Manufacturing Process of a Board Game

Determine Game Specifications

When making a Board game, there are many different components and materials to choose from. Even in a seemingly simple piece such as a card, the paper used can have different cores, weight, and finish. Boxes are of various thicknesses and sizes as well, depending on how durable you wish the game to be, how big, or the general impression it gives.

Other Components:

Miniature, dice, and other components are made from entirely different materials, etc. All these specifications need to be decided upon before starting the manufacturing process. Hero Time will help you understand these specifications and their costs so you can make a knowledgeable decision.

Design the Files

So, you worked hard, or hired artist to do the artwork. Each piece looks splendid, but it’s time to lay them out for print. At times, you will want to get as much as possible out of a sheet of paper and lower costs, and at other times you will want to have the pieces laid out in particular order.

OneDrive Solution:

We has its graphic designers that will put your pieces together while maximizing space and laying them in the design that suits you. But, HeroTime will also provide you with a dedicated OneDrive link that you can add all your files upto.

Making a Sample and Adjustments

Once the specifications have been agreed upon, we move to make a sample. In this step the factory produces one or two sample games to ensure that the manufacturing will be done in accordance with your requirements.

Sample Production:

You will receive the sample game and then comment and make adjustments as you see fit. At this point, off the game and specifications are not to your liking. We at Hero Time will repeat step 2 and manufacture a new sample game (with your new requirements) completely free of charge.

Planning Mass Production

Manufacturing Board game, This stage is crucial for the efficiency, transparency, and effectiveness of the production. In this
stage, HeroTime will decide with the factory the manufacturing timeline, the worker placement, and
the quality control procedures. It will limit unwanted surprises and allow HeroTime to record the
progress of the game and update you instantly on every step.

Printing

A mass-produced game is not printed in the same way as a print and play game. One of the differences in the printing method used. While print and play games are printed by digital printers that use a toner moving along the page, offset printers use plates that stamp the page with desired color and design. Generally, there are four metal plates, one for each of the four CMYK colors.

Marvelous Printing Machines:

Each metal plate is engraved with the design of one color alone. Because, Throughout the printing, the page moves under the four plates, and each one of them stamps the page with its designated color. Four colors are enough to make a complete picture. But, During this stage HeroTime must ensure that the shades and color mixes used on the plates stay consistent, so to avoid a print that comes out faded or inconsistent. Manufacturing process of a board game is not so easy, as it seems be.

Varnish and Lamination

Following the printing, we must make sure the color stays and does not fade away, even after a
couple of years. For that, we put an oil coating or lamination on the paper. Both the coating and
lamination are either matte or glossy. Some game publishers use coarse linen finish, where the
surface of the card seems to have lines on them.

Gluing & Sticking the Printed Paper to the Cardboard

After the print and finish have been done, we move to the step of constructing the game pieces and box. In this stage, we take cardboard (depending on the thickness you chose) and glue the print onto it.

Glue & Sticking:

The paper passes under big metal rollers with glue, and then a person or a machine sticks the cardboard onto it. Have you ever seen some crooked pieces in board games, uneven sides, or paper that peels off the cardboard? That is what happens if you don’t keep a close eye on the Manufacturing process of a board game. is very tricky.

CUTTING

So the cards were printed, the paper and cardboard of pieces glued together. Now its time to cut them into individual pieces, or keep them on one board and ready them for punch out. Cutting is an essential process that if goes wrong has a direct effect on the quality of the game, and there is no going back if something goes wrong.

Cutting Process:

Manufacturing process of a board game also include the Cutting Process. The process is simple: the paper and cardboard go into a press machine. The press machine has a cutting mold attached to it with small knives organized according to the shape of the pieces. These knives need to be sharp and exact; otherwise, when a customer comes to punch out, a small part of the paper might come off the piece, or the cardboard will crack and fall apart a bit.

Adding Miniatures

There are two ways to produce miniatures: one is 3D printing machine, where the factory uses the STL file directly to print the miniature. And the second is an injection mold, where the factory first makes a wax sculpture, then creates a mold and then injects the material of the miniature (mostly pvc) into the mold and dries it right after.

Auto-mated Machines:

Both processes are done by machine, the difference is that an injection mold is much faster and much cheaper. One machine can do a couple hundred a day, where 3D printing can do only a couple dozen only. However, getting the mold is quite expensive. Hero Time cooperates with suppliers in inner cities of China, where the cost for creating mold is lower by 1000USD or more.

Dice and Other Components

If you want small trays, plastic separators, dice or anything else. There are two ways to go about it. The first is to find matching pieces that are already in stock at some factories and then buy thecomponents off the factories for cheap.

Custom Pieces:

The second option is to make them from scratch (obviously it will cost more). Therefore, you need to ask yourself how flexible are you willing to be. Hero Time will ask over one hundred factories until it finds the piece that most resembles your need

Packaging & Shrink Wrapping

Have you ever got a game that was missing a board or a piece, did you ever open a game and found some unrelated stuff in it? These mistakes do sometimes happen and can cause a lot of headaches. Avoid it.

Quality Packaging:

After the Manufacturing process of a board game, Make sure the packaging process is well organized and that each employee knows what pieces he puts where. After each game was boxed and closed they go through a shrink wrap machine that puts a thin layer of transparent wrapper around the game to make sure it stays new until the end customer gets it.

Shipping

Customs, CBM, LCL, FCL, etc. Shipping is probably the most abstract and unknown of them all. How
to calculate the price, who to talk to, which company or forwarded to use etc. Leave it to us. We will
explain everything to you as you proceed with the order. Regarding the price, we will provide you an
estimate price at the start of the project so there will be no surprises towards the end.

Fulfillment

If you have Kickstartered your project, you probably have a list of 200 more customers, all with different addresses. Rather than shipping all the game to one address and from there to the customers, it is better and cheaper to send from the factory to the end customer.

Benefits of Hero Time:

It is a great idea and will save you A LOT of money. Hero Time works closely with fulfillment and distribution agents, so all your games will get to their right place without you needing to do anything about it.

Sit & Enjoy the Fruit of Your Labor

Yes. You will get your game; you will hold it, and feel immense satisfaction. YOU HAVE DONE IT.
Well, not quite. Now it is time to sell it and get a return on your investments. Do not worry, If you have no
capabilities for that. No.1 Board Game Manufacturer, Hero Time partnered with E Mobility Now. The third
largest distributor in California. They will take your games, promote it online, place it at stores, and
more.