Every Monday night, Benjamin Ho and Johann Thiel crowd into a brewery in Brooklyn to play board games. Some weeks, the games transport them to feudal Japan, where they battle for military control of a vast empire. Other nights, they play as Grand Prix drivers or World War I soldiers. They often unwind with a Batman card game.
But now their game nights face disruption from the real world: tariffs imposed by President Trump.
The pair have watched this year as publishers of popular titles have halted production in response to the administration’s trade war with China, where most board and card game components are made.
Trade volatility has created an existential threat for independent board game publishers in the United States, virtually all of which employ fewer than 10 workers.
“You don’t actually have to have a big operation to design new games, which just keeps things vibrant,” said Mr. Ho, 36, who owns 90 games. “The tariffs are a step back in allowing people to do that, and I think that really sucks, and I don’t want to see the growth of the hobby stunted by this.”
At least two prominent publishers — Greater Than Games, which makes the popular strategy game Spirit Island, and CMON Games, whose titles include Cthulhu: Death May Die and Marvel United — have curtailed production and cut staff since April. Several others are struggling to bring in orders in time for the all-important holiday season.
At a convention in Columbus, Ohio, in June, about 20 percent of the game publishers who would typically attend were no-shows because they lacked enough product to sell, said John Stacey, the executive director of the Game Manufacturers Association, a trade group. Those who did attend had fewer games, and shopping was down across the board, he added.
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The post A Wild Card for the Board Game Business: Trump’s Tariffs appeared first on New York Times.
