Paragon Packaging, Inc. is the leading board game and retail product packaging company in working with game development companies, inventors and start-ups. We are not happy just to take your order; there are plenty of other companies out there that will do that. Truly, you don't have to look hard to find them. You do have to work hard, though, to find a company that really cares about your success, meaning that at Paragon Packaging we want make certain you are doing everything possible, with our help, to sell everything we produce for you. It's not just the invention, it's the ingenuity. It's the entire process. That's what the following will address:

What You Need to Do

Start a business - You are going to find it extremely difficult to compete in the Toy and Game Industry, or any other industry, unless you spend 100% of your time on this project. You will, of course, be able to produce a product doing it part time, but you have many other things to do down the road. We don't want you to invest your money and investor's money in a product that you aren't going to be able to sell out of becuase you didn't make it your top priority.

Put a business plan together.
Copyright your product.

Make contact and visit, if possible, with the following:

Sales Reps
Marketing companies
Graphic designers
PR companies
Manufacturers

If you are a Toy or Game Company, go to Toy Fair

The American International Toy Fair will be held February 8-15, 1999 in New York City. This yearly event is a must for you to get a handle on what others do and don't do. The Javits Convention Center is the venue for smaller companies. For information, contact the Toy Manufacturers of America (212) 675-1141.

Board Game Manufacturing
Here's a sampling, verbatim, of a recent web site commentary we received: "I am very new to this industry but have to admit I feel I have a great idea and don't know quite where to turn. I would really enjoy receiving some info on this industry and what steps I should take to complete my idea."

Well, we can't address everyone's questions, but here are the answers to a few of the most common ares of concern:

What size should my game be? What are the standards?

Everyone knows there are two styles of game boxes, the long one (Monopoly style) and the square one (Trivial Pursuit style). You have to conform to what the retailers will accept, whether you like it or not. The major game companies (Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, and Mattel) drive the market and all of their games are one of these shapes and consistent size. These sizes dictate the space on the retail shelves. The more standard your game, the better chance you have not to drive the buyer away. Remember, you're nowhere if you can't get shelf space. The game board size and the number of cards and size in your game drive the box size, if you have these components. The standard game boxes sizes are 18 x 18,19 x19, and 20 x 20 (approximately). These sizes are standard no matter which of the two styles you select. If you have more than a 200 card deck or so, you're going to need the square, and deeper, box. The deeper box, with the "quad-fold" game board (Trivial Pursuit), is more expensive to produce, because it must be die-kit.