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Send an editable solid model or a neutral STEP file for each custom game piece. Add a PDF drawing that records units, critical dimensions, tolerances, material, color, finish, decoration and cosmetic restrictions. An STL can help with visual review or prototyping, but it should not be the only file in an injection molding package. Keep every part name and revision consistent across the model, drawing, artwork and component list.

Board game manufacturing cost splits into five buckets: tooling, piece cost, decoration, compliance, and packing and freight. Only the first is one-time. Designers usually budget for tooling, underestimate decoration, and forget compliance and freight entirely. This article explains what drives each bucket and gives you a worksheet to model your own budget — but it deliberately contains no prices, because any number published without seeing your files is a guess, and section one explains why.

Use 3D printing to approve the sculpt, resin casting for very small deluxe runs, and injection molding for anything you will actually ship in quantity or reprint. The three are not really competitors — they occupy different points on the same project timeline. What decides your route is quantity, whether the design is frozen, and how much hand labour you are willing to pay for on every single piece. This is a molder's comparison, including the cases where molding is the wrong answer.

Custom board game components are made by four main routes: plastic injection molding, resin casting, 3D printing and die-cutting. Injection molding gives the lowest cost per piece and the most repeatable quality, but it only makes sense once you commit to tooling. Your decision comes down to three things — how many units you need, how much fine detail your pieces carry, and whether your budget can absorb a mold up front. This guide walks through each route, the real cost structure, material choices, decoration methods, and exactly what a manufacturer needs from you before quoting.