Blue Panther LLC

Blue Panther LLC is a board game printer and publisher headquartered in Tennessee, USA, that makes game components, prototypes and complete games for designers and small game companies using a print-on-demand model. Its print-on-demand page describes a printing facility with "a digital press, several UV printers, wide media printers, laser cutters and engravers, automated paper cutting and various supporting equipment," and says that as a result Blue Panther "can print most, if not all the components that go into your average tabletop board game." Alongside the printing work it runs its own online game store, publishes its own titles, and sells games from the publishers it prints for.

What a game designer gets

Blue Panther's resource page opens with the promise that designers, publishers and enthusiasts can make their games "in any quantity." The company says its print-on-demand fulfillment spares a client "the traditional issues of limited inventory, insufficient storage, or slow shipping." Rather than printing a large run in advance, it keeps a raw materials inventory of common game components, such as boxes, paper, chipboard and plastic dice, plus a small number of finished games so orders can be filled quickly. In general, games are built once they are ordered. The company's explanation is that flexible equipment, standard templates and standard components let it make a large range of games quickly and efficiently.

The page lists three tiers of service, plus custom work:

• Single transaction. A designer engages Blue Panther project by project for games or components.
• Client. The designer accepts orders and payments and represents the brand to the public and to wholesalers; Blue Panther makes and ships at the client's direction.
• Full-service client. The designer licenses the game to Blue Panther, which accepts orders and payments and makes and ships to orders received directly on its website or from wholesalers and retailers.
• Custom work. Blue Panther offers custom work in addition to its standard components; UV printing is named as one custom service.

In every case, the page says, the designer keeps full control of their intellectual property and grants Blue Panther a license to make copies of the game and send them where directed.

How a project is priced and ordered

Blue Panther quotes each job. To give an accurate price it asks for a list of components with sizes, quantities and preferred materials: box size, board dimensions, how many playing cards and in what size, rulebook and player aid page counts, dice count and size, counter sheet size and counter count, and the size and shape of any custom pieces. For individual projects the process is simple: the designer sends the project, Blue Panther quotes a price, sends an invoice once the offer is accepted, and ships the finished job wherever the designer specifies after payment.

The company offers many standard component sizes and publishes a price list on request through its contact form rather than on the site. Its advice on keeping costs down is direct: a design that fits the standard templates generally gets the lowest price, and "the faster you get your artwork to us in the templates, the faster your game will print." If files can be used as received, there are no setup charges; Blue Panther can do limited editing to bring files up to its standards, at an hourly charge, and can recommend artists.

The company strongly recommends a prototype before a larger order, pointing out that a prototype is cheaper than paying to re-make 200 counter sheets because someone found a mistake after shipping started. For larger orders such as crowdfunding projects, the cost of the prototype can be applied as a credit toward the production order.

Client and full-service arrangements run under an operating agreement. The page lists what it covers, including monthly invoicing and payment, shipping practices, representing the client's brand to the trade, taxes and fees based on point of manufacture and point of sale, fulfillment fees, representing and selling the games at conventions and online, wholesale and retailer discounts on MSRP, Blue Panther's finished game inventory policy, intellectual property policies, and how the company responds to global supply shortages.

File standards and templates

Blue Panther prefers PDF files of at least 600 DPI print quality, and asks for files of 100 MB or larger to be converted to "flattened" or "bitmapped" PDFs to preserve the artwork. It also accepts PNG, JPEG and TIFF, plus Corel Draw (.cdr) and Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files, which may incur additional setup charges depending on their complexity. Either the client or Blue Panther provides a file transfer tool such as Dropbox or Basecamp. The client is responsible for revision control, and Blue Panther keeps only the latest version of each file so it never prints an obsolete version of a game.

The free downloadable templates are a large part of the offer. Blue Panther works in Imperial units and asks designers using Metric to convert their files into inches. Counter sheet templates come in 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 3/4 and 1 inch sizes. Box label templates cover a 1 inch deep wargame box (11.25 x 8.75 x 1 inch), a 2 inch deep wargame box (11.25 x 8.75 x 2 inch), a 1.75 inch deep game box (9 x 6 x 1.75 inch) and a revised 9 x 6 x 2 inch label. A non-standard template section offers a 2.5 x 3.5 poker card template, laid out so fronts and backs land in the correct spots when the sheet prints. If a custom counter sheet does not match an existing standard, the company will supply a template for it at no additional charge. A getting-started guide covers prototypes, distribution and legal documentation.

Who it prints for, and where it ships

The homepage names the game companies it works with: Bill Molyneaux Games, War Diary Magazine, White Dog Games, Red Sash Games, Catastrophe Games and The Historical Game Company. For White Dog Games' "The Mission," Blue Panther says it prints and furnishes all the required game components. The store carries collections from these and other publishers, including Lock 'n Load Publishing, Art of Wargames and Historic Wings, along with Blue Panther's own titles such as Dawn of the Zeds, which the homepage lists in separate USA and International editions. The catalog leans heavily toward historical wargames and solitaire strategy games.

The store takes pre-orders from USA and international customers and displays prices in currencies including USD, CAD, AUD, CHF, JPY and SGD. One limit matters for designers selling in Europe: a notice on the homepage says "We do not ship directly to the European Union or United Kingdom," and points customers to a list of EU and UK retailers instead.

Who Blue Panther suits

Blue Panther suits wargame and tabletop designers who want small runs, prototypes or ongoing on-demand production from a US printer that already prints counter sheets, boxed games and card decks for publishers in that genre. The full-service tier fits a designer who would rather license a game and let Blue Panther handle orders, wholesale and convention sales, while the client tier fits a publisher who wants to keep the storefront and customer relationship. Crowdfunding creators get the prototype credit and a quote-based process built around component lists.

It is a narrower fit for a seller whose customers are mainly in the EU or UK, given the direct shipping restriction, and for anyone who wants to compare published prices online before talking to the company, since standard prices come only through the contact form.