Whiners vs. Problem Solvers

Recently I read a post on LinkedIn that seems to be going viral about the high cost of dice for board games due to the tariffs imposed on goods from China. The post talks about how the company has looked to source dice from other parts of the world but can't find any companies outside of China. As a result, they will have to pass on the added costs to their customers so that a $40 board game will now cost $60. I apologize for not having more details but the post bothered me because it sounded more like whining than someone looking for a solution. I don't like listening to whiners.

I immediately started engineering solutions for the problem and thought about what I would do in the same situation. As someone with a 3D printer, my immediate thought involved a minor investment in high-quality printers capable of churning out all the necessary dice required to meet with game demands. While my current printer might not be up to the challenge, there are a number of models that are and it struck me as very unimaginative to whine about not being able to manufacture dice. 3D printing is what a lot of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) players do when they want to create their own multi-sided dice. Couldn't that work for a board game company?

Then I thought about other possible solutions. Ultimately there is nothing like physically rolling high-quality dice while playing a game. Perhaps until a dice manufacturer can be found the company could provide a smartphone application that simulates the roll of the dice. There are a number of existing apps already and so it wouldn't be that difficult to replace physical dice. While most of us think of standard 6-sided dice, D&D players require many different sided dice and resort to these types of apps when physical dice aren't available.

I'm sure there are even more possible solutions that this board-game manufacturer could employ. Yes these tariffs are going to be painful. But I see the pain as short-term as we shift some of our manufacturing back to the United States after spending the past several decades shipping it out. Fortunately my experience has taught me that growth only comes through trials and in the end it is worth it.