This is a great webforum and I'm really glad I found it!
I have a board game designed, playtested, and all the artwork is finished. I am now exploring manufacturing options and have thus spent countless hours online looking for the best vendors, but I need advice from the pros. All the components will be good quality, nothing cheap, and I am willing to pay for it. Please comment on options/vendors for the components I am listing below. I very much appreciate your assistance!
BOX - I am open to suggestions here, but I don't want a tin. I want a color print on the top is all, though ideally I could put a color print on the bottom as well.
BOARD - I would like it to be 4 sturdy cardboard pieces that fit together like a puzzle, with full color printing on one side. I'm not a big fan of the folding/creasing boards that are more standard.
CARDS - There are several sets of cards that are needed. First, I need cards for the players to put on character stands, 40 for each gameset; I was thinking of using double-sided glossy business cards because they are about the right size, but maybe there is a better option. Second, there is one main deck that has 156 cards, and I would like this to be built from 3 decks of custom-print standard playing cards. They don't have to be super high quality, but I will be putting custom images on one side of each card and thus I don't want any poker symbols. Ideally I could customize the backs with the game logo as well, unless it were cost-prohibitive. I also need another 52 card deck of custom-image standard playing cards for another deck used in the game, again with game logo on the back ideally. Finally, the game requires lots of custom 8.5x11 glossy printouts, and there are alot of vendors out there, so I am not sure who is the best to go with price/quality-wise. Time to market is less of an issue than price. I am not looking for any designers or project managers, just the manufacturing aspects.
My prototype is built from cutouts and Kinkos work, but I am looking to print 5k initially if the price per unit is right. It seems that none of the online vendors for custom playing cards will print less than 10k runs, so that presents a bit of a problem. Maybe since the game effectively consists of 4x52 custom deck prints, then I can do 1 10k playing card print run for manufacture of 2.5k game units...? Not sure if those manufacturers can work that way.
Finally, if anyone has any radical ideas for cutting costs w/o compromising quality too much then I'd love to hear them.
Best,
Pzkrakz
Hi there mate,
I've been looking into card printers for a new game I have in the works, and as with most peopleon this forum, the minimum print run is very important to me.
One of the most interesting companies I've found so far are Print Masters India.
They do minimum runs of 2000 decks, any number of cards per deck, with totally customizable full colour fronts and rears (the guy I've spoken to says every card front (and rear!) can be totally differant, at no additional cost over the quote he gave me). They also do bridge or poker sized cards, full or non-bled printing for the same price quoted.
Importantly (from my simple accounting standpoint), the setup cost is included in the per-deck price quoted, and they also include custom printed shrink wrapped tuck boxes! Printing is on 14 PT C2S German playing card stock (comparible to M:TG cards I believe). The prices I was quoted (2000, 5000, 10,000 decks) seemed VERY reasonable, and the guy also gave me the shipping cost to the UK (per deck).
I'm still shopping around, but they're offering one of the best deals I've yet found, considering everything is included in the per-deck price.
If anyone has any observations about this company, I'd like to hear them, because theres a better than evens chance I'll be using them. Has anyone had stuff done by them before? what was it like?
#Phil[/url]