BoardGamesMaker.com is Live!

You forgot a link to your website for those of us who don't do ecommerce by tweet.

It appears that Printer's Studio has gotten hip to the fact that they can make more money in board games by marketing to board gamers directly.

The problem appears to be that there is a big markup for the cards (which just saw a hike at Printer Studio any way). Instead of being 8.99 for a 54 card deck, they are $12.00 a pack at boardgamesmaker.com.

It would be nice to be able to get everything for polished prototypes at one place, but as of now printandplaygames appears to be a much better option for that.

Also, both PrinterStudio and BoardGamesMaker appear to be on the high end of cost when compared to a company like drivethrucards where you can get 54 cards for somewhere in the sub $5.00 range or another competitor, printplaygames.com, who will do linen cards (something that you don't offer) for $8.55 for a 54 card deck. Granted, the quality will likely not be quite as high, but you begin to see my point.

I've always been happy with PrinterStudio quality and service and I think this is a great service. I would ask that they revisit their pricing scheme and put it more in line with the rest of the market.

Wow, Rich... that's definitely an omission. I've just never done business with them, so it didn't really occur to me. Looking at their pricing structure I notice that they also come in at the sub-five dollar range for a standard deck of cards.

I've heard their turnaround times can be long, that is the reason I've gone with printerstudio or printplaygames for prototypes. I've ordered a few games from other designers on drivethrucards as well.

What do you think of Game Crafter's quality vs production time?

@Richdurham: Care to share (or PM) about better alternatives to TGC???

I have a 100 card Deck-builder which requires some pieces/parts like dice and wooden cubes. I could maybe forgo the wooden cubes and the dice.

And so along with it, I need a box (100 cards + box).

Got anything that can do the trick? I too am looking for another source other than TGC because it costs me around $100.00 for four (4) game sets. That's my COST!!! I could never sell the game via TGC... The pricing is impossible to meet.

I can separately buy the dice and just get the 100 card deck made and use a small baggie for the dice + cubes. It's not very professional but who cares - I don't want it to cost $100.00 per reviewer for the game.

I just bought 400 acrylic cubes - and wanted to know what I was going to do with them?!?! Now I know - for Game Reviewers! Make a low alternative as possible (regarding the cards...)

If you are willing to share, I'd love to know your opinion (you can PM me if you prefer...)

Cheers!

@Richdurham: Care to share (or PM) about better alternatives to TGC???

My alternative for prototyping is doing it myself:

• a Brother MFC-6920DW (Here's a british guy talking very excitedly about it.)
• A paper cutter
• Thousands of blank cards, or standard playing cards from the dollar store. They're just going to be backing anyway. Available all over the internet.
• card sleeves of various colours. Lots of them. They'll be reused, of course.
• Cubes from EAI education or Meeplesource. Also available on Amazon.
• Once you've got that, and whatever other variety of doo-dads you want to play around with (meeples, castles, go on), you're set.

And I'm not even doing a good job at my prototypes. Pieces of paper taped together for a board. Why need more until it's going "out" to blind tests?

I have a 100 card Deck-builder which requires some pieces/parts like dice and wooden cubes. I could maybe forgo the wooden cubes and the dice.

You're looking to get nice-colour print on a box? Wrapped? Basically assembled with all the bits and cards printed by someone else?

...because it costs me around $100.00 for four (4) game sets. That's my COST!!! I could never sell the game via TGC... The pricing is impossible to meet.

$100 for FOUR game sets? So four complete games at $100? Unless you're doing it yourself, you're not going to find a better place than what you already know of. You're asking for what is essentially fully printed and packaged game copy. And you're not buying 1000, so no bulk pricing there. It's POD after-all. I don't see how you could expect to pay less?

I can separately buy the dice and just get the 100 card deck made and use a small baggie for the dice + cubes. It's not very professional but who cares - I don't want it to cost $100.00 per reviewer for the game.

I thought you said it was $100 for 4 game sets? Or is it $100 per game? Last I checked, 100 cards, standard dice and wooden cubes with a box didn't come close to $100.

Congratulations on the launch of your new site and business!

I've got to agree with richdurham on this issue. Prototypes should be made as cheaply as possible while still being functional.

To me, copies for reviewing is a problem for the publisher to address; not the designer.

Considering there is no MOQ, I wasn't shocked by the Board Games Maker pricing.

If anyone uses Board Games Maker, please post your experience!