Sea Cow Games Tackle Rising Tariffs With Creativity

The rollercoaster ride of Chinese tariffs has impacted all types of products, including the board game industry. From 20% tariffs in March to as high as 145% just a few weeks ago, and recently, the 90-day agreement between the United States and China that now has the tariff at 30%.  At one point, Cephalofair Games estimated that as much as $1.2 million worth of board games were stranded in China.

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Matt and Savannah Mundy of Sea Cow Board Games joined WJON's bi-weekly show on boardgaming, Table Talk, this week to discuss how a small company like Sea Cow has been dealing with the topsy-turvy tariff world.  Matt Mundy says there are a number of different ways board game companies are handling tariffs, from larger companies just absorbing the costs or increasing MSRP across all their games to accepting donations. He says for a small company like Sea Cow, those options were not feasible, so they got creative with their Pledge Manager for their game Flock Together's Eggspansion by offering a tariff promo pack:

"So if people want to pay $19 for this promo pack you can, it's not required your going to get your game, but if you do pay $19 (in the crowdfunding pledge manager) we're going to honor you by giving you these two new characters that haven't seen the light of day yet and that's the character books of Laura Wingalls and Doc Hollilay."

The tariff promo pack will do just what it says and help Sea Cow Board Games pay for the China tariffs.

What has been the response to the tariff promo pack?

Savannah Mundy says the backer response to the tariff promo pack has been incredible:

"We've been so overwhelmed with everyone's kindness and really you know you're rocking the boat, this is what we were expecting to pay and this is how we're expecting to get it to you and then we're saying well there's a cost we weren't expecting happening here and people have just really responded positively, it's been incredibly encouraging."

Matt says the (crowdfunding) community has been great in their support and even in helping come up with names for some of the new characters.

What is the game Flock Together all about, and can I still get it?

Matt and Savannah discussed the entire Flock Together world with us, in addition to the talk about tariffs. They went over game play, the art by Andrew Bosley, and how they came up with the fun character names like Wyatt Chirp, Professor Moltiarty, Eggatha Christie, and my personal favorite, Hens Gruber.

The campaign for Flock Together's Eggspansion, Birds of a Feather, is closed, but people can still get it and the base game by visiting the Kickstarter page to late pledge. Our gaming expert William Pankratz went over new games in the store at Games By James, and the St. Cloud store's Unmatched tournament, in addition to the fun chat with Matt and Savannah Mundy.

Tune into Table Talk every other Saturday at 8:10 a.m. after the news, opposite the Woods Garden Show. The next edition of Table Talk will be on May 31st.

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