Less than two weeks after the Trump administration’s announcement of historically high tariffs on virtually all goods imported into the United States, the board game industry appears set for an unexpected reckoning. An ad hoc industry survey conducted by Cardboard Edison reveals that nearly a quarter of publishers polled will simply stop making board games. A majority believe that prices for board games that do get published will go up, and that the size and complexity of those games will go down. It’s a dismal state of affairs for what was once a blossoming part of the larger tabletop games industry, one that has for decades generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the United States economy.
Cardboard Edison is a small publisher best known for its annual game design awards. Its survey, conducted April 9-11, collected responses from 62 publishers. The company claims that “about 90%” of respondents said they expect consumer prices on board games will go up because of tariffs, and “about two-thirds” of publishers said print runs for those games will be smaller. 62% of publishers said they plan to sign fewer new games to their catalogs, meaning fewer opportunities for tabletop designers who traditionally operate as independent contractors. Most tragically, the group says 23% — nearly a quarter — of respondents said they’ll just stop making board games altogether.
The biggest red flag in the survey, however, is that those publishers who want to try and stay in the board game business are actively seeking ways to cut distributors and retailers out of the equation. As margins fall due to the cost of tariffs, which are a tax, selling games at retail using traditional logistics simply won’t be an option. Brick and mortar stores, including thousands of independent local game stores all around the country, likely won’t have as many board games to put on their shelves going forward.
Well yeah, you missed that it was a woman, not a man.