Up	Updated 29 Mar 2005

General Game Construction Information

I offer a number of options for each of the games I publish, and I print each one to order. The options range from basically just printing it out (and supplying a mounted map and bound rules) to fully laminated and cut out.

Components

Map - I print the map on one or more 11"x17" pages and mount it on Pouchboard, which is 3/16" foam core board with heat sensitive glue and a sheet of satin-finish laminate on top. The map page goes between the foam and the laminate sheet and goes through the laminator, gluing the sheet to the foam board and laminating it in one step.
I then cut the edges that match up with other map boards (for games with more than one), and trim the edges. I cut the back of the foam board through just the foam, leaving the cardstock and laminate film for a hinge. I cut away part of the foam along one side of the cut to make it easier to lay flat.
I also offer mounted but unlaminated (not any cheaper since I just rip the laminate film off the pouchboard before laminating), and unmounted for those who want to mount it themselves.
This mounting method isn't ideal, as the laminate sometimes has spots where it doesn't cleanly adhere to the printed map (it isn't loose, but you can see little spots where the color looks different) and the foam is occasionally slightly warped. Also, my manual cutting of the pieces to line up can be slightly off. I don't think any of this will impact play, but it is the one area where I think my work is not quite as good as the commercially produced games. However, the commercially printed/mounted maps are simply not feasible at the quantities I produce these games.
Pictures: folded pieces close-up of hinge, close-up of fold, side view of hinge
Shares/Trains/Private Companies - Printed in color on 110#/200gsm cardstock, 20 to a page 1.5"x2.5". Die-cut certificates have no borders and are all exactly the same size. Certificates are available unlaminated, with 3mil matte-finish laminate (currently not available, as my sources of reasonably priced 3mil matte laminate have disappeared), or with 5mil matte laminate.
Pictures: stiffness - 3mil, 5mil
Tiles - Printed in color on 110#/200gsm cardstock, 24 to a page for die-cut tiles and 25 to a page for manual-cut. Tiles are available unlaminated, with 3mil matte laminate (not available currently), 5mil matte laminate, or double-thickness using spray adhesive and a 140#/240gsm sheet as a base. The double-thickness or 5mil tiles are slightly stiffer than 1830 tiles, while 3mil are slightly less stiff. The unlaminated tiles are pretty flimsy, so it would take careful handling for them to last well.
I generate the tiles automatically from a tile database (originally TileDesigner data, but extended as needed to produce print-ready output) using Marco Rocci's TileDesigner rendering algorithms. I can also produce tiles for any game I have tile descriptions of and I can make custom tiles easily as well. The cost for custom tiles is $1.50/page laminated with 5mil laminate and die-cut -- that gets 24 tiles, but adjacent tiles in the same column have to be the same color or a space is wasted. For more information, see the tiles page.
Tokens - Token labels are printed on .48"/12mm round die-cut labels (which I get from www.rippedsheets.com -- I get a lot of questions about these). I offer 3/16"/4.7mm high .5"/12mm round wooden tokens, and supply them either with the labels already mounted on the tokens or unmounted for those who want to paint/varnish/etc the wood before mounting them -- the wood discs are unfinished. If you do not order wood tokens, you will need to mount to token labels on something before the game is playable.
Money - For those who don't play with chips, I offer custom money. The graphics and portraits are unique to each game, and the bills are printed in grayscale on stiff colored paper, then die-cut 15 to a page (1.5"x3" bills).
Box - The boxes I use are one-piece 12.25"x11.25"x2.25" literature mailers with color labels stuck on the top and 4 sides (the back is blank). These boxes aren't ideal, but at the quantities I produce traditional 2-piece boxes are not feasible.
Rules - The rules are printed double-sided on 11"x17" paper and center-stapled. The cover is printed full color on 70#/140gsm Vellum Bristol cover stock, and the inside pages are mostly grayscale with some color bits. The front cover is the same as the box label, and the back is a scaled-down picture of the map.
Pictures: outside - (small, large), inside - (small, large), close-up - (small, large)
Miscellaneous - Full page sheets such the stock market, IPO, etc. (varies depending on the game) are printed on 110#/200gsm cardstock and are available laminated as above and optionally trimmed. Corporation charters are printed 2-6/page (depends on the game and type of company -- minors are typically smaller) with the same lamination options and are optionally available cut. Cutting these are not hard to do yourself with a decent paper cutter and are feasible with scissors.
Recommendations - Unless you just have to cut the costs as much as possible, I recommend having the tiles laminated and die-cut, as they are so much more difficult to manually cut out. I also recommend having the certificates laminated and die-cut -- while the cuts aren't hard with a paper cutter, it is still a lot of work and hard to get them all exactly the same size. I do not recommend unlaminated components, as they would be easily bent and soiled by greasy fingers. If you want to save a bit of money, manually cutting the charters and miscellaneous pieces are easy, as are applying the token labels. If you want to get it laminated yourself, that is fine but obviously you will need to manually cut everything out after you have it laminated.