Too Much Box: Why Square is Cool.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Many first time game designers assume that they need a long, thin, Opoly-style box. In most cases, this is the wrong box. Long, thin boxes are easily damaged, hard to ship, disliked by retailers (in most cases), and increase the cost of the game. Monopoly and other vintage titles are the only games that still come in a long thin box.
Usually, a square box is much more cost effective. We have seen price differences of over 80 cents when comparing manufacturing costs of a long box versus using a square box for the same game. While a quad fold board is required for a square box and costs slightly more than a comparable single fold board, the savings on the other components more than makes up for it. For instance, assembly cost drops because square boxes move more down an assembly line per hour (length/time).
In addition to manufacturing costs, retailers like square boxes better. Especially mass market retailers. The maximum they want your game to take up is 10.5 inches. That way, they can get more games in the same amount of shelf space. From your perspective, it's better because a square box is usually taller. This gives you a better "billboard" to attract customers with. A 10.5" x 3" is much more effective space than 19" x 1.25".
The final consideration is one that is often overlooked: shipping. We did two games for Akamai Games in 2008. They were designed from the start to fit into a FREE US Postal Service Priority Mail shipper. Beautiful! What forethought! You can't do that with all games, but if you know you'll be doing a lot of Internet sales, it is well worth considering how to ship the games in advance.
Is an Opoly-style box EVER right? Yes. If you are trying to do an Opoly game, or need to appeal to that "vintage" look, then it's the right box. Even then, you'll want to think about it first. We can occasionally piggyback your game with other Opoly games. In that case, you may be able to *save* money with an Opoly-style box. We know that flies in the face of all the things I just said, but this is the game industry - there are no absolutes! You'll have to weigh the cost savings against the disadvantages of a long box.
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Posted By
DeLano Service
At
8:22 AM
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