This administrations tariff policy is costing Americans jobs, its costing Americans money and its stifling creativity in the market.   Full stop, these cart blanche tariffs are a tax on the American public and a noose around American small business and the chaos in which they have been implemented are doing irreparable harm to the United States of America both at home and abroad. 

There is no plan, there is no communication, there is only chaos and ruin.  

I own a small board game publisher that my wife and I began nearly 15 years ago.   This company puts a roof over my families heads, it puts food on our table and it is my sole source of income.  We employ directly 4 other humans whose families rely on the income generated and work with dozens of freelancers that depend on our company and others for their income.  These are Americans, these are Americans lives and livelihood.   And they are under threat.

Already several of my friends have lost their employment, and already companies have shut their doors as a direct result of these tariffs.  It will get worse.   This is not making American workers better, it is hurting American workers and it is killing American small businesses.  

Global production has opened up international market for small businesses and it has allowed American’s innovation, creativity and risk taking to compete globally.   Lower cost production and international logistics companies have simplified the process of making Americans big dreams a reality and allowing small businesses to compete with the large mega conglomerates.   I make board games so I will talk mostly about board games but this applies to all kinds of consumer products.  Be it outdoor clothing, travel backpacks, mountain bikes, rock climbing gear, cosmetics, clothing, the list goes on and on.  Small American businesses are thriving and we are running circles around the big guys.

20 years ago with a few notable exceptions most American board games were made by the same large firms that had been making games for 70 years.  The games were for the most part, not very good.   They were barely play tested, they were barely balanced, they were produced with horrific components and board games were dying.  A small section of games you owned because you “had to” that went into the top of a closer never to be played.  

Then the Europeans came with their significantly better games.  Catan, Carcassonne, Agricola and others started winning.  Board games were cool again, they were good again and a fanbase began to redevelop around this relic of a hobby that most people thought was an endangered species waiting to go extinct.  

Then stars aligned and everything started to change.   Some companies that had been making paper goods in China (lots of them making cosmetic packaging) noticed this new industry and Kickstarter allowed small businesses to begin to go straight to consumers to take pre-orders for new innovative games.   And all the sudden, American small businesses and American companies were competing and the industry was growing by leaps and bounds.  Jobs were created, an entire cottage industry was born.

Without competitive affordable global manufacturing many of the best games you have ever played would likely never have been created in the first place.   For us Dinosaur Island and Wasteland Express would have been impossible.   Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Root, Wingspan likely never get made.    Its unlikely most game designers you love would have simply never created the games you love because it would have been nearly impossible for those dreams to be produced.   I doubt very seriously most of our famous designers ever leave their “real jobs” to pursue their dreams of making board games.  I know that without international manufacturing I would be in my mid 40s today sitting in a corner office somewhere in Manhattan working for a bank.   You can probably safely guess that Jamey Stegmaier, Patrick Leder, Jon Gilmour, and countless others are all doing some other thing and never get into games in the first place.   And these are just the names you know – there are thousands upon thousands of people I know whose livelihood is supported by international production.   The Europeans would still be making games almost certainly, and perhaps some games would still have been produced – but the market in the US that is helping to support an entire network of careers would be lost and board games would have remained a small niche that occupied a shelf at the back of your comic book shop.

The jobs that have been created in this industry run the gamut.   White collar desk jockeys like myself, creatives who design the games, playtest the games, balance the games, the artists who do the illustration and graphic designs.  Logistics teams, book keepers, customer service specialists, marketing jobs.  And that’s just the publisher.   Global logistics supports dock workers, truckers, warehouse employees and entire teams of sales people whose jobs would not exist without global trade.   Then there are the retail employees whose jobs depend on the product that we produce.

The tariffs are not creating American jobs, they are costing Americans jobs.   They are costing the consumers money.  And they are going to rob Americans of innovative new ideas that could have revolutionized their lives or at least made them a little happier for a few hours over beers with friends.  And its not just board games.  Its everything.   

I’ve said it before and I will say it again.  I don’t make games in China because I want to make games in China.  I make games in China because that is where games are made.   We have produced games in the US before – but its very limited on what kinds of games you can make.  We produce some games in Europe and while the prices are higher the quality is generally very nice, but there are still limitations to what games you can make.

The time and money it will take to create the entire supply chain and manufacturing chain necessary to make games in America is longer than a single presidency.   These tariffs are too chaotic, too ephemeral and presidencies are too short lived for this to be an effective way to bring manufacturing to the United States.   This will not create manufacturing jobs in the US – it will only lead to higher prices, bankrupt companies, loss of livelihoods and a stifling of innovation and creativity.   If someone takes the risk to open up a manufacturer that can supply me with quality games and the price I need in the United States I would happily produce games with them.

The big guys?  They’ll be fine.  Heck, Apple, Nike and Nvidia already got special carve outs to keep tariffs off of their products.  If this is really about fighting China or bringing manufacturing to the US then why is it ok to make an iPhone in China?  It’s the small guy, the dreamers and the backbone of American innovation that’s going to be left out in the cold.   Competition breeds innovation.   Protectionism leads to complacency.   There is a reason that most games you grew up with were the same bad games your grandparents played.   When you corner a market, you have no reason to innovate.  You just keep doing the same tired boring thing again and again because consumers don’t have a choice.   That is what we are really headed back to.

What does this mean for Pandasaurus Games?

If there are any games of ours that you have your eye on I would buy them now.   We are going to keep producing most of our titles, but prices will increase 20-30%.  Stock levels will certainly be lower and games will go out of stock more frequently.  Some games may not be re-ordered for the time being - so if you want Shackleton Base, Dinosaur Island or other higher price games I would act now as it may be hard for us to restock those games quickly.

We have not reduced our headcount as a result of these tariffs, but we have cancelled several upcoming projects.  As long as these tariffs are in place 3-4 very cool games are unlikely to make it to the US market but may release globally.   We are going to open a French and German imprint and aim to directly publish games in those languages in addition to English.