Just in Time for the Holidays:
Board Game Production

When I discovered that a new Print Tips subscriber was the CEO of a company specializing in the production of board games, my eyes lit up like a Lite Brite board.

Understand this: in my house, Scrabble, Monopoly, Apples to Apples, Jeopardy, Yahtzee, and a host of other board games rule. Aside from the sad fact that I have to bribe my son and husband to play a board game with me, I can't think of a better way to spend an evening. By the way, I play to win and am reportedly a sore loser (sounds like sour grapes to me).

So I called new subscriber Juan Mendez, CEO of DeLano Service in Allegan, Michigan, to learn about the manufacture of board games. Their web site is http://www.delanoservice.com.

The company began as a bank forms printer in the mid '80s. Somewhere along the way, they started buying equipment to manufacture playing cards. In 1991, this led them into a whole new specialty.

DeLano is bigger than your typical commercial printing plant. They have an 80,000 sq-ft facility that includes a 6-C Heidelberg press, a couple of 2-colors and several letterpresses. They still do bank forms, and while the volume of this work is the same as it was in 1975, it now represents only 3% of their business.

A full 95% of their business is game production. DeLano also specializes in flash cards for teachers, as well as accent cards. These are those precut, shaped cards that teachers use to teach and to decorate their classrooms with. DeLano prints a million sets of accent cards a year.

Let the Games Begin!

Board game production begins with the design. Although DeLano offers design services, most customers design their own games. I always thought that board game production required special equipment - even special software.

Not so. "If you were a resourceful person, you could have games manufactured in every large city in the US," said Mendez, "but you'd have to coordinate all the various pieces and processes - like box maker, mounting/wrapping labels to chipboard, finding someone who can print it, and people to manage the assembling."

DeLano does all of this. In a sense, they're like the General Contractor on a construction project.

No special software is required, either. DeLano uses Adobe® InDesign®, Adobe® Illustrator®, and Adobe® Photoshop®, among others. The files feed into their Kodak prepress system, and they generate proofs in the same way they would for a standard commercial print job.

The company runs CTP (Computer-to-Plate), so they run plates and print the face of the board games - known in the business as "labels" - on their 6-color press. DeLano prints the labels and sends them to a company who mounts them to chip board. Another company handles the boxes. They use their 2-C perfecting press (which prints both sides of the sheet at the same time) for printing game rules and for play money.

There is one thing DeLano produces that your typical commercial printer can't produce so easily: decks of playing cards. For this, they use a piece of equipment by Rollem International (www.rollemusa.com). "We'll print the cards in such a way that it's easy to cut them down and deck them out in one seamless process," said Mendez. "It's a little bit of science and a little bit of art."

Cards come off the Rollem with square corners and then go through a die cutter if necessary to achieve rounded corners. "That's the only specialized thing we do that normal printer can't easily do," said the CEO.

I wondered about typical run lengths. DeLano does everything from 500 games on up to 100,000 runs. They even do prototypes - as few as 3 or 4 games. Typical turnaround time for a finished board game order is four weeks. Price is a function of what's in the game and how many are produced.

Bits and Pieces

The company doesn't manufacture the playing pieces for board games, but they source this work for clients. Typically they turn to Rolco, a company in Minnesota that specializes in the manufacture of board game pieces (www.rolcogames.com.)

Here's an interesting fact I learned: the only thing used for DeLano's board game production that comes from outside the US is dice. They're not made in the US, according to Mendez, due to toxic chemicals used in dice production. Once the chemical has hardened, it's safe. So 90% of all dice produced are made in China.

Mendez told me about a game they did last year for Land O'Lakes™ (you know, the butter people), involving a farm game that was sent to every farmer in the country. They manufactured 10,000 of these games. Each game box had a label addressed for every farmer, plus a personalized letter inside.

Any digital printing involved in game production, I asked? Not yet, though they are looking at buying a small press for game prototypes.

There you have it: a brief look at board game production. I always wondered who produced games, and I'm very glad to have bumped into DeLano Service. Their web site is www.delanoservice.com and their number is 800-233-5266. Maybe I ought to look into jigsaw puzzles, my other game obsession.

Comments? Talk to me at mdana@bostonprintbuyers.com.

©2008 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. You're free to forward this email to friends and colleagues: please do! However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.

Print Buyer Brainstorming Session

Wednesday, December 10th
6 - 8:30 pm
Doubletree Suites, Waltham, MA

Here's how it works: over dinner and drinks, I'll facilitate a relaxed discussion about topics that most professional print buyers can relate to - and have opinions about, such as:

• Your careers and where they're headed

• The effects of this economy on printing and buying

• What technologies most interest you - and how to keep up

• Your best buyer resources (chance to help one another)

• Latest print industry news

• Promoting your value to your employer

• Educating the folks in your company about the printing process

Where else can you sit, dine, and share ideas with your peers in print buying? Come join us on December 10th and learn a thing or two. Or three. Only $35 for Members of Boston Print Buyers; $55 for others. Add $10 for walk-ins.

Bonus Freebie! Every attendee will get a Wrap-Up Brainstorming Document within a week.

 To register, visit our current event page.

Boot Camp for Print Reps

Wednesday, January 28th, Boston, MA
8:30 - 11:30 am

Frank Romano and I developed an intense all-morning boot camp for print sales and service reps who want to learn what print buyers really want. No one has studied print buyer behaviors and trends more than we have, and now it's time to share what we know.

For full details and registration, visit www.bostonprintbuyers.com/printrepbootcamp/.

Print Buyer Poll for December

Buyers, what's the preferred way for new print vendors to contact you?

• Cold calls by phone

• Email me

• Send me a letter with samples in the mail

• Send me promotional materials in the mail

Cast your vote on our home page at www.bostonprintbuyers.com.

Margie's Upcoming Speaking Gigs

• Boot Camp for Print Reps (with Frank Romano)
  Boston, MA 1/28/09

• Boot Camp (with Frank Romano) Graphics of the Americas, Miami, Fl 2/26/09

• Print Buyer Panel Discussion
  Graphics of the Americas, Miami, FL 2/27/09

• Margie Dana's Secrets to Working Successfully with the Modern Print Buyer SGIA Webinar, 2-3 pm EST 3/18/09

• Print Buyer Boot Camp (with Frank Romano and Steve Suffoletto)
  ON DEMAND Conference, Philadelphia, PA 4/2/09

• Keynote Session and Buyer Brainstorming Session
  PIASC Buyer Conference, Los Angeles, CA 4/14/09

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