US tariffs on goods from traditional manufacturing hubs now sit at 20%, down from a peak of 145% last year. Board games produced in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia have consistently been around 10-20%.
For publishers watching margins shrink with every container that clears US customs, the math has become hard to ignore.
When you factor in shipping and tariffs, manufacturing in Vietnam or Indonesia can cut your landed costs by 10-15% compared to traditional sources.
On a typical print run, that's enough to fund your next prototype, boost your marketing budget, or just protect your margins.
But tariffs are only part of this. The bigger problem is predictability. In 2025, tariff rates swung wildly within 45-day windows. Publishers who built their supply chain around a single country suddenly couldn't quote prices with confidence or plan production schedules reliably.
Diversification protects your pricing power. It gives you options when policy shifts overnight.
As a local expert in toy sourcing with a decade of network building, Play Trail has worked across all three countries daily. We know what each does well and where the gaps are.
Vietnam leads Southeast Asia for complete board game production. The country hosts over 3,500 plastic manufacturing enterprises and exported nearly $3.76 billion in toys in 2024. LEGO's $1.3 billion factory in Binh Duong Province, which opened in April 2025, shows where major players are placing their bets.
For board game publishers, Vietnam handles:
For example, Play Trail’s network of manufacturers include partners that can run dedicated wood production facilities or produce over 3,000 rigid boxes daily. The infrastructure exists and works.
Thailand won't manufacture your complete game. But for wooden components, few places match it. PlanToys and Wonderworld have 20-40 years of experience producing eco-friendly rubber wood products. Thailand's packaging industry also meets international standards for game boxes and inserts.
Indonesia ranks as the world's fifth-largest duplex board exporter, which makes it strong for packaging and cardboard components. Wooden toy exporters like Mentari have solid track records too.
As a true partner to brands, we should be upfront: complex plastic miniatures remain a weak spot across Southeast Asia. If your game relies on detailed plastic figures, plan on a hybrid approach. Manufacture and assemble everything else in Vietnam.
That said, this gap is closing. Vietnam's plastic manufacturing sector is growing fast, with over 3,500 enterprises now operating in the country. LEGO's $1.3 billion factory in Binh Duong Province brought world-class injection molding expertise and trained thousands of local workers. As more global manufacturers invest in Vietnamese plastic production, the talent pool and supplier ecosystem will mature. Complex miniatures may not be viable yet, but it won’t be long before things change. And Play Trail will be right here to help brands take full advantage of the country’s improvement.
Publishers getting the best results aren't overhauling their entire supply chain at once. They're building new partnerships in Southeast Asia while keeping backup relationships for specific components.
This works well for:
Start with products that fit the region's strengths. Build relationships, work out quality processes, then expand.
Ocean freight from Ho Chi Minh City to Los Angeles runs 18-25 days, versus 13-20 from Shanghai. That's 5-7 extra days. Manageable if you adjust your production calendar and order earlier.
Vietnam's quality infrastructure has come a long way. SGS, Intertek, and Bureau Veritas all have local operations. QIMA reported 30% more inspection requests from US and European buyers in 2025 compared to the prior year.
With Play Trail’s partnership, you can rest assured as extra care in quality inspections during your first production runs are expected. There's a learning curve with any new partner. Start with a smaller order, lock in quality expectations, then scale up.
IP protection takes work no matter where you manufacture. Vietnam established specialized IP Courts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in January 2025 and raised counterfeit fines substantially. Register your trademarks and designs before talking to any manufacturer. Use solid NDAs. Standard precautions, but they matter.
This isn't a quick switch. Based on what we've seen work, expect this timeline:
Months 1-2: Assessment Figure out which products in your catalog have minimal plastic requirements and could move most easily.
Months 2-4: Partner Identification Working with an established sourcing partner speeds this up. We've vetted manufacturers, know their capabilities, and can match you with the right fit.
Months 4-8: Qualification Prototype runs, factory audits, certification checks, quality protocols. Don't cut corners here.
Months 8-12+: Scaling Start production while keeping your backup sources active. Watch quality closely. Adjust as you learn.
LEGO took 2-5 years to reach full operational parity in Vietnam. Board game production won't take that long, but budget 12-18 months before you're running confidently on a new supply chain.
As more publishers catch on to Southeast Asian manufacturing, production capacity will tighten. Manufacturers with open schedules today may be booked solid by larger accounts next year.
Publishers who build relationships now, while partners are hungry and capacity exists, will have options that latecomers won't.
The tariff chaos of 2025 forced a lot of companies to rethink their supply chains. But even if tariffs stabilized tomorrow, single-source dependency would still be a risk. Last year just made that impossible to ignore.
Play Trail specializes in toy and board game sourcing across Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. Our network covers wooden components, cardboard and packaging, card printing, and full-game assembly. Contact us to talk about your next production run.
