Board Game Marketing and Safety

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Making a custom board game is time intensive and often difficult. So, we want to make sure you have the knowledge to get your board game to market if that’s your goal. Here at PrintNinja we want to make sure you have a great experience creating your custom board game. That why we created the free, one-of-a-kind board game quote calculator. This is always a great step to check-in and make sure your board game costs are correct.

The first step to getting your board game out onto the market is making sure your cost is as low as it needs to be. If you are having a hard time getting your costs down, check out our cost reduction guide. Once your game is at the price point of your liking, you can continue.

The funding of your custom board game is also a concern. If you are not sure where to get started raising money, make sure to look at our Kickstarter and crowdfunding page. This page also has lots of important info about getting your game into local game shops specifically.

As a manufacturing company, we don’t have any safety rules for your board game. However, board game distributors will likely have rules in place for things like safety testing and general dimensions. You should keep this in mind during the design and production process. 

Making sure your game is up to industry standards can be difficult. So if you want an idea of the industry standards for your specific type of game, check out our industry standards page.

Do I Need Safety Testing For My Game?

That depends on where you plan on selling your game and who it will be marketed to. The United States, the European Union, and most countries around the world have defined safety standards that products marketed to children must meet. Online marketplaces, like Amazon, may also have their own safety requirements. 

If your game is designed for children or for all-ages play, you must clearly label any potential hazards on the packaging. Even if you intend your game for older audiences, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) can determine that your game counts as a children’s product, depending on how your game is marketed or if similar products are commonly used by children. In the UK and EU, most games are considered toys and are therefore subject to similar safety testing standards. 

Retailers, distributors, and most online marketplaces require you to list a play age on the packaging for your game. Common play ages are “AGES 8+” and “AGES 13+.” For these safety standards, the United States defines children as anyone 12 years old or younger, but international standards vary. If you mark your game “AGES 13+,” it’s still possible for the CPSC to determine that your game counts as a children’s product. Therefore, it’s always better to safety test your game if you plan on selling it via third parties.

What Types of Safety Tests Are There?

Each safety standard has its own accompanying safety test. In the United States, the most common safety standard comes from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). The most common standard in the European Economic Area––the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway––is the Conformité Européenne (CE).

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