Around $1.2 million in Cephalofair games, the equivalent of 25 40-foot containers, is stranded in China due to recent tariff increases, Cephalofair COO Price Johnson told CNN in a recent interview (see video below). That's about 60,000 total units of a completed production run that will not make it to the U.S. unless something changes with the current tariff policies. The news comes as Cephalofair Games was scheduled to release Gloomhaven 2E into retail in May 2025 (see " 'Gloomhaven 2E' Heads to Retail").

"We've essentially been told to cease our U.S. sales indefinitely, at least until things settle and we have confidence again in the market," said Johnson in the interview. "Right now, I couldn't tell you what our pricing would even need to be in the United States to make our products viable because it changes every other day. We can't plan our business around that."  

Johnson was also asked about whether or not Cephalofair had explored domestic options. He responded with the following:

"I would be the first in line to support programs and policies that promote a long road map to getting us those options," replied Johnson. "But, right now, those options don't exist. ...We partner with manufacturers that have grown to know our product over 10 years that have entirely custom machinery, materials and raw materials that they use in our products. It's a 100% custom product."

In addition to Cephalofair's recent tariff woes, Japanime Games and Arcane Wonders both announced that price increases are on the table to offset tariff-driven cost increases.

Japanime will be raising prices in the near future to compensate for the additional production expense, and are looking at the concept of a tariff surcharge, the company said in an email to customers. Japanime President Eric Price explained the math:

"Real world math: When tariffs are at 145%, this means if our production cost was $100,000 with the factory, that means when we ship the goods to the USA and they arrive at the port, we then must pay an additional $145,000 to the U.S. government so we can have the goods enter the country," explained Price. "So instead of a total $100,000 production cost, it becomes a total of $245,000 cost."

Arcane Wonders President Robert Geistlinger also warned of price increases on their company's games in a recent customer newsletter promoting a sale on products in stock. He encouraged customers to buy some of their newer games at "an even lower price now before prices go up." 

Geistlinger also provided a math example, noted the lack of U.S. manufacturer options, and summarized this way: "With the current tariffs on our products set at a rate of 145% we simply cannot bring those games from our manufacturers to the USA without a steep increase in prices," he wrote. "While I can’t say how much this will impact our pricing in the future just yet, and I can’t say how this will affect our future planned games, I can say that we simply cannot absorb these hikes in our costs without raising our prices."

These specific examples reflect the strategies that showed up in a recent survey of board game publishers (see "Fewer Board Games, Higher Prices").