In a bold move to circumvent President Trump‘s tariffs, WS Game Company set out to manufacture a special edition Monopoly game entirely within the United States. However, this ambitious project quickly revealed the intricate challenges of domestic production. The company’s journey highlights the stark realities of reshoring manufacturing in today’s globalized economy.
The WS Game Company, known for its high-end board games, typically produces its products in China, much like the majority of toy manufacturers. However, after facing a substantial tariff bill last year, CEO Jonathan Silva decided to explore the feasibility of producing a profitable board game domestically. He chose a custom version of Monopoly, commemorating the country’s 250th birthday, as the perfect candidate for this experiment.
The Dice Dilemma: A Critical Shortage
One of the first and most significant obstacles Silva encountered was the inability to source dice domestically. Despite extensive efforts, he could not find a U.S. manufacturer willing to produce 10,000 dice. “We turned over every single leaf trying to find someone who would make 10,000 dice for us in the U.S.,” Silva explains. “It requires special machinery. It requires investment. And that type of stuff just can’t happen on a random Tuesday and be ready in a couple of months.”
Ultimately, Silva had to import the dice, but he managed to find other components domestically. A former Hasbro factory in Massachusetts printed the Monopoly board, while Pioneer Packaging created the tray for the game’s money. A small business in Indiana crafted custom metal game tokens, featuring all-American shapes like a cowboy hat, a covered wagon, and an apple pie.
The Cost of Domestic Production
Assembling all these different components took more than a year, causing Silva to miss the first half of the 250th birthday selling season. Additionally, the cost to manufacture the games in the USA was at least double what it would have been in China. The retail price of the games is $80, but the increased production costs significantly impacted profitability.
“When I place a purchase order in China, they have all those capabilities under one roof,” Silva notes. “For one item, it took up way too much of our resources and time to bring it to market.”
The Broader Context: Why Most Toys Are Made in China
Nearly 80% of all toys and games sold in the U.S. are made in China, which has spent decades building a comprehensive factory ecosystem. This ecosystem supplies not only finished products but also the specialized parts that go into them. Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of The Toy Association, explains, “That’s why the re-shoring and the looking at bringing it back into the U.S. or even looking at other countries and moving it is not as easy as it sounds.”
Ahearn suggests that while it makes sense for the U.S. to manufacture some strategically important products, toys and games are not among them. These items typically carry low prices and low profit margins, making domestic production less attractive. “Even if you could, who in their right mind would take their capital and invest it into creating a toy manufacturing plant?” Ahearn questions. “Of all the things you could pick, we’d probably be pretty low on that list.”
The toy industry is currently lobbying for a carve-out from future tariffs. The new U.S.-China Board of Trade is considering allowing up to $30 billion worth of Chinese products to enter the U.S. tariff-free. However, toys are competing for this tax break with shoes, apparel, and many other products.
The Future of Domestic Manufacturing
For now, Silva is focused on marketing his Made in the U.S.A. Monopoly game. However, he continues to produce the rest of his company’s board games in China. “We’re really good at a lot of great things here in America,” Silva says. “But we’re not really great at making certain items that are consumable goods. And that’s OK.”
Silva is currently awaiting a shipment from China worth about $6 million for the upcoming holiday season. He is uncertain about the tariff bill but is prepared to roll the dice. This story underscores the complexities and challenges of reshoring manufacturing in the modern economic landscape.
