Board Game Manufacturing Quote Request

A manufacturing quote request needs eight things: a component list written the way a quote is built, the quantities you want priced, your minimum specs, the state of your files, where and when the games must arrive, whether children will play the game, a line on what the game is, and how to reach you. A little over 100 people write to us every month about a game, and only about 20 of them send enough for a quote without a round of questions. Send the eight things and your quote request comes back as a priced quote within 48 hours, at several quantities, with recommendations. In industry terms this is a manufacturing RFQ (a request for quotation); this guide is the RFQ checklist, the template and the reasons. When it is ready, contact us.

What a Quote Is Built From

A board game manufacturing quote is one line per component, and every line has the same fields. Write your component list in those fields and the quote comes back faster and more accurate, because nothing has to be guessed. These are the fields on a Hero Time quote:

Three lines are on every quote whether you list them or not: assembly (the hand work that packs the game), an insert for every game except a tuck-box card game, and zip-lock bags for small loose pieces. Shipping and the terms (lead time, safety tests) sit at the bottom of the quote.

The Component List: A Template You Can Copy

This is a board game quote request for a medium family game, written in the fields above. Copy it, change the numbers, delete the rows you do not need. It is the rfq template (request for quotation) that publishers ask us for.

Every field has its own guide when you are not sure what to write. Sizes and paper for cards are in playing card size and playing card material; the coating methods (poker oil, lamination, linen, spot UV, foil) in playing card finishes; the printing technologies (CMYK, Pantone, metallic ink, nano printing, UV, holofoil, cold foil) and the sheet sizes in board game printing cost; the greyboard and high-density grades and thicknesses in board game cardboard; the standard sizes in the board game box, foldable game board and board game tokens guides; the insert types in board game inserts; the pieces in types of dice and wooden game pieces; the booklet in board game rulebooks. A photo of a similar game, or of your prototype, answers most of the rest.

Quantities: Ask for Three

Manufacturing prices move in steps, not in a straight line. Every print run starts with about 300 sheets of make-ready waste and up to 60 hours of artwork setup, so 500 sets cost almost as much as 1,000, and at about 2,000 sets the per-copy price drops into the 20 percent of retail price a publisher needs. That is why our minimum is 1,000 sets and why a quote request should name three quantities: your target and one either side, for example 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000. By default we price every quote at several quantities anyway (500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 for a first game; 3,000 to 15,000 or more for a publisher), so you can see where the steps fall. Our guide to how much it costs to make a board game explains what sits behind each step.

Minimum Specs, or Ask for the Baseline

Two quotes for the same component list can differ by half because one is on 300 gsm cards and 1.2 mm cardboard and the other on 350 gsm and 2 mm. State the lowest quality you will accept, or say "recommend a baseline for a mid-weight retail game" and we quote this one: 350 gsm AAA white core cards with poker oil; a greyboard box at 1.5 mm (small), 1.8 mm (medium) or 2 mm (large) with 157 gsm matte-laminated paper; a 2 mm high-density game board; 1.5 mm high-density token sheets; a 157 gsm rulebook. Then we show what each step up or down costs. Comparing quotes from different manufacturers only works when the specs line up, so ask every one of them to quote the same baseline.

File Status

Say which of four states your files are in: print-ready in our templates; finished but needing prepress work; still being designed; placeholders. Print-ready files remove the artwork setup line from the quote; files that need repair take up to 60 hours of setup and go on the quote. Our board game art guides and the artwork setup guide show the templates, the bleed and the colour profiles. You do not need final art to get a quote; you need to say how far along it is, so the timeline is real.

Delivery: Where, When and for Whom

A quote ends with a shipping line, so it needs the destination country and city (the address when you have it), whether that is a home, a business or a fulfilment centre, and the date the games must arrive. Work backwards from that date: production takes 30 days for a card game, 35 for a medium board game, 45 for a heavy one and 90 for a game with plastic moulds, and freight adds 30 to 70 days by sea or 7 to 15 by air. Say whether the run is for retail, for crowdfunding backers or for direct sales, because each ships differently. Our guide to board game shipping cost has the rates by zone.

The Four Questions We Ask Back

1. Will children play it? A game for children under 14 needs the safety tests of its market, and the materials and the labelling are chosen for it.
2. Do you want safety certificates in your name? Amazon and most retailers ask for them; the safety tests guides explain which.
3. Where do we ship to? Or do you have your own freight arranged (EXW or FOB)?
4. When do you need the games? We plan the run backwards from it.

What Comes Back

Within 48 hours you get a quote at several quantities, with a project manager's recommendations: where a standard size would fill the sheet better, where a material is more than the game needs, where a part could be dropped. The quote is binding for the fiscal quarter it is issued in, and you can revise it until the raw materials are bought. Payment is 50 percent to start production and 50 percent before shipping. Up to ten prototypes can be made from the same files before mass production, with half their cost refunded on the order. The full path from quote to delivery is on our quote to order page.

Three Habits That Speed It Up

1. Use a spreadsheet. One row per component in the fields above; it is what the quote is typed from.
2. Ask instead of guessing. "I don't know which insert" is a better line than a wrong insert; a project manager answers it in the quote.
3. Expect one round of questions. Even a complete request gets a few: that round is where production problems are caught before they cost anything.

The Bottom Line on the Quote Request

A quote request is a component list in the quote's own fields, three quantities, a baseline, the state of the files and a delivery target. Send that and the quote is a real number, not a range. When yours is ready, contact us; a board game manufacturer like Hero Time prices it at several quantities and tells you where it can be cheaper.