Looking to have my game board produced anyone know of a company that will do it for under $25.00 a game board(complete) for an order of 50? Tried MJS creations and was only able to get 50 units for 41 each (game board only) which I believe is rather steep. Any help anyone can give me will be very much appreciated.
game board production
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 10:06
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 13:35
#1
Re: game board production
SaberNCOIC wrote:
Looking to have my game board produced anyone know of a company that will do it for under $25.00 a game board(complete) for an order of 50? Tried MJS creations and was only able to get 50 units for 41 each (game board only) which I believe is rather steep. Any help anyone can give me will be very much appreciated.
$41 for just the board? Good grief. If I were you I'd think about investing in some equipment to try and self produce the game board. Or possibly going with a lower quality board than you had originally planned, perhaps an alternate board, such as a silk screening or something similar. Perhaps someone knows of a good printer that will print in smaller quantities. By chance, did you ask them if there were anything that could be done to produce the board less expensively? Sometimes printers can make recommendations that will save you bundles in the long run.
-Darke
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 13:59
#3
game board production
It is unfortunately completely unrealistic to get a press up and running for 50 copies of anything. The only time this is ever done is for limited edition art prints, and in those cases $50 or more in production costs (per piece) is completely acceptable.
Why do you want 50 boards? Are these for prototype purposes? If you're just prototyping then Tyler's suggestion above is the way to go.
-- Matthew
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 16:55
#6
game board production
There's no need for a "scorer," per se: just use you x-acto knife and a steel ruler, and cut about halfway (or 2/3's of the way) through the board where you want it scored, all the way through where you want it cut. Then on the opposite side of the score lines (the partial cuts) if you want to you can "draw" a line with an empty ballpoint pen (or the back of a knife) to improve the folding ability. At that point you should be ready to fold.
Also I recommend spraying the surface of the game board with clear acrylic -- Krylon makes a brand called "Crystal Clear". This will protect the surface and help keep inkjet ink from running (or laserprinted toner from cracking). If you can, spray it before you fold the board.
You can also spray the "bare" edges of the cardboard with clear acrylic to help keep humidity from getting in and warping the board (and protect it from spills).
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 17:49
#8
game board production
Last time I checked, the poster printing service at Kinko's you're talking about is $7/square foot. That's $14 for a 17" square board and $28 for a 24" square board.
Home depot has a 24" square piece of hard board for under $2 thats perfect for a backing, but we're still talking $20-30 dependingon the size of the board.
Going this route is also a lot more work and the end result won't be as polished.
As far as art prints, they are printed photographically. Normal printing technologies like offset or laser printers don't have the image quality or color retention.
Jason
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 18:24
#10
game board production
Oracle wrote:
As far as art prints, they are printed photographically. Normal printing technologies like offset or laser printers don't have the image quality or color retention.
Some are printed photographically, but many are printed on high-end offset presses, with line screens in the 300lpi to 500lpi range.
Neither helps with board printing, though. :)
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 19:37
#12
game board production
Should work like a charm. I'd recommend "matte board" instead if you can find it, unless you can get really heavy weight chipboard.
Tue, 01/06/2004 - 23:13
#13
game board production
FastLearner wrote:
Should work like a charm. I'd recommend "matte board" instead if you can find it, unless you can get really heavy weight chipboard.
I'm not sure what the chip board everyone's talking about is.
The hardboard I suggested is like a cross between cardboard and MDF. It comes in 1/8" sheets and it's somewhat flexible but will snap if you bend it too much.
Matte board will also work very well.
SaberNCOIC wrote:
What do you think if I ordered a poster and then glued that onto the chipboard? I found a place where i can get 20"x20" posters for $11 a piece. Does anone think that might work?
That's the best way to do it. Where can you get the posters printouts for $11? I usually use letter sized paper on my inkjet printer, but it's a pain to cut out the pages and glue them to the board, and it never lines up perfectly. I've even done a few 28x40" formula de tracks that way. For the price you found, I'd rather print it as one sheet.
Jason
Wed, 01/07/2004 - 00:33
#14
game board production
Chipboard is the gray pressed cardboard that you most commonly find as the stiff backing sheet behind pads of paper. It can usually be purchased in 3 different thicknesses, with the thickest one being great for boardgame boards and the middle thickness being satisfactory. I commonly use the thinnest kind as the middle layer of a sandwich between two sheets of paper for things like counters and such. It can be purchased in bulk (which I did) at paper supply stores, and is quite cheap (read "extremely cheap").
Wed, 01/07/2004 - 00:41
#15
game board production
On posters, I know that if you open a CafePress store (which is free, and you can keep private so you essentially only order stuff for yourself) you can get 16" x 20" posters (called "small posters") for $13.99 each (buying one) and 23" x 35" posters (called "large posters") for $17.99 each. I know there are cheaper poster print places out there, too... I'm just familiar with CafePress.
Tue, 03/02/2004 - 16:56
#17
Cloth covered boards
Wow, I just discovered something pretty cool. I wanted to make some game boards with cloth backs, but it looked like it might take too long and might be expensive.
I just discovered canvas covered panels that artists use. They are about the right heft for game boards. They are all white. That means with a splash of paint you can uniformly coat the cloth in whatever color you want (blue, black, etc.).
I figured that if you got a jig saw or hack saw you could cut into the board and even cut it in half. It would be ready to hinge with bookbinding tape and 3M adhesive. You could then just mount on your board face and you'd be good to go.
Particularly if you don't want to hinge them, they'd be great to color and then mount a board face.
Some were a bit expensive. There were some that were up to 16" x 20" for about $7. Then I found another brand made of a little lighter stock. At 12" x 16" the board was a mere $1.99. Wow! A canvas-backed board for $1.99.
The nice thing is that the cloth wrapped around the edges so that they are nice looking, with the edges folded over and creased appropriately just like your favorite big budget board games.
Even $25 is insane.
You can get your local Kinkos to print your board on nice shiny (and durable) poster-style paper and get yourself some Elmers spray adhesive. Quality chipboard is cheap... a rotary cutter or even a metal straight edge and a razor.
I could crack out 50 pretty huge boards of high quality for about $7 each. (That is a guesstimate by the way... I am in no way researching this beyond my brains capactity to retian information)
Tyler