Navigating the Tariff Situation

I wanted to provide a transparent update on the challenges we're facing with bringing Black Hats to your table. As we have discussed, there have been significant changes to the tariff situation for games manufactured in China since we planned our initial campaign, and we want to explain in depth how this affects Dice or Death Games and our plans for Black Hats.

The Numbers
Let's cut straight to the data: Current tariff rates on goods imported from China have skyrocketed to 145%, which is dramatically higher than the 20-30% rates we initially calculated when planning our Gamefound campaign.

To put this in perspective:

• Our manufacturing costs with Panda are approximately $15,000
• Our original funding goal of $20,000 was designed to cover manufacturing, freight, and the anticipated tariffs at that time
• Under the new 145% tariff rate, we would need to pay an additional $16,500 just in tariffs alone
• That's equivalent to selling an additional 272 copies of the game before we even have the funds to pay the import fees

I have to be realistic about our market reach, especially at a time when people are rightfully concerned about their own finances - that is not a realistic number for us to hit within the next few months.

It's hard to overstate how extreme this increase is. Even with Panda generously invoicing only 75% of our bill as taxable costs, the tariff amount is actually higher than our entire manufacturing invoice. The math works out to 108.75% of our original manufacturing costs just in tariffs.

Our Plan Going Forward
We've been evaluating all possible options to ensure we can get Black Hats into your hands without massive delays or price increases. Here's our current strategy:

1. Split Warehousing Approach: We are trying to arrange to warehouse the majority of our inventory in China for the time being, while only importing enough games to fulfill backer rewards and promotional needs.
2. Targeted Importing: By bringing in a smaller quantity of games, we can manage the immediate tariff costs while still fulfilling our commitments to you, our backers and supporters.
3. Playing the Long Game: We're hoping these extreme tariff rates will come down in the near future, at which point we can bring the remainder of the inventory to domestic warehouses.
4. Legal Action: Dice or Death Games has passed along our information alongside other publishers to Stonemaier Games and their lawyers who are challenging these unprecedented tariff increases. We believe this is necessary to protect our industry and your access to board games at reasonable prices and we would be remiss if we did not add our voice to that chorus.

Fulfillment Changes
Due to recent price increases and the relatively small size of our campaign, we've determined that working with Quartermaster Logistics for fulfillment would be prohibitively expensive at this time. Instead, I'll be personally handling the fulfillment of all backer and late pledger orders. Given that we're looking at approximately 100 packages, this is something I can manage directly.

This change actually opens up some new possibilities, particularly for our EU customers who are willing to pay their own shipping costs. We can now work with you directly to get your games to you without the additional layers of logistics providers.
​
We may still partner with Quartermaster for online order fulfillment once we're able to bring our inventory stateside, but for now, this direct approach gives us more flexibility in these challenging circumstances.

What This Means For You
If you're a backer who has pledged for a copy of Black Hats, rest assured that getting the game to you remains our absolute #1 priority. If I have to get on a frakking bicycle with the game in my backpack to get it to you, then that's what I'll do. We're committed to fulfilling all existing orders, though this situation may impact wider availability in the short term.

Thank You!
We want to sincerely thank you for your patience and support during these uncertain times. The board game industry is facing unprecedented challenges, but it's the passion of the players and backers that keeps small indies like Dice or Death Games moving forward.

We'll continue to provide updates as the situation evolves and as we get closer to fulfillment. In the meantime, we're still hard at work making sure Black Hats is the best cyberpunk hacking experience it can be when it lands on your table.
​
Stay connected.