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Board Game Printing & Manufacturing: Everything You Need to Know
Board Games’ popularity has surged in the past while with games like Pandemic, Catan, and The Castle of Burgundy. People created creative and fun games to enjoy during their game nights or family nights. Some of which gained a huge revenue. According to research done in 2024, the game market is expected to generate around a revenue of US$8.95bn in 2025 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.40% from 2025 to 2030. We will be exploring the world of board game printing and manufacturing, in case you want to manufacture your own game.
What Are the Main Components of a Board Game?
When creating a game, there are usually basic components for all games. There is a rulebook, a game board, cards, dice, and tokens.
● A Rulebook
● A Game Board
● Cards
● Dice
● Tokens.
There are more components depending on your game and what you want to include as well like mats, spinners, trays, booklets, tiles, score pads, maps, and chips.
● Mats
● Spinners
● Trays
● Booklets
● Tiles
● Scorepads
● Maps
● Chips
What Types of Boxes Can You Customise for Your Game?
In Vive Printing, we offer a lot of options when it comes to game boxes. We offer more than 10 different shapes of boxes, and we offer a variety of materials as well.
Most Common Box Shapes:
1. Mailer Boxes
2. Tuck End Display Box
3. Tray Lid Box
4. Auto Bottom With Display Lid
5. Corrugated Boxes
6. Collapsible Rigid Boxes
7. Rigid Drawer Box
8. Rigid Shoulder Neck Box
9. Custom Shape (Hexagon Box)
10. Full Flap Auto Bottom
11. Kraft Boxes
12. Four Corner Box
13. Hanger Box
14. Tray & Sleeve Box
15. Handle Bag Shape Box
Box Materials at Vive Printing:
We offer different materials for boxes, which are all eco-friendly options, like:
● Corrugated
● SBS
● Paperboard
● Cardstock
● Kraft Paper
● Textured Material
● Rigid (Chipboard)
So when it comes to your design, you can easily choose any shape or material to customise your game box or board.
What Are the Materials for Game Boards?
We have a lot of different materials that you can choose from for game boards, but the most used one is chipboard. You can choose the thickness of the chipboard from very light options like 300 GSM to 900+ GSM.
If you don’t want your game board to be made from chipboard, you can make it from paper stock, paperboard or even cardstock.
What Are the Materials for Game Cards?
When it comes to cards, there is the main core material, which can be:
● Paper board
● Paper Stock
● Kraft Paper
● Cardstock
However, the most important part that would make your design shine is the finishing. At Vive printing, we have a variety of finishing options:
● Padding
The process of applying adhesive to a stack of sheets and glueing them together along one edge. This could be used for the scoring pads mainly, and any disposable paper for the game.
● Foiling
When you add a metallic shine to your designs using heat, pressure, and metallic foil film. These are a great addition to character or game cards. They would make the game stand out.
● Spot UV Varnish
It is the process of adding a clear, glossy coating in a specific design on your package or paper, which creates contrast between the shiny and the matte parts.
This is used in cards or in the design of maps to highlight certain parts
● Creasing
It basically creates clear folding lines so that you can fold boxes, brochures, and cards without cracking. This could be used to create paper trays and make them easier to ship.
● Collation
The process of gathering printed material in order before packaging or binding. In case you need to sort cards in a certain order for each player or for each part, to make the packaging process easier.
● Embossing
The process of pressing a shape or text into the paper to create a raised 3D effect that gives texture and depth to any design.
● Die Cutting
The process of using a sharp metal tool to cut into paper and create different hollowed designs.
● Glitter Varnishing
The process of applying glittering varnish to accentuate the design.
● Glueing
To add adhesive to assemble pieces of a package or paper, like in envelopes, boxes or folders.
● Laminations
One of the most common finishes. It is the process of applying a thin plastic film to the surface for added protection. It is usually applied for boxes, boards and cards to make them water resistant so they are not easily damaged.
● Perforating
The process of adding holes or lines to make it easier to tear them, like in tickets, stamps and coupons. This could be used for any purpose in your game design, such as creating punch-out paper or cards.
● Drilling
Very similar to punching papers, but done more professionally on a larger scale for packages, boxes, and stacks of paper.
● Numbering
It is the process of adding numbers to papers, packages or boxes to make it easier to track them. If you have an element in the game that needs to get numbered, like limited resource cards or power levels, this can be used for that.
What Printing Techniques Does Vive Printing Offer for the Creation of Your Board Game?
At Vive Printing, we offer diverse options for printing, like
● Offset Printing
● Digital Printing
● Screen Printing
● Die Cutting
● Promotional Printing
Nevertheless, the most used techniques for board games are offset printing and digital printing.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
1. What Are the Most Important Factors to Consider for Board Game Printing?
After the design phase then you have to determine the components, the material used for each part, the finishing and printing of the game.
2. What Materials Are Commonly Used in Board Game Printing?
For game boards, the most common material is grey chipboard or chipboard. They are used as the industry standard with thickness reaching over 900 GSM. AS for the card games, the most commonly used materials are cardstock or paperboard. Additionally, the game box can be made from rigid or corrugated materials. Our options are all eco-friendly and sustainable.
We highly recommend lamination finishing for the longevity of the cards and boards, preventing wear and tear and making the cards water-resistant.
3. Can I Customise My Board Game Printing and Packaging?
Of course, every part of your game and your packaging can be customised, and you can easily personalise the game to your liking and to match your company’s identity.
4. How Much Does Board Game Printing Cost?
This is very tricky because it depends on the number of components and what type of material used in their making them as well as the finishing and printing. Additionally, larger quantities have huge discounts. Custom features or unique box shapes often cost more money as well.