Safety Tests for Board Games
All in all there are five regulatory bodies that require safety tests and they are dependent on your target market.
CPC –USA (ASTM F963)
CE – EU
UKCA – UK
AS/NZ 8124 – Australia and New Zealand
ISO 8124 –Rest of the world
Why Are Safety Tests Important
There are three main logic points behind the idea of safety testing and labeling of board and card games.
- Making sure the products are safe and can be used by kids.
- parents who buy the game need to be aware of the risks involved when buying the game
- To ensure there is a responsible body which will take responsibility for this game and anything that may happen.
Since the middle of 2020, most countries require the responsible body to have contact details within the specified zone so they can be contacted and reached at any time. The responsible body can be the seller, distributor, importer, creator, or publisher. As such, the responsible body should also have the certificates roving his game is actually safe for the use of games, and that the labeling isn’t misguiding.
There are some detailed tests that are done on the products to check their chemical construction and the tests vary between countries. You can check the EU CE requirements for board games, and the US CPC requirements for board game
How to make sure my game can pass all safety tests
To make sure your game can sell later on on Amazon and at retailers as well as clearing customs with no issue you need to make sure that:
A. Your board game manufacturer is using safe raw materials that pass worldwide safety standards. Some manufacturers might be using ink with a high concentration of petrol. Some paper and coating uses high levels of heavy metals and led.
You can download here Hero Time’s Safety tests done for all possible raw materials worldwide.
B. The labeling and marking on your board game comply with point 2 and 3, of showcasing a responsible body, and for parents to be aware of the risks if any.
For these points you should download our labeling and marking guide
How does it work
Once mass production was completed, we send a few of the game from the current batch to the testing lab to do all the required tests. Once they were done, they will issue safety tests for your specific game, with your specific company name. This way you stay protected no matter what. This is a vague topic, so feel free to reach out and contact us with any questions.
