engineers and researchers for the rare earths industry. Universities in the United States and Europe have mostly offered only occasional courses.”

And while many Chinese engineers may not graduate with M.I.T.-level skills, the best are world class, and there are a lot of them. There are 1.4 billion people there. That means that in China, when you are a one-in-a-million talent, there are 1,400 other people just like you.

As important, Chinese vocational schools graduate tens of thousands of electricians, welders, carpenters, mechanics and plumbers every year, so when someone has an idea for a new product and wants to throw up a factory, it can get built really fast. You need a pink polka dot button that can sing the Chinese national anthem backward? Someone here will have it for you by tomorrow. It will also get delivered fast. Over 550 Chinese cities are connected by high-speed rail that makes our Amtrak Acela look like the Pony Express.

11 hours ago, CharonY said:

Oh no, this is my favorite game that I bought and never opened. Since this is in the Lounge I want to add that I recently read reports on Chinese manufacturing and supply chains and there is a sense that the Western world is severely underestimating their integration and capabilities.

The most striking opinion I read (cannot recall from where though) is that the West is competing with a version of China from over 10 years ago. Instead of fearing IP loss and competition, they should bring Chinese companies to the West with similar stipulations for foreign companies in China (e.g. regarding ownership) and then steal the crap out of Chinese technology to deploy in the West.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/opinion/trump-tariffs-china.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EE8.JSNH.GoggAq-yaOGD&smid=url-share

I wasn’t quite sure where to put this thread, so it originally appeared in The Lounge, but now seems to have migrated into Politics !

Not for the first time, the board game industry acts as a microcosm of the larger pressures likely to be affecting the American economy and world trade in general in the next few months. About a week ago the CEOs of major retailers like Walmart and Target privately warned the Trump administration that the USA was only a couple of weeks away from a retail supply chain melt-down that will see empty shelves and product shortages on a scale unseen since the pandemic of 2020-1.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walmart-target-trump-tariff-supply-chains/

Shipping analysts are reporting a 40% rise in ‘blank sailings’ from China to USA since the latest China tariffs were announced - as shippers chalk-off scheduled deliveries to American ports. Even worse, this is happening in the April/May time period when Xmas-shopping trade contracts are normally being signed. There is a seven month lead time in actioning these shippings, so retailers already know it’s going to be a bleak Xmas this year.

https://www.sea-intelligence.com/press-room/320-transpacific-blank-sailings-rise-rapidly

‘Gloomhaven’ (for those who aren’t board gamers ) is an enormous ‘coffin-box’ size co-op strategy and dungeon crawl game which is campaign based, with 95 unique scenarios and 17 playable classes. If you already have a copy still sitting in its shrinkwrap, then you should just about have time to play through all of it within the remaining 1358 days of Trump’s second term ;-)

Handy countdown timer —> https://logwork.com/countdown-h5o4

Edited May 2May 2 by toucana
corrected 'Walmart', added "as" (p.2)