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TTGDA Treasurer Elizabeth Hargrave spent the last 2 days lobbying on Capitol Hill with TTGDA and GAMA members asking for relief from tariffs for the board game industry. Organized by John Stacy of GAMA, sixteen people collectively had dozens of meetings and drop-bys with Congressional staff. They heard over and over that it can make a real difference to hear directly from their constituents with specific stories. We urge everyone reading this to chime in -- more on how to do that is at the end of this report.
Advocacy Team Members: Boyd Stephenson (Game Kastle College Park); Kristen Looney (Looney Labs); Matt Fantastic (Forever Stoked); Molly Zeff (Flying Leap Games); Elizabeth Hargrave (Tabletop Game Designers Association)
What we were asking for:
In general: Save Christmas by eliminating tariffs on toys and games -- either by exempting our industry, or by exempting small businesses more generally.
In the Senate: cosponsor S. 1593, the Small Business Liberation Act (exempting small businesses from paying tariffs imposed by Executive Order 14257).
In the House: introduce a companion bill to S. 1593.
Advocacy Team Members: Monica Rasso (Tabletop Enterprises LLC); Curt Covert (Smirk & Dagger Games); Michael Piacsek (The Game Steward)
Our key points:
Most game publishers in the United States are small businesses with 10 or fewer employees. Many are designers who publish their own games; others license game designs from freelance designers (much like a book contract). The publisher hires US workers to do jobs like art, graphic design, logistics, and marketing. They do not own manufacturing equipment, but instead contract with manufacturers for print runs of their games.
A small publisher is at the mercy of where manufacturing plants already exist. In one thorough list of 137 manufacturers that make board games, at least 89 are based in China. Fewer than a dozen manufacturers that can produce at scale are in the US.
Many modern board games include pieces whose manufacture requires specialized equipment and expertise. These include things that are individually designed for each product, like injection molded plastic pieces, cardboard printed and then cut with unique dies, and intricately cut wooden bits. This capability does not currently exist in the United States at any meaningful scale -- most US manufacturers are focused on playing cards.
Instead of bringing jobs to the US, the tariffs have started to kill the jobs that are here already. Although there are fewer than 10,000 toy and game manufacturing jobs in the US, there are over 100,000 people working in all other aspects of the toy and game industry, from design to publishing to thousands of specialty toy and game stores located across the country. Publishers have either cancelled print runs or owed huge tariff bills -- both of which dramatically cut into their ability to pay their staff. In a matter of weeks after Liberation Day, several board game companies announced layoffs or closed.
There is no strategic reason that games need to be manufactured in the US. One goal of tariff policy is to maintain US capacity to make our own critical resources like steel and pharmaceuticals. Games are important to human happiness, but where they are made does not affect our national security.
To save Christmas, we need to act now. There is a lag time of several months between when a publisher orders a print run of a game and when it arrives on a store shelf. We are rapidly approaching the possibility that it may be too late to have games on store shelves in time for Christmas.
Advocacy Team Members: John Stacy (GAMA); Nicole Robertson Brady (GAMA); Monica Rasso (Tabletop Enterprises LLC); a Congressional staffer; Jason Matthews (JOE Design Studio); Price Johnson (Cephalofair Games)
Some strategies for reaching out to your members of Congress:
You can look up your members at Congress.gov. Your options for contacting them include:
Write a letter addressed to your member of Congress. Congressional offices do read and log every letter that comes in. However, this may be done by low-level staff, not the subject-matter experts. Including a specific request in your letter (sponsor x bill) increases the likelihood that your letter will get to the subject-matter expert instead of just getting the general reply that the office sends to everyone who writes in about tariffs.
Call and ask to speak with the staff member who handles trade policy and/or small business issues. Most work on the Hill gets done by people at this level. If you can make a good connection with this person, they can be incredibly helpful. Don’t write them off if they’re young. They may be uninformed and need your help understanding the issues you’re facing. They also might be a big policy nerd who cares deeply about these issues at the age of 22. (If they express an interest in games, there’s a fantastic FLGS down the street from them called Labyrinth Games.)
Try to visit with your member of Congress when they are near you. This can be the hardest ask, but many members come home every weekend or every other weekend; most will be home for the month of August. Call their local office and ask if you could set up a meeting or if there are any events where you might be able to see them.
You might also be offered a meeting with local staff -- this could help, too. Generally local staff are not the ones engaging in trade policy, but if you make a good impression they might help you get in touch with the DC staff or even your member of Congress. They might be feeling you out first.
Some members of Congress are more key to this fight than others. If you are represented by a member of a relevant committee, consider really putting in the effort to connect with someone in the office. They’re more likely to be interested in leading on this issue, and they’ll have more opportunities to help, as any bill needs to go through committee first. In the Senate this includes Finance and Small Business; in the House it’s Ways and Means (and its Subcommittee on Trade) and Small Business.
Personalize your approach to the specific Member of Congress, and be clear about what you want from them. Do a quick search for what their position is on tariffs and then pitch your approach accordingly. For example, we started one meeting with “I know the Senator is a supporter of tariffs, but would he ever consider an exception for small businesses?” and another with “I want to thank you for supporting an exception for small businesses and ask how we can help make it happen.” A third option might be, “you’ve expressed opposition to tariffs, would you consider signing on to S. 1593 (or sponsoring a House companion bill to S. 1593)?” Don’t make them listen to you vent without offering them a specific suggestion of what you want them to do about it.
Use some of the key points above, but specific examples are powerful too:
Share how you personally have been affected: games that have been cancelled or delayed, how your royalties have been affected, etc.
If you have ever looked into US manufacturing, consider sharing examples from that experience. For example, one publisher talked about how a US manufacturer couldn’t manufacture the box size she needed -- that really drove the point home about how limited options are.
If you publish games, talk about the timeline for getting games to the US in time for the Christmas season.
If you’re a retailer, some staffers wanted to know what you’re seeing in terms of changing supply and also changing prices.
If you’re reading this and you’re not in the industry, you could share what games have meant to you: bringing your family together, personal connections when everyone is on their screens, public gaming as community-building, enjoying the creativity of US designers, what you’ve heard about how it’s affecting your favorite publisher or especially industry folks in your area.
Engage their senses: taking actual game bits for staff members to hold in hand seemed to be quite effective for making the point that game manufacturing can be extremely specialized. (The staff at our last meeting asked if they could keep the bits!) In a letter, consider including pictures of your game(s). You might also be able to actually get bits or games into their hands -- but ask first, and be aware that members and Congressional staff can only accept gifts worth under $50.
Keep it short: As a former Congressional staffer I cannot emphasize enough how busy and overwhelmed everyone is. Keep a letter to 1 or 2 pages, and try to keep a phone call to 15 minutes unless they really engage. You can always offer to provide more detail if they need it. They’ll be grateful when you respect their time.
Advocacy Team Members: Dustin Wessel, (Arcane Wonders); Price Johnson (Cephalofair Games); Curt Covert (Smirk & Dagger Games); Matt Fantastic (Forever Stoked); Robert Geistlinger (Arcane Wonders)
