Will tariffs kill off indy board games?
Trump tariffs threaten a delicate network of companies enabling a golden age of creativity. How can we resist?
We live in a of board games and table-top roleplaying games (TTRPG). There are hundreds of companies, mostly tiny operations of a handful of people, producing incredible games that push the boundaries of creativity. Competing head-to-head in online funding platforms, they have produced an unprecedented variety of wild premises, fiendishly clever game mechanics, and stunning art. Seeking crowd-funding support from users, many have put tremendous effort into the creation of physical game components like miniature statues, real metal coins, , or even a to excite interest and financial support.
This industry is complex, with many participants: game designers, freelance artists, board game shops, online platforms (like BackerKit and Kickstarter), and specialized game component manufacturers, book, and card printers. The use of crowdfunding platforms facilitates this process because supporters can essentially pre-purchase the game, allowing for an independent funding stream for projects.
This has allowed for new designers with big ideas to create their dream games without necessarily having up-front starting capital from personal wealth, loans, or venture capital firms. Supporters are encouraged to give additional amounts by creating additional “stretch goals” like high quality art prints or maps, better quality components, die cast pins, specialty dice and so on.
However, with so many companies and individuals taking a share of the incoming funds, profits for designers can be based on very slim profit margins despite costly final products. For instance, after shipping, a single hardcover copy of a TTRPG book can cost $60. While there are occasionally wildly successful projects, most are very small scale and niche, with companies surviving by moving quickly from project to project.
The Tariff Threat
Soon after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff-palooza, I received an email from Ash from , a small UK game studio about “The Covens of Midnight — A Tarot-Based GM-less Solo RPG” which I supported on Backerkit. It was entitled “U.S. Tariffs & Shipping” and I copy a few of the key points here:
…I wanted to share something that’s been weighing heavily on a lot of indie creators right now, including us. As of April 5th, the U.S. has brought in a 54% import tariff on goods manufactured in China — and unfortunately, that includes most of the board games and TTRPGs you know and love. It’s a huge shift. One that came in overnight, with very little warning, and we’re still trying to understand what it’ll actually mean for us — and for you. […] To be completely transparent, we don’t yet know the full impact this will have. […] What we do know is that these tariffs are applied when goods physically enter the U.S., not at checkout. So if nothing changes before we ship, there’s a chance that some backers might see additional customs fees at the time of delivery. […] We’re also exploring alternative fulfillment options for backers in Canada and Australia, since our current delivery routes go through U.S. warehouses. We are also looking at alternative printing options within Europe and other countries that aren’t as severely affected by these new tariffs.”
Responding to potential concerns in an attached FAQ, they address the question: Couldn’t you just print the games in the U.S. to avoid this?
“We’ve looked into it. Unfortunately, printing in the U.S. isn’t viable for us. There are very few printers equipped to handle TTRPG production, and the cost is significantly higher, often far beyond what’s sustainable for indie creators like us. For non-book components, the infrastructure simply isn’t there. We are looking at alternative printing options within Europe and other countries that aren’t as severely affected by these new tariffs, but right now, printing in China remains the most realistic option.”
The team at Crossed Paths is hardly the only company facing these concerns: China’s specialty manufacturers absolutely dominate the creation of the highly-detailed game components that are at the heart of most successful crowdfunded projects, as well as the add-on stretch goals that are crucial for tipping projects into profitability.
An Industry in Crisis
Assuming the tariffs are not quickly rescinded, : how can they deliver on prepaid merchandise when the cost of that merchandise has gone up by a third? This is even more pressing if the Trump Administration increases Chinese tariffs to at the time of writing this article. If they pass on the cost to consumers, they risk individuals backing out, or losing faith in the industry. If they swallow the cost, they threaten their own firms’ ability to survive. , the designer’s trade organization of “devastating consequences.”
In the medium term, they will have to increase the cost for US consumers, by far their most important market for games () not to mention for residents of other countries who receive shipping through the US (e.g. Canada). Even dedicated fans will likely be able to support fewer games and more of the share of that profit will be passed to the US Federal government rather than to the companies. More projects may fail to meet funding thresholds, or be produced with cheaper materials at a lower quality, alienating aficionados. More firms may fail and fewer new ones will succeed.
Longer term, the Trump Administration’s goal is — of course — to have this manufacturing done in the United States. But, as Crossed Paths notes, this is already too expensive for small firms or nonexistent. Even if new manufacturers spring up to meet the demand, it will likely be years before this type of specialized manufacturing can be developed — that is assuming that sufficient numbers of design companies still exist to fuel the demand for this type of production. The current industry in China evolved over time to its current status and sophistication, that level of expertise and specialized machinery is difficult to create whole-cloth.
What Can We Do?
There are a number of steps that can be taken, both by consumers and producers, in the near term, to mitigate these challenges and help protect the design firms, game stores, and independent artists that are the most vulnerable cogs in the machine:
(1) Settle for the Digital: It is common for projects to offer a digital option, especially for books. Many of us, and I am definitely on this list, love the feel of a real book or a well-made component and are not interested in digital-only rewards. We need to adjust our expectations, especially when it comes to digital stretch-rewards.
(2) Recycle the Wall of Shame: Independent board game shops may also face serious challenges without new stock. But many enthusiasts have a “” — a collection of games they have never opened on the shelf. The time has come to consider “paying it forward” and selling at least a few of them to our local shops to help fill their shelves and keep the hobby fresh for newcomers.
(3) Library Options: Many libraries, especially in universities, are developing robust lending collections for board games. Yet, they run into challenges when pieces are inevitably lost. Perhaps producers can develop option for library clients (like they do for game shops) with extra pieces of commonly-lost objects and more durable versions of instructions and boards. Libraries, with their deeper pockets, might be able to offset some of the losses by paying more for individual products.
(4) DIY Fulfillment: Producers can lean into DIY fulfillment. Many digital offerings are able to be printed out, but this is often an afterthought. Design firms might expect users to print out components and offer instructions on how to glue them to cardboard or otherwise assemble them at home. The growth in sophistication of projects can be drawn upon to create high-quality DIY projects (can we imagine board games entirely of origami components?).
(5) Tariff Transparency: Producers should be open and public about the cost of tariffs upon their creativity, their bottom line and their ability to serve customers. It is too easy for ‘invisible’ taxes like this to disappear from public awareness, the industry should try to avoid that happening.
(6) Organize, organize, organize: Ultimately, this issue is bigger than the tabletop gaming industry can address on its own. Those who are concerned about the economic future of this industry — and so many other issues — need to organize politically.
The Wider View
This story is more than just a piece of news about a niche industry, it also reveals much about the operation of the Trump Administration. This crisis is one of thousands of delicate arrangements being shattered by Trump’s bull-in-the-china-shop approach to global economics.
The Administration claims to seek to promote domestic manufacturing, but these policies reveals the depth of their contempt for the expertise of industrial workers. These Chinese firms have been working for years with board game design firms to create the capability to produce these remarkable, beautiful, highly special little components.
As a former worker on an assembly line making precision goods, I have no doubt that the workers on these shop floors have had to modify existing machinery to do things that an out-of-the-box machine cannot (though we cannot know for sure as such information would be secret). In the process, they have developed with these machines.
The assumption that American manufacturing can simply pick up this work overnight is ridiculous. Even with a dedicated pro-worker government creating good policy, rather than the current clumsy AI-written policy, it would take years to be able to do what the Chinese currently do — years that would likely gut the industry, leaving behind Milton Bradley/Hasbro and Mattel.
These are dark days for many aspects of American life and in the big picture, the decline of the independent board game publishing industry is only a minor facet. Just one more small light of joy and whimsy snuffed out in a world of deepening shadow. Only together can we find a way through.
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For more on tariffs, read my piece “Trump’s Tariff Plan Stinks of AI”
