Board Game Manufacturing in Germany: What to Specify

A board game is an assembly project rather than a print job. A box, a folded board, several card decks, punched tokens, maybe wood or plastic pieces, an insert and a rulebook — each is a different process, and the quote is really a bill of materials with a print job attached.

Germany has a deep board game manufacturing tradition, which is why it is a natural place to ask. It also means producers there expect a component list, and a request that does not have one will come back as questions rather than a price.

What to put in the specification

An RfQ carries one specification field, and this is what belongs in it for board games & puzzles. Anything left out is something each producer assumes differently — which is why offers stop being comparable.

Full component list with quantities per copy

Every item, counted. This is the specification; everything else is detail hanging off it.

Box

External dimensions, construction (telescoping lid and base, or hinged), board thickness, and the finish — matt or gloss lamination, spot UV, foil, linen emboss.

Game board

Open size, fold pattern (bi-fold, quad-fold), board thickness, and whether the surface is linen-finish or smooth.

Cards

Size, card stock in gsm, core (blue or black core for opacity), finish (linen, smooth, varnish), corner radius, and the number of cards in each deck.

Punched components

Punchboard thickness, sheet count, and the shapes. Say whether tokens are double-sided and whether they need to be identical across sheets.

Non-paper components

Wood, plastic, metal, fabric bags, dice. Say whether moulds exist, and if not, that a mould is a separate cost with its own lead time.

Insert

Vacuum-formed plastic, die-cut cardboard, or none. An insert has tooling behind it and it determines whether the box closes when full.

Rulebook

Size, extent, paper, colour, and folding or stapling. Multi-language rulebooks are multiple print jobs.

Languages and versions

Which components carry language, and how many versions are produced. Language-dependent parts change the whole production plan.

Assembly and shrink

Whether the producer collates and shrink-wraps each copy, and what goes into each box in which order.

Safety and age marking

Ask what the producer tests to for the market you sell in, whether test reports are issued, who pays, and what marking goes on the box. Small parts and target age both matter.

Weight, quantity and freight

Weight per copy and copies per carton, at two or three quantities with the run-on. Games are heavy — freight is a real share of the landed cost, so agree the Incoterm in the offer.

Pre-production copy

Ask for one, and budget the time it takes. It is the only way to see the assembled product before you have thousands of them.

Sourcing in Germany

Ask what is in-house and what is bought in

Almost no producer makes everything. Wood, plastic and moulded parts are often subcontracted, which is fine — but ask, because the subcontracted item is where the schedule slips and where quality questions take longest to answer.

Ask who owns the tooling

Cutting dies, insert moulds and punch tools are paid for once. Establish whether they are yours, where they are stored, and what a reprint costs with tooling already made.

Freight is part of the comparison

A game is dense and heavy. Two offers with the same unit price and different Incoterms are not the same offer; ask for the landed cost to your delivery country.

Four ways this goes wrong

An incomplete bill of materials

List every component and its count per copy before asking for a price. A producer quoting from a partial list is quoting a partial game.

Skipping the pre-production copy

Ask for one and wait for it. It catches insert fit, box closure and colour across components — three things no digital proof shows.

Treating safety marking as a formality

Ask what is tested, for which market, and who pays. Age marking and small-part warnings belong on the box from the first print run.

Comparing unit prices without freight

Ask for the landed cost to your delivery country and the Incoterm. On a heavy product this can reverse which offer is cheapest.

Frequently asked questions

What does a board game manufacturer need in order to quote?

A full component list with quantities per copy: box dimensions and construction, board size and fold, card sizes and stocks with deck counts, punchboard sheets, any wood or plastic parts, the insert, the rulebook, the languages, and how it is assembled and packed. Plus quantity, delivery destination and whether you want a pre-production copy.

Do I really need a pre-production copy?

It is the only point where you see the assembled game before the run. It catches insert fit, whether the box closes, and colour consistency between components printed on different machines — problems that are cheap to fix then and expensive afterwards.

Who arranges toy safety testing?

Ask the producer directly: some arrange testing and issue reports, others expect you to. Either can work, but it must be settled in the offer, along with which market the testing covers and who pays for it.

Can components be made in different places?

They often are, and a producer acting as the assembler will tell you which parts they buy in. The thing to establish is who is accountable for the assembled product and who holds the tooling.

Board game manufacturing in Germany