James Mathe Entrepreneur, Designer, Publisher

Board Game Design, Kickstarter, & Game Publishing Advice

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The Art of the RFQ

James Mathe

March 22, 2015

KICKSTARTER, PUBLISHING

gsm, manufacturing, rfq, UPC

This blog is my attempt to help shed some light on all

the options (typical thicknesses and paper grades,
pantone, etc.) and terms (GSM, Grey-core, 4/4c, etc.)
youll need to know to talk the business of game
creation with your manufacturer though a document
known as a RFQ Request For Quotation. Hopefully this will help prevent you from learning some lessons the hard
way.
Once you have your game working great as a prototype (eg. the game is 95+% done), its time to start thinking of
turning your baby into a reality. You can do that by handing it off to a publisher, but with Kickstarter, its now easier
than ever to produce a game yourself. Still, there is a lot of work and dozens of decisions awaiting you if you do
choose the self-publishing path. Do not undertake this without fully considering what youre getting into. Its unlikely
youll have any time for more game designing during the process of Kickstarter, managing freelancers, getting the
final files/designs to the printer, and shipping.
It is your goal to make your games cost to manufacturer to be in alignment with what people would expect your
game to cost based on its parts but also based on the play style/type of game. So you may have to make
concessions to produce a game that is marketable. See my blog titled Trimming the Fat for more specific
information.

One last quick note: If you live in the USA and think in inches, but stop it right now. Do all your work, design, files,
and communications in millimeters (mm). It will save a lot of headaches later.

TERMS & ACRONYMS:

GSM This is thickness rating of card/paper stock. It is the Grams per Square Meter weight.

1035 gsm

Tissue paper

35100 gsm

Light to medium text paper

100150 gsm

Heavy text paper or cardstock

150-200 gsm

Heavy cardstock

200-240 gsm

Very heavy cardstock

240-270 gsm

Light weight playing cards

270-310 gsm

Medium weight playing cards

310-330 gsm

Casino quality card stock & poster paper

> 330 gsm

Very heavy card stock

Pantone This is a color number that provides a way to communicate a specific internationally standard color to
your printer. The problem with color on computers is that each monitor and home printer will show a different color
and most are based on RGB (red, green, blue). Even a CYMK (cyan, yellow, magenta, and black) laser printer isnt
going to show you the same color as another printer. So there has to be a standard to use to specify a color you
want. Note all printers want their files/artwork in CYMK format and 300+ DPI (dots per inch) resolution and usually
PDF.
Chipboard Just a term used to refer to the thick hard board used to make your counters. Some companies may
refer to your board that requires die cutting as a punchboard or grey-board. Like everything, these also come in
different thicknesses and are then covered by a glued on sheet of paper with finished artwork.
Saddle Stitched Simply means that your manual is bound in the center with staples.
4/4C This means 4 color (full color) printing on both sides of the paper.

THE REQUEST:
Manufacturers have may use many of their own terms and their own ways of doing things, so sometimes they may
call a card stock by a different name for example. Just let them know that similar or equivalent substitutions are
allowed, but verify what they exactly are. Some manufacturers might take only days to get back to you but some may
take weeks (Panda GM for example is way overworked with the quality job they do). Sometimes though if you get a

reply in a day or two you got to wonder why they have the free time to return a quote so fast (esp. if that quote is also
very low). On average though you should get a reply in a week or two. I use and recommend Panda GM so give
them some breathing room if you ask them for a quote, they are worth it.
Once you accept a quote youll be asked to submit a purchase order (simply an invoice) with the options & quantity
you have chosen and then send the deposit amount for the factory to get started. The process from here (without
problems) will take 3-4 months. Of course youre going to have problems, so plan for that.

QUANTITY:
Your RFQ should ask for a quote for multiple size print runs. Typically anything less than 1500 units will have a pretty
high per-unit cost to it as it takes a lot of time and paper just to rev-up their printing machines. Once you can get to
3000+ units the price increases per quantity start to level out. I typically ask for a quote for 1500 and 2000. Most
manufactures will not go below 1500 though some will do 1000. Anyone willing to do such low quantities (or lower)
makes me wonder how desperate (and why) they are for business.

CARDS:
Card Size: Card have many options, the main design decision is which size card to use. Keeping the sheet count to
a minimum obviously helps save money. Some printers dont worry so much about card count as they just cut the
paper to spec or have fancier machines that can adjust & correlate. But in general ask the printer you finally choose
about your options. Here are some common sizes and how many you can expect per sheet of paper.

American mini

42 x 64 mm

70 / sheet

Euro mini

44 x 67 mm

70 / sheet

Bridge

57 x 87 mm or 57 x 88 mm

55 / sheet

Blackjack / Poker

63 x 88 mm

54 / sheet

Euro

59 x 91 mm

45 / sheet

Square mini

51 x 51 mm

75 / sheet

Square (Power Grid)

70 x 70 mm

49 / sheet

Tarot

70 x 120 mm or 70 x 121 mm

Card Finish: Cards also come in many different finishes: Matte Varnish, UV Coating (Lamination), and Linen. Matte
is probably the most common and plain. UV Coating is like a plastic coating that is shiny, though it can peel if not of a
good quality. Any components with a Matte Varnish or Lamination will have a slight darkening effect on the images
and lose a little detail on the darker colors. Linen has a very nice textured feel and is great for cards that are not
shuffled regularly. Its near impossible to find Linen in the USA though.
Card Thickness: The thickness of the card affects its overall feel, durability and resistance to bending. Typical card

thickness is 250-330 gsm. A game like Munchkin has light 280gsm cards. Magic The Gathering is roughly 300gsm
and seems like a good standard, so that is what we use unless there is a need to trim some fat. Euphorias recruit
cards are 360 gsm and Viticultures mini cards are 300 gsm. Battle Merchants cards are 275 gsm and The
Manhattan Project is 300 gsm.
Card Core: The core of a card is what makes it snap as well as prevents people from seeing through the card with
bright back lighting. This is where I see many manufacturers calling their cards by different names so it makes it
harder to compare. Typically a lower quality card would be called white-core. A medium quality core is typically
called grey-core or blue-core. High end cores will use the word black-core or casino when they speak of the
core. But its confusing as Panda GM for example calls their upper medium core: Chinese Grey-core Casino
Cardstock. There is also plastic card stock but its expense doesnt warrant its use in hobby board games. If they do
not use a core in their cards, dont use them as a manufacturer.
Card Corners: Since youll usually be using pre-existing dies to cut out your cards you wont have much of a choice
about the corner shape. Most are about 1-4mm rounds.
Shared Borders: Most dies for cards have a shared
knife that cuts the right side of one card and the left
side of the other. This however only looks good if the
card has a solid color border (white wears better than
black) that is shares with the card next to it in case it
gets a bit out of alignment. If you wish to have full
artwork to the edge of your cards border, you will
need to use a die that has 2 knives down the center
instead of a shared knife. This can cost a bit extra as
more paper is wasted.
Promo Card: Its common to supply Kickstarter or conventions with a promo card or two for your game. Its a form of
marketing and makes customers feel special. Its very cost effective if youre sheet of cards has room for the extra
card(s). Then youre just paying small fee to separate out these cards and ship them bulk outside of the box
assembly line. These cards can also be used to pay for advertising at BoardGameGeek.com which saves you a lot
of money.

PUNCHBOARDS (CHIPBOARD):
Punch boards are made from chipboard and a custom die (template of knives and sponges) is created to punch out
the shapes you need. You typically need at least 3mm bleed around your artwork as machines that do die cutting are
not overly accurate and the stock can shift (up to 1.5mm). Try to avoid using hard edge borders around your art (like
a circle edge in a round bit) as it will be overly obvious when the item is slightly mis-cut.
The Cut: If the shapes are left inside the larger board, this is known as Nick Cut. If you wish the pieces to be
removed from the master board and cleaned up, thats known as Clean Cut. Make sure the nick cut used is small
enough to have your bits pop out easy without ripping, but large enough not to fall loose during shipping. Also note
that a physical punch is made from front to back, meaning the front side will have a slightly rounded edge and the
back will not. Rounded corners (even slightly) on all punch-out tokens are recommended (especially for triangular
and rectangular tokens). Square corners tend to wear out faster. Like with cards, it is possible to share the edge of 1
knife blade (allowing for more compact boards) but this is rarely recommended as the material can shift so much.

Custom Dies: Cost about $100-300 so its in your best interest

to make multiple boards that use all the same die to cut them
out even if you waste a few extra pieces that are not to be used
in the end game. A game with 3 dies and 3 boards will cost
much more than a game that has 1 die and 3 boards
strategically laid out to produce the game bits. Dont forget that
all your bits should be double sided. The file containing the
back side will have to be laid out as a mirror image.
Size: While each factory is going to have their own limits on the
maximum size punchboard you can make, bear in mind youll
need those punchboards to fit in your game box with 5mm
clearance all around. The larger the punchboard the more
warping that can happen and the more costly the die. Its better
to make several smaller boards that all use the same die.
Thickness: Most
chipboards in modern hobby
games are 2mm thick and
have linen matte finish. You
can go to 1.5mm without
many people noticing you
cut a corner. We used 4mm
in The Manhattan Project for
our cardboard Meeples as you need to pick them up regularly. People love them and its a thing people talk about
regarding the game. But it is expensive and some factories can only do 3mm or less.
Tiles: Tiles are just large square or hexes cut from your chipboard. They can be nick-cut or clean cut. Large sets of
tiles can be costly, so consider using 1.5mm or even 1mm chipboard. If youll notice big selling games like
Carcassonne and Zombies save a lot of money here using 1mm chipboard.

GAME BOARD:
The Fold: A decent board that wont warp much and holds up to a lot of
play will be 2mm thick. Most games will have a main game board and
many of those will have a fold in them. They are sometimes double
sided, but most of the time youre just wrapping the main game board
image around the outside edge of this board. This requires an 18mm
bleed to do so. The back can be covered in full art for not much more
money, so consider making a second game board with a different mix of
game elements/challenges or even use the back for a different
language. The maximum size for game board will very but most are
limited to 6 folds with roughly a 700 x 1000 mm size. Youll want to
include a fold line template on a separate layer so there is one layer for the artwork and one layer for the fold line.
Where possible, avoid placing important text or images within 2mm of fold lines.

Player Boards: You can make nice player boards out of just very thick
(400+ gsm) paper. The Manhattan Project 1st edition did this and they
dont warp and look great but people said it felt cheap. Still this is an
acceptable option if you need to keep costs down. If you choose to use
chipboard, make sure you specifically instruct the manufacturer if you
want wrap around edges and whether the back is black or full color.
Many manufacturers will save money by not wrapping the player boards
at all, which is OK, but doesnt look as nice. Player boards are very
annoying when they move/spin on their own due to warping, so drying
out the cardboard before shipping is very important.

THE BOX:
There are many ways to package your game, the most common being a chipboard box with
color artwork wrap that opens by lifting a lid (the entire cover) straight up. This is known as
a Telescoping box. You can also get tuckboxes (flimsy cardboard box for just cards with a
flap to tuck in), clam shells (clear plastic formed cases), or even more creative things.
Size: Keep in mind that your box will probably be the most costly part of your game. While
youll want to make sure you keep the box at least 45mm deep so it can stand on its end in
a retail store, you should only make your box as big as it needs to be to fit your game (main
game board). Regretfully, unlike cards, there are no real standards in box sizes so youre
going to end up paying for the box die anyway. But feel free to ask your manufacturer in the RFQ to substitute a
standard box size they may have to help you save costs. Also be aware of the method youre using to ship your
game- making sure it fits nice into a Medium Flat Rate Priority Mail box for example will save you a lot of costs on
packing materials.
Box Thickness: The box is typically made from 1-2.5mm chipboard. A 2mm box will hold up to weight and shipping
and stacking much better than a 1mm box. Ill typically do 1.5mm box is typically what I use. Also keep in mind that a
thicker box can stack more on a single pallet without damage.
Box Wrap: The wrap is typically of 128-175 gsm art paper with a matte varnish,
UV lamination (glossy) or linen (textured) finish. I typically use 157 gsm linen.
UPC: You should have a bar code to make retail stores lives easier. If you dont
have a UPC you can get one cheap from either of these sites:
http://www.ezUPC.com
http://www.BuyABarCode.com

BOX INSERTS:
The card tray (sometimes called e-form) or thermoformed (vacuum) tray serves
two purposes. First it helps to keep the product safe from dings and wear from
rubbing while in shipping. Secondly it gives the player someplace to put the game
bits back when done playing. You can just make very simple chipboard trays or
you can get even fancier with several folds in the cardboard or you can go for the
deluxe (more expensive and less forgiving) plastic inserts that match the games
bits directly. These cardboard inserts are usually made with around 500 gsm
stock. Whatever you choose, make sure that your cards will fit back in the box
even if they are sleeved.
You can expect to pay $150-500 for a basic mold for a plastic form and
more for complicated ones (dont be alarmed to see a $650-1000 quote).
Getting very detailed and holding custom bits will take 3D drawings and
more setup fees (it can be a real pain in the ass). There will also be a
higher cost per unit to use a plastic tray (10-25 cents typically). Even the
mold has two qualities: copper or aluminum, with the former being
cheaper but having more defects in the tray. Keep in mind any
expansions you may think of releasing in the future when designing your
tray.

MONEY:
Im going to get on my high horse here a bit, but its backed up by surveys of the
most active gamers over at BoardGameGeek.com In short, dont do paper
money. Use chipboard tokens, cards with values, poker chips, metal coins,
anything besides paper. If you must use paper then at least make the money look
like quality money.

WOOD:
Cubes: Most common wood bits are just cubes. They are typically 10mm x 10mm. It is however
acceptable to use 88 to save money or 1212 if you want them easier to be picked up. But your
wood will be the third most expensive item in your game (The box and game board being the first
& second)
Meeples & Pawns: There really are no standards in this industry. Most factories will just make your order to suit
your needs. So just specify exactly what you want. To do this usually you must supply a black and white 2D
silhouette of your design. A typical Meeple is about 20-25mm tall, 15-20mm wide, and 8-10mm thick.
They need to be at least 5mm thick to stand up on their own. When it comes to a standard machine
processing the wood bits, there are restrictions to the angles and overhangs allowed. But these days
they can do some amazing designs without such restrictions with laser cut bits that cost just a bit
more.

Disks: The typical disks you see in modern games are about 14-20mm diameter
and 4-6mm thick.
Color: You will need to specify the painting color of all the wood bits. Keep color
blind people in mind (which is harder then you may think) when choosing your
colors. These colors will be specified by their PANTON number. A good group of
colors to choose would be red, green, blue, black, white, and orange/yellow.
Purple can look too much like blue or red if youre not careful- even with normal
vision people in low light areas.

DICE:
Standards: Dice that are not custom are usually
pretty cheap and so common that you can add them
to your game without much hassle. You need to
specify if you want pips (dots) or numbers on your 6
sided dice. We were burned once by a 10 sided die
order that had 1-10 on it instead of what we thought
would be a standard 1-0 so its a good idea to see a
sample before you agree to the die, especially since
some of these common 6-sided dice can be made extremely cheaply and be all kinds of screwed up (bad shape,
poor inking, too hard of plastic that chips, etc.).
Size: A typical die is a 16mm cube. You can save money though if you use smaller dice. 14mm and 12mm are
acceptable alternatives. If you want a heavy large die as your main focal point of the game, consider 24 or 28mm
size.
Printed: You can have the dice silk screen printed which allows you to do fairly detailed designs on each side for a
reasonable price. But these dice tend to wear off if heavily played. But since most games these days are not played
heavy (too many games) its not a bad cheap solution. Stickered dice could also be an option.
Molded: Custom dice require a mold to be produced and sometimes a base
model to be created. Expect to pay $1000-2000 for these things. Also youre going
to want to stick to one color if at all possible as it costs money to stop and clean
the machine between colors of plastic. See Miniatures below.
Faces: It is possible to have the indentations of the faces painted multiple colors
or have a side of each die a different color, but these are a real pain to do and will
most likely be a significant up charge. So when thinking of the faces of the die, try
to choose 1 die color and 1 paint color and make the icons serve all the rest of
your needs.

MINIATURES:

Everyone wants minis in their game but they are

very expensive and a big pain to work with. Consider
cardboard stand-ups as an alternative as they can
have more thematic characters and be fully colored.
Also make sure you choose the type of plastic use
wisely. Some plastic will bend to easy and some will
not bend at all and break. Here are the steps and tips if you do decide to go full miniatures:
Step 1 Concept Art: You will need to commission some artwork for the model sculpture to work from. They may
need to make more than one image, but most sculptures can work well from a single design image. This will cost you
$100-300 per figure.

Step 2 Modeling: There are two ways to do modeling these days. You can either do it the old fashioned way with
clay / green stuff or you can get a 3d water-tight model made in a CAD system. The both cost about the same to
make, but CAD file is easier for the China factory to use in its base form. But then again, file formats and other
headaches can be an issue too. This could cost you $300-600 per figure.
Step 3 Mold: The factory making your game will need to take your sculpture (which you will have to mail to them
through FedEx which will cost you $80-100) or the CAD file (in a format they can use) and convert it to a plastic
injection mold. This mold can have multiple (3-8) miniatures (figures) in it, but its going to cost you $2000-3000 per
mold.
Size: While this is totally up to you, you will want the scale of your miniatures to be a reasonable size to fit the game
board. It would also be a good idea to make your miniatures in a size that is compatible with other games. If you
need to make a lot of minis then consider 15mm, but normally youll want to make them roughly 25-28mm scale (1 =
6 foot tall figure) which is typical in many other games line D&D and Warhammer.
Assembly: It may be cheaper and the manufacturer will try to push you to make minis with multiple parts to
assemble for a single figure. While you can get better results and details, keep in mind youre make a board game
and not catering to the miniatures hobby market. So dont use multiple parts for a single figure if at all possible. If you
do keep it to just 2 parts if at all possible.

PLASTIC:
Most overseas factories have made their bread and butter on plastic injection molding, so most of these companies
making your board game should be able to work with you to make custom plastic parts for your game. That said,
anything custom will cost you. If you want a different color plastic for each player color then that means they need to
clean the machine and restart it that many times. Costs can add up quickly. But at least the per unit cost tends to be
5-20 cents each. Most of the time though, large or complex plastic bits are not going to be cost-effective for your
board game.
Plastic Cubes: Plastic cubes, while not as nice as wood cubes, can be done at a cheaper cost (25% less if the mold
exists already) and might even fit your game better. More and more games are including these, and translucent
cubes sure look sci-fi.

MANUAL:
Your manual can be black and white or full color. Its not much more for full color so Id advise you to make your
manuals full color or they will look cheap. Dont forget to include copyright info in the manual! A cover page is nice
but not required as you jam as much as you can into the manual. Same goes for the back page, use all the space for
rules, examples, and pictures.
Binding: A manual can be folded, saddle stitched (stapled), or perfect bound (glued). Most will just be saddle
stitched and have an even multiple of 4 for the page count.
Size: The size of the manual can vary to any size you choose but we recommend making it roughly 10mm smaller
than the size of your box. A 10 point font is acceptable for reading most things. If you need to thank a bunch of
people or have a lot of fluff text, you can consider doing that in a smaller font. Try to use only a limited amount of
very readable fonts and a background that doesnt make it hard to read. Readability is more important than a cool
thematic font or background image.
Stock: The paper should be roughly 120-150 gsm and typically on matte paper.

BAGS:
Dont forget to include some clear zip lock bags for players to put their bits back into after playing. We typically
include one per player plus one or two for miscellaneous stuff. You can also request an option for draw-string velvet
bags as they are pretty cheaply made in China.

CASE/OUTER BOX
Now that you have a bunch of games shrink wrapped and ready to
go, you will also need to ship them in bulk to you. This requires that
you also get cardboard case boxes with your game markings on it.
Case: Some manufactures will cheap out on the outer packing and
this can lead to a lot of damage in shipping and thus lost product.
So make sure its thick enough for the job. If you have a large heavy
game, consider using corner reinforcements. I also wouldnt bother
with any insurance as its too hard to collect and everyone points
fingers at everyone else. Just make sure they use strong enough
boxes and dont put too many games in 1 box. 4-6 is good.
Markings: Your outer box should state your company name, your
games name, SKU, Made in Country X statement, and the quantity
of the contents. It should hold about 4-6 copies of your larger board
game, 6-12 copies of a medium sized game, and no more than 50
units of a card game. Again, some manufacturers will over stuff
these boxes to save costs and this leads to product damage. So be
clear up front what you want the case quantity to be and the markings on that case. I wouldnt bother with any other
regulations type markings (like CE or such) as any customs agent is going to open your box anyway.

Pallet: You will also want to request pallet loading of the packages onto the container. If you do not they will just
throw all your games into the box and youll have to unpack them 1 at a time from the container which since its
most likely not you doing it, youll end up paying someone in your country to do this and theyll probably charge you
to palletize it anyway. So make the manufacturer do this from the start. There are some cool websites out there to
help you figure out how many will fit on a pallet.
http://www.packer3d.com/online/pal-by-box
http://www.onpallet.com/index.php

SHIPPING
It is also a good idea to ask for an estimation of shipping the game to your destination country (not your door step).
This obviously affects the overall cost per unit. For example a typical $50 game in a 12 x 12 x 3 box and 1500 units
will probably cost you about $3000-4000 to get shipped. You will have to spread that cost out to all units to get a
better estimate of your per unit costs. Dont forget to leave some cash for any import or customs processing fees.
Container: You can use a LCL (Less-Than-Container Load) or a full 20 container for ocean shipping of your games.
Obviously if youre not using all the 20 it will be cheaper to ship via LCL as long as youre not using like 80% of the
container anyway. So ask and check.
Customs: Youre going to have to pay $300 or so for customs charges but its possible you have to pay a lot more
and there is no way to plan for this. If your container is searched, youll have to pay your share of storage and
processing fees. If they decide to open/X-ray every box that fee can go as high as $3000. You will also need to have
a company help you with this process and they will ask you for a Power of Attorney paper to allow them to do so.
That company is also going to charge you around $300.
Domestic Delivery: You will also need to hire someone to load a truck with your products and deliver it to your
warehouse (or house). That may or may not require a lift bed option. If they have to palletize your products it will cost
more. The further they need to drive the more they will charge. This is typically a $500-1500 bill.

TIMING
This whole process takes a lot of time with many stages which a wrench can be tossed into the mix and delay things
for weeks. Many times those wrenches are owned by the new publisher not knowing how to do things properly. But
here is a rough estimate of typical times required:

Digital Proofs (1-2 weeks): Once you sign the purchase order, its up to you to
get the digital files loaded to the manufacturers FTP site in a timely manner. Still
they are going to come back to you with problems. You might not have enough
bleed on a file, or a file may be a different size then the quote expected, or the
color saturation might be a problem with too much black in places, or the die lines
might not be done right. So many things can happen here, I would only count your
game started in production from the date you approve the Digital Proofs. Most
manufacturers will get back to you within a week with any problems from the files
you uploaded. But you getting them fixed can add weeks as youre probably
working with busy freelancers who cant always drop everything to fix something
for you. Even if they do you have the time zone issue that makes a minimum of a 2 day turn around for even the
simplest communications. The more that you catch here the more money and time youll save. Make sure all the
backs match the fronts and the counts are right.
White Box & Proof Sheets (2-4 weeks): Itll take at least a week or two for the
manufacturer to assemble an unprinted sample of your game. But its likely they
have other projects ahead of you so it can take a month. Then its a couple days
of air mail to show up to your house. Obviously if you find errors at this point or get
some materials you were not happy with, theyll have to fix that and resend. That
can easily add another week. This is the time to make any last fixes as they just
get more costly in the future.
Production Copy (2-4 weeks): Once they have approval of the White Box and
proof sheets they will go about making the printing films and ordering the paper &
chipboard stock as well as outsourcing the wood bits. This process will typically take 30-60 days to finally get you a
post-production copy. A couple days in air-mail and then you need to look it over really carefully and get back to
them that it is OK to proceed with the full production run. Any changes at this point are costly in both money and
time.
Mass Production (4-6 weeks): The process of actually printing and assembling all of your game. Also involves
acclamation to the right humidity and drying of the ink, then packing them in the master boxes and palletizing the
boxes.
Shipping to local Port (1 week): Once the games are all palletized they will deliver the games at their cost to the
local port to a freight forwarder who will have arranged for your games to be put in a container and onto a ship.
Ocean Shipping (4 weeks): You can ship a bit faster to the LA port but then you may have to pay for a train to go
across country and that will add time too. So its usually best to just ship to a large port near you and reduce the
amount of ground handling. Typical ocean liners will take about 22-28 days to sail to the USA or Europe from a place
like China.
Customs Processing (2-10 days): Once offloaded from an ocean liner someone needs to take ownership of the
goods. That is usually a company that you have hired to handle the logistics of this process. If your games were
pulled aside for inspection, expect to pay some fees for that privilege as well as fees for storing your games while
waiting for that privilege.
Local Delivery (1 week): You will have had to hire a local shipping company to truck your pallets to your location. If
you dont have a pallet jack or truck bay, be prepared to cut open the pallets and unload from the back of the truck.
Truck drivers are not paid to help you do this so get some friends. If you pay extra for a lift gate they will at least
dump the stuff by your front door and let you deal with it on your own time.

MORE QUESTIONS
Some other important questions you should be asking your manufacturer:
How much must be paid at signing of the purchase order?
Can they send you samples and references?
Do you have a climate-controlled factory or a dehumidifying room? It is very humid in China and India and if the
manufacturer does not acclimate the game to your countries levels, your game parts will at best warp and at worst
develop mold. This is very important to make sure they do this BEFORE they shrink wrap your game bits and outer
box.
Can they supply you with some extra bits to allow you to replace missing parts without having to open new games to
get them?
Typical production and shipping times after each approval stage.
What approval stages do you have?
Is there a cost for the physical white-box and/or production samples?
What quantity of over or under printing is allowed?
What is their typical error rate after quality control/assurance? If they say anything other than roughly 1-2% I would
wonder why.

EXAMPLE RFQ:
Dead Men Tell No Tales example
Hegemonic example
Battle Merchants example

FILE PREPARATION
Avoid using rich blacks as these can lead to color inconsistencies. Use pure 100% black (K) for text, card borders,
and your UPC barcode. In the CMYK settings, you can achieve pure black with the following color settings: C: 0%,
M: 0%, Y: 0%, K: 100%
Make sure all text and images are at least 3mm away from any edges or die-cut lines to avoid being cut off.
Components with Linen Embossing finishes can stretch slightly, which may impact the accuracy of the die-cutting.
Its safer to use a 5mm inner bleed and 3mm of outer bleed.

Make sure all files include trim marks and/or die-cutting lines on a separate layer. Almost everything you do will
require a 3mm bleed in the artwork and 5mm on the outside edges of the actual die.
The box will have a wrap around edge so it will need a roughly 18mm of bleed on each side of the artwork for the
box top and box bottom. Youll need the bottom of your box to be 4mm + the thickness of the cardboard used smaller
than the top/lid. The bottom of your box will also contain side artwork, so you can use this to show off your logo or
even ads about your other games as its only seen when the game is open and being played. The largest component
in the box should be no larger than 10mm smaller than the box bottom.
Dont forget to add to your back cover or sides some standard and legal markings on your box: CE symbol, UPC
barcodes, SKU, Choking Hazards icon, Made In China, Age Ranges, Play Time, Number of Players, etc. It is
however, NOT a good idea to put your retail price on the box. Retailers wish to set these how they want in case it
costs extra to get your game into the store.

SAMPLES:
Get samples every step of the way. Make sure you
know what youre getting and things are as you
planned. There is no way to do that 100% without
having the items in hand. It is very easy to overlook
things in a picture or for things to look fine but feel
odd.
Digital Proof: The first sample you will get is known
as a digital proof where they will send you back low
res layout/proof sheets for you to review. Check the
card counts. Check that the right backs are on the
cards. Verify the margins and the die cut lines.
White Box: Also known as the PPC (Pre-Production Copy). This is simply a physical copy of all the parts that are
going in your game but not printed yet. This allows you to make sure things fit together properly and that the
thickness of chipboard and cards are all to your liking. Usually since this is your first physical mailing they will include
a mockup of the game with some laser printed artwork as well as send you the full size proof sheets for color review.
Mass Production Copy (MPC): This is the first off-the-press copy. This is the very last chance for you to change
anything as they are starting to assemble everything for shipping.

More reading & reference:

Pantone reference sheet: click here
Hitchhikers Guide to Manufacturers
http://www.jamesmathe.com/hitchhikers-guide-to-game-manufacturers/
Trimming the Fat

http://www.jamesmathe.com/trimming-the-fat-board-game-on-a-diet/
Quotes and Setting Prices
http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/kickstarter-homework-lesson-1-quotes-and-setting-prices/
Game Design and Self-Publishing: A Primer for Self-Publishers
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/789423/game-design-and-self-publishing-primer-self-publis

9 thoughts on The Art of the RFQ

Rocky Mountain Games on March 23, 2015

Reply

This would have been great as a panel at the GAMA Trade Show, when we went last year!

John Coveyou on March 23, 2015

Reply

Super though-out and very thorough article. Thanks for taking the time to compile this list of valuable
information and post it here! Im probably gonna bookmark this one, and send people back to it when
questions are asked in our forums.

John "Hex" Carter on March 23, 2015

Reply

Oh man, this couldnt have come out at a better time! My team and I are actually having weird
communication issues with a potential manufacturer. This will help us educate ourselves so that we
can make sure were speaking the same technical language as them. Thanks for this in-depth article!!

Eddy Boxerman on March 24, 2015

Reply

Yet another incredible resource. Thanks! (I wish this had existed 6 months ago, but its still filling in
gaps for us today.)

Brett Sobol on March 25, 2015

Reply

James
First off, this is a great resource and a very insightful article! I have two quick questions:
1) Regarding the outside markings on the case/outer box, would you recommend putting anything to state compliance with
CPSC/GCC regulations?
2) When shipping games from overseas via ocean freight, how much should you expect to pay insurance? Have you found
anyone thats easy to work with?
Thanks!
Brett

James Mathe on March 25, 2015

Reply

1) No I wouldnt bother putting more data on the outside box. Its used for
identification and sorting its not going to be trusted by the customs people,
they will open your box.
2) I wouldnt bother with insurance. Too hard to collect if something does go
wrong. I apparently had insurance on one shipment and even though $1500 of
product was damaged, they (printer, shipper, liner) all pointed fingers at the
other guy. Though it was obvious through paperwork the damage happened on
the ocean liner, they still never paid up anything. And how do you chase a
company that you didnt directly contract and rarely speaks English?
Ive never had any significant damage since that first time and to be fair the
manufacturer I used packed the games way too many per box (10) and in way
to light of a box material.

Brett Sobol on March 25, 2015

Reply

Thanks James! Quick follow-up on #1. When should you

arrange for testing of your finished game for CPSC/GCC
requirements? It was my understanding that it should be
complete before shipping through US customs. Is there

anyone that you would recommend?

James Mathe on March 25, 2015

Thats too complicated to get into here. In short, you

should get some testing done in CHINA so they can fix
anything that went wrong. If you produce your game for
13+ you dont need to do testing. Some testing for
young kids games can cost a lot of money. Some
manufacturers in China will say they got it tested and
dont ever give you paperwork and take your money.
Best thing to do is use a factory you know isnt cutting
corners and has a rep.

JR on March 30, 2015

Great article!

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