Well, this is the worst kind of deja vu.
Five years ago, in February of 2020, I wrote a blog post about how the pandemic was affecting the board game industry, particularly regarding production and shipping from China and how it was hurting (sometimes crippling) board game companies.
And now, half a decade hence, I’m writing a blog post about another global disaster affecting the board game industry:
Donald Trump.
You see, the president’s “genius” plan to enact large tariffs against the US’s trade partners, forcing the American public to pay more for goods from China, Mexico, and Canada, is guaranteed to hurt many MANY industries, and the board game industry is one of them.
Already, game companies are reaching out to their customers with mailing list entries and blog posts and warning them of potential price hikes being forced upon them by this half-witted political stunt.
Atlas Games, for instance, issued a post this week about the current, frustrating, entirely-avoidable situation:
Unfortunately, there’s confusion and a distinct lack of clear guidance at this point. While Canada’s announcement of tariffs they’re levying in response clearly states that goods already en route to Canada aren’t subject to them, the Trump Administration has been contradictory on how and when US tariffs will actually be applied.
For example, two 40-foot shipping containers filled with our new game Vicious Gardens arrived in Seattle on Saturday. These games are on US soil, but they haven’t yet cleared customs. We don’t know if, when they do, we may be handed a tax bill equal to 10% of their value…
We also need to place orders NOW to reprint some of our popular titles. The Pops & Bejou game CULTivate is now published by Atlas Games. It’s out of stock, but we’ve had to delay the reprint because of the lack of clarity about these import taxes. During the election campaign, Trump threatened that tariffs on Chinese-made goods could be as high as 60% to 100%.
Unlike the president and his poor explanation of the current constantly-evolving tariff agenda, these game companies are striving to be as transparent about their circumstances as possible.
That kind of honesty goes a long way with customers, and while both the companies and customers will be feeling the squeeze of these new tariff-induced costs, hopefully the companies can still remain profitable and board game fans can still enjoy these wonderful play experiences.
Sadly, this is no surprise to industry insiders. Steve Jackson Games wrote about the consequences of the tariffs back in early November, and Stonemeier Games soon followed in early December.
A few days ago, CBS8 did a report about a local game shop in San Diego that expects to take a big hit when the tariffs land.
Some companies, like Monte Cook Games, are doing limited time discounts and sales to offset the upcoming tariff pricing. Some tabletop roleplaying game companies are already considering retreating from the physical game market entirely and focusing on PDF and downloadable products to remain profitable.
Much like the ripple effect of COVID in 2020, I suspect the effect of Trump’s tariffs will be felt for years to come.
But, unfortunately, like so many things these days, we’ll have to wait and see… and hope for the best… but expect the worst.
PuzzCulture 