Boda Games Manufacturing

September 8, 2019 In Boda Games, Pre Production

Pin-badge artwork guidelines

So you’ve seen them around at conventions. Those kick ass pins-badges adorning lanyards, bags, bright and shining. And now you want to make your own pin-badge! To promote your game, your company, or just because you have an awesome design in mind. But how? Artwork for pin-badges First things first, the artwork. When designing a pin-badge, keep in mind that there is a limit to how detailed it can be. The fewer lines and “parts” you use, the more effective the design tends to get. Although there is no fixed size for a pin-badge, most of them are between 2-5 centimeters in diameter, meaning they are pretty small. Therefore, bright and bold colors tend to work best. Every part of the pin design can only have 1 color. So shading or gradual colors should be avoided when designing the pin. Because each part of the pin is separated by a thin silver line, having offsetting colors next to each other works very well. The file itself can be a pdf or a single layer photoshop file. When making the artwork, you don’t have to “draw” the separation lines, we will do that for you at the factory when converting the artwork into the actual...

September 8, 2019 In Boda Games

Pin-badge manufacturing with Boda Games

If you’ve visited any convention in the last few years, chances are you have seen other visitors donning pins. On their clothes, on their bags, on their lanyards, some people stick to one while others gather as many as they can. Pins are a great way to show your appreciation for a certain game or a publisher. They’re also an excellent conversation starter and a great way to meet like-minded people! Although pins have been around for a long time, the convention that really popularised it is without a doubt the PAX conventions held across America every year. Under the clever name “Pinny Arcade” Penny Arcade challenges their visitors to collect as many pins as possible. Some you find, some you have to face certain challenges for… Or you trade them with the next person. Boda Games is a board and card game manufacturer at heart. But more than that, we are a manufacturing solution provider. As such, we are proud to announce that we are also able offer (enamel) pin manufacturing options. What’s more convenient than ordering pins together with your games. Have them shipped over together and you are ready to promote your game in style! Compared to local manufacturing...

September 6, 2019 In Boda Games, Conventions

Boda Games at Essen Spiel 2019!

Boda Games at Essen Spiel 2019! Hot on the tail of Gencon 2019 in Indianapolis, the board game industry is preparing itself for the next big convention. This time on the other side of the pond, the biggest board game convention in the world: Essen Spiel. Boda Games has been attending Essen Spiel since the early days and this year will be no exception. We have a booth in Hall 2, booth 2C108. There we will be waiting for you with brochures, sample boxes, games and much more! We are bringing a lot of great things to Essen this year. So don't miss out! To make sure that we can make as much time for you as needed, get in touch with us ahead of the show to set up a meeting. You can do that by sending us an email, or clicking right here. ...

August 16, 2019 In Pre Production

Get your game box up to sniff

A game box is the business card of your game. It is the first thing you see. You pick it up, you turn it around. You study it from all sides, wondering what will be inside that plastic shrinkwrap. The most important thing with a game box is to remember the main purpose of the box: to hold the items from your game. People get so swept up in trying to decide what type of box they want. That they forget that first and foremost, all the components should fit. This actually sounds easier than it is in reality. Particularly when you have sized and larger components. You need to account for the total volume they take up. As a general rule of thumb, your box should be at least 15mm bigger than the largest component in the game. 15 mm bigger in every single possible direction. But also keep in mind how the items will fit into the box. And how to do that in such a way that they are easy to take out of the box. At Boda Games we have a lot of experience with this after doing it countless times. So normally our customers let...

August 9, 2019 In Boda Games, Conventions

Boda Games at Gen Con 2019

And that’s a wrap for Gen Con 2019! We just arrived back at the Boda Games office in Shanghai. We might still feel a bit tired, but can look back back happily on another great Gen Con show. So what do we look back on for these past 4 days? First, some information from the exhibitors themselves: “The annual four-day event, which has more than doubled in size since moving to Indianapolis in 2003, sold more 4-Day and Sunday badges than in any prior year, and featured nearly 70,000 unique attendees, a record-breaking 538 exhibiting companies, and an all-time-high 19,600 ticketed events. In 2019, Gen Con also grew its livestreaming program, increased the number of electronically ticketed events, and expanded its reach with Pop-Up Gen Con, a pilot program which activated satellite events in more than 40 game stores across the U.S. concurrently with the main convention in Indianapolis.” We feel very fortunate to have been among one of those 538 exhibiting companies. Consequently, we welcomed all our friends in the industry at our booth. And got to show off our new sample boxes and brochures. And for all our friends who did not manage to pick up a sample box and...

August 7, 2019 In Boda Games

Tariffs for board games in the USA

Tariffs are the talk of town in the board game industry as of lately. At Boda Games we have been working with publishers from all over the world for many years. We ship games worldwide and are proud of the role we play in the board game publication process. We provide publishers with high quality products at competitive prices. Doing so we have built long lasting partnerships with leading names in the industry. And we will continue to do so, with more publishers asking for our manufacturing services every day. For a publisher there are many factors involved when they select a manufacturing company to produce their game for them. Together with them we strive to create the highest possible quality games for the publishers their customers, the gamers. We are very happy that we are able to deliver high quality products that meet and exceed the expectations of our customers. In turn they are then able to do the same to their customers, the gamers. But of course there are also other factors that play a large role when choosing where to manufacture, and one of them is the cost of manufacturing. Unfortunately the current political climate will no longer allow...

August 5, 2019 In Pre Production

A game board for every game

When you think about board games, you think about game boards. Even more than cards, you think of the foldable, big game board that greets you when you open the box. When opening a game for the first time, what is the first thing you check? Not the rules or the meeples, no you go for the thing sitting on top of everything. The game board that gives you a sneak preview of what you can expect from the game. You fold it out, put it down flat on the table and the gaming session is underway! However, this article is not about the fun you can have with a game board, but about the way to prepare the necessary files to make one in the first place. Even though it seems like one of the more straightforward and easy items to design and prepare, there are a few things to pay attention to in order to ensure a smooth and trouble free manufacturing process. As always, this may be the first time for you to handle these type of things but it definitely isn't for us! So make sure to get in contact with your account manager if you run...

July 11, 2019 In Pre Production

Great punchboards – how to create them?

No game is complete without punchboards. As such, punchboards play a central role most modern board games. They make up a wide array of components in a game and can be used for almost any purpose. The game board, the tokens, the player boards and anything else that you can think of, can be made from punchboard. These punchboards themselves can be made from multiple layers with cutouts, different thicknesses and so on. The fact that punchboards can be used in so many ways and take so many different shapes, is also what can make it a bit more difficult to prepare the files for. Similar to cards, one must take care to leave enough bleed and margin. But unlike cards, you also have to consider things such as folding lines (for game boards) or optimal token placement. Then there are special margin requirements, dielines, thickness of the material to keep in mind.. All in all, quite a bit! Fortunately these are all things that we at Boda Games have a lot of experience with and will gladly help you with . By optimising token layout, we can reduce the amount of cardboard and space needed in the game box, which is...

April 3, 2019 In Pre Production

Getting cards ready for printing

Card games, cards in board games. There is a fairly good chance that you have designed a card game at some point. For many, their first steps into designing games start with a card game. Easy to prototype, easy to carry around, endless possibilities. Now, there is a lot of information out there about the intricate details of designing a (card) game. In fact here are entire discussion groups dedicated to it. Lots of ways to let your creativity run wild and create something amazing. But there is one thing that a lot of those articles tend to leave out. The practical aspect of it: getting them transformed from an idea, from artwork, from a rough draft.. Into a file ready to be send off to the printer. Let's get into the other side of board game manufacturing! So even though it is not as thrilling and creatively satisfying, this article will discuss getting your cards ready for printing. Files that are not ready end up needing a lot of back and forth between the designer and the printer, which is a huge waste of time and effort for everyone involved. But more importantly, it could mean the difference between getting...

January 7, 2019 In Boda Games

Welcome to the new Boda Games Website!

Welcome to the new Boda Games Website! From all of us at Boda Games we are very pleased to welcome you to our -long due- completely renewed and revamped website. We hope that this website is the first step for those of you not yet familiar with us and our work to become acquainted with us. At the same time becoming a source of information and inspiration for those who have been with us longer. Now, you can find information on previous projects Boda Games worked on, an overview of the conventions we attend, examples of different components that you can use in your next game. An overview of the different services we provide besides manufacturing and much more, all organised neatly in the menu above. Still can't find specific information you're looking for? Get in touch with us in a second by filling out the contact form. It is conveniently located at the bottom of each page. Or send us an email directly. Also be sure to follow us on Facebook. But more importantly, be sure to check back regularly. We will continue to add more and more content here to help and support you. Let's make games!...