Trump tariffs terrify board game designers
Board game designer and entrepreneur Jamey Stegmaier has published hit games like Scythe and Wingspan-the latter a personal favorite of mine, with a delightfully gentle theme about birds-but this week found him in a gloomy mood.
"Last night I tried to work on a new game I'm brainstorming," he wrote in a blog post yesterday, "but it's really hard to create something for the future when that future looks so grim. I mostly just found myself staring blankly at the enormity of the newly announced 54 percent tariff on goods manufactured in China and imported to the US."
Most US board games are made in China, though Germany (the home of modern hobby board gaming) also has manufacturing facilities. While printed content, such as card games, can be manufactured in the US, it's far harder to find anyone who can make intricate board pieces like bespoke wooden bits and custom dice. And if you can, the price is often astronomical. "I recall getting quoted a cost of $10 for just a standard empty box from a company in the US that specializes in making boxes," Stegmaier noted-though a complete game can be produced and boxed in China for that same amount.