Hallo people of the forum.
I plan to self – publish my first board – game in a small run print and launch a Kickstarter campaign. The printing will be held in a small printing company that has no real experience in board games. They will print the cards and I will provide them with all the additional parts (dice, pawns etc) which they will enclose to the box. What I need to know is, what are the standard specifications (safety specifications, labels, even barcodes etc) that I have to consider to include on the box cover? And how do I get these safety labels regarding that the factory cannot provide something standard for me (since they have no experience on that)?
(Please mind that I have my own reasons to go with the very specific printing company...)
I thank you very much!
Safety standards (and how do I get them)
I'd imagine that the Consumer Product Safety Council's website is a good place to start:
I'm going through this at the moment myself. Panda GM offers safety testing for around $1500, which I'm opting for as my game is age-graded 10+. If your game is for an older audience and you can grade it 13+/14+, then no "toy" safety testing is required.
For my UPC, I've purchased a GS1 company prefix. Once registered, you can buy barcodes up to the number allowed by your purchased plan. The minimum is 10, up to 10K+.
You can also buy a pre-owned barcode for cheap, but there's some risk there if you intend your game to be sold in stores. If you have hopes for the game past the Kickstarter, such as retail placement through a distributor, you're better off putting up the money for a genuine GS1 prefix and codes.
Other legal lines and symbols like the "CE", "recyclable" and "not meant for children under 3" icons can be downloaded from the internet, just find a file of adequate resolution. The legal text can be written yourself or copied from another game box. Each one is worded a bit differently, but they all say the same general things.
Thank you very - very much for the info!