Mandate 2038: Manufacturing and publishing study

Research snapshot: July 25, 2026 Status: advisory recommendation; not game doctrine, a selected product decision, factory quote, legal opinion, customs determination, campaign authorization, or manufacturing commitment

How to read this document

This document records a recommendation for how Mandate 2038 might be prototyped, quoted, published, and commercially positioned. It does not define the game and does not supersede the selected rules in core-rules.md or the decision statuses in design-decisions.md.

Statements labeled confirmed or resolved below describe inputs that were already selected in the game design; their presence here does not make this study their authority. All proposed formats, prices, budgets, suppliers, publishing paths, legal precautions, and next actions remain recommendations until the user explicitly selects them. Time-sensitive figures must be rechecked before use.

Mandate 2038 materially changes the manufacturing estimate from a lightweight card game. It is currently a medium-box hobby strategy design: 3–5 players, four Eras, simultaneous action selection, a complete radius-two nineteen-hex economy, six asymmetric institutions, negotiation, push-your-luck Research, and an escalating AGI endgame.

Rules 0.8.0-rc.17-test are ready for a controlled physical prototype and are implemented by executable game 0.14.16. That synchronization is implementation evidence, not a human playtest or balance result. The product is not ready for a binding factory quote because component layouts, artwork, materials, packaging, and production files remain unresolved.

Recommended retail hypothesis

Recommended positioning for testing:

Mandate 2038 A 3–5 player strategy game about building, deploying, regulating, and eventually declaring AGI. 75–100 minutes at four players, ages 14+, upper-medium strategy.

Do not print a duration on the box until blind three-, four-, and five-player tests support it.

Likely commercial format:

Approximately 10–11.5-inch square rigid box
One rigid folding Governance Board with a modular-map frame and writable public ledger
Nineteen thick modular hex tiles
Six dual-layer faction boards with six captive sliders each
134 Default standard cards plus 6 foldout aids; 148 standard cards plus 6 foldouts with Advanced Play
Stock wooden pieces and cubes
Several punchboard sheets
One opaque Audit bag
One ordinary six-sided Volatility die
24–32-page rulebook
Planning MSRP: $69–$79

The retail target depends on obtaining real quotes and a landed cost compatible with the chosen sales channel. The working landed-cost objective is $18–$22 per copy, not a measured result.

Recommended provisional manufacturer BOM

Use this as a draft for preliminary quote conversations only. It is not a locked component specification.

Component	Quote assumption	Status
Governance Board	1 folding board with 19 tile wells, 4 printed Era panels, public tracks, contract bays, and writable ledger	selected physical authority; dimensions unresolved
Modular hex tiles	19, double-sided, 80–90 mm, 2 mm greyboard	selected complete radius-two footprint
Faction/player boards	6 dual-layer boards with 6 captive sliders each	selected physical authority; slider construction unresolved
Core Action cards	36, six per player	confirmed
Shared Program cards	6, one shared copy of each named Program	confirmed
Realignment ballot cards	6 square four-way cards, one per player	Advanced Play only
Headline cards	24: 16 Default plus 8 Advanced	confirmed profile split
Tactic cards	0 baseline; 36-card deferred module	excluded from first quote
Training cards	40	confirmed test contract
Mandate cards	12	selected wording; balance provisional
Secret objectives	0 baseline; 18-card deferred module	excluded from first quote
Printed Era panels	4 on the Governance Board plus 1 Current Era marker	replaces four separate Era cards
Player aids	6 four-panel foldouts	replaces twenty-four separate reference cards
Printed Power contracts	Emergency and Clean on their Energy tiles; Fusion on its shared Program card	replaces three separate reference cards
Total printed card-and-aid pieces	140 Default or 154 with Advanced	134 / 148 standard cards plus 6 foldouts; manufacturing overage excluded
CEO pieces	6	confirmed concept
Team pieces	18	three per faction
Facility pieces	24	four per faction
Generator pieces	6	one per faction; Energy location determines source
Link tokens	12	Advanced Play only; two per faction
Starting-grid identifiers	6	integrated into each faction's first Facility
Separate Grid-Ready pieces	0	no persistent Grid-Ready state exists
Faction-board sliders	36 captive sliders: Runway, Compute, Capability, Customers, Trust, and Research Protection on each board	integrated into boards; no loose track markers
Program markers	12, two per faction	record each player's Era Program allowance on the shared display
Mandate markers	6	one loose faction-coloured marker per faction for the shared track
Scrutiny cubes	60 player-colored plus 18 Systemic Risk pieces	all Audit pieces must feel identical while concealed
AGI Dossier cards	24	four Era-labelled Commit / Hedge cards per faction
Shared punchboard tokens	36 retained Power cubes, 2 Temporary Compute tokens, 1 Current Era marker, plus the exact contract pairs and markers in `physical/component-inventory.md`	selected counts; layout unresolved
Shared dry-erase marker	1 fine-tip marker	serves the Governance Board ledger
Punchboard sheets	4–6	quote placeholder
Audit bag	1 opaque cloth bag	confirmed concept
Volatility die	1 stock d6	Advanced Play only
Rulebook	24–32 pages	expected
Box	rigid two-piece box with cardboard insert	recommendation

Physical component form, state encoding, and the supported-box inventory are owned by physical/. This study may evaluate the cost and availability of those choices, but does not select them.

No manufactured spare allowance is selected. Replacement cards, punchboard overage, spare cubes, and spare wooden pieces remain quote variables until prototype loss, wear, and blind-play evidence establishes what must be packed.

Recommended resolution before a real RFQ

Resolved: Training distribution

The selected 40-card test distribution is:

Seven domains × four cards = 28
Four Curated Corpus
Four Benchmark Leak
Four Human Evaluation

It remains a balance subject, but its current physical count is exact.

Resolved: baseline module boundary

Tactics and secret objectives are excluded from the controlled baseline. Their 36-card and 18-card drafts remain optional future modules and should not be included in the first prototype quote.

Resolved: shared Program use

Six named Program cards remain face up on the Governance Board. Each player has two Program markers. The Era panels allow 0 / 1 / 1 / 2 Program uses; unused allowance expires at Era end. A player may use each named Program at most once per game. This removes thirty-six private cards and the captive Escalation track while preserving public timing and once-per-game identity.

Resolved: player component maxima

The player-colored maxima and shared component counts are explicit in the canonical rules. Physical dimensions and material choices remain unresolved.

Resolved: exact board inventory

The selected nineteen-tile map is a complete radius-two hexagon: one fixed Frontier, six shuffled inner-ring locations, and twelve shuffled outer-ring locations. The inner ring contains one each of Research, Cloud, Foundry, Capital, Talent, and Grid. The outer ring contains two each of Research, Cloud, Consumer, Media, Government, and Renewable. Every outer tile has the same geometric role, and all twelve outer positions are occupied. Advanced Play adds six four-way Realignment ballots for six factions; Default Game uses none. Its vote occurs only after Era III.

Resolved: Mandates and references

The baseline contains twelve Era-specific Mandates and four Era panels printed on the Governance Board. Mandate balance remains provisional. The box contains six identical four-panel foldout player aids; only final fold and layout remain unresolved.

Resolved rules, unresolved production format

Three Power contracts remain in the rules without separate cards: Emergency Infrastructure is printed on Grid, Clean Infrastructure on Renewable, and Fusion on its shared Program. Generator pieces and Energy slots create scarcity. Fusion uses one dedicated shared marker. Shared token quantities are exact in the rulebook.

One Governance Board ledger replaces six personal score sheets. The thirty-six Power cubes remain on the map as the latest Production snapshot until the next Allocate step. One shared marker records only the current Mandate criterion, Setup Collective Trust, and final public resolution.

Six labelled faction trays, four Default Era packets, and one separately packed Advanced module are selected setup organization. Their exact insert material and construction remain quote variables.

The remaining manufacturing decisions are material, dimensions, player-board tracking, card sizing, Link and Generator format, punchboard organization, and insert design.

Planning cost bands

These are directional budgets, not quotes.

Stage	Manufacturing or inventory	Whole-project planning budget
DIY prototype and testing	$200–$800	$500–$2,000
6–10 polished prototypes	$1,000–$2,500	$2,000–$6,000
500-copy direct-only edition	$13,000–$17,000 factory	$35,000–$65,000
1,500-copy commercial edition	$20,000–$29,000 factory	$55,000–$95,000
3,000-copy commercial edition	$30,000–$45,000 factory	$70,000–$125,000

Whole-project planning includes allowances for freight, importation, factory samples, inspection, graphic design, illustration, rulebook editing, legal review, review copies, campaign production, advertising, replacements, and contingency. It excludes postage from a fulfillment warehouse to individual customers.

For comparison only, the cited PrintNinja snapshot publishes a Catan-style 500-copy example with nineteen hexes, 126 cards, wooden pieces, dice, and instructions at $14,385.21, or $28.77 per unit. It also states that a more straightforward game may cost $8–$15 per unit at quantities of at least 1,500. Those examples are not quotes for Mandate 2038. Mandate 2038 still has substantially more cards than that reference, so it must not inherit the reference price. See PrintNinja’s Catan-style example and board-game manufacturing overview.

Art and graphic-design exposure

Potential needs include:

One box cover
Six faction identities
Thirteen hex environments
Twenty-four Headline treatments
Deferred Tactic treatments only if that module returns
Training-domain art and icons
Facility, resource, and audit iconography
Player boards and information design
Rulebook diagrams
Campaign graphics

A modular graphic system may hold the planning range for final art and graphic design around $10,000–$20,000. Unique illustrations for most cards could move the range above $30,000–$50,000. These are internal planning estimates, not vendor bids.

Do not commission final illustration before the card set and component counts survive blind testing.

Retail and crowdfunding hypothesis

Item	Planning target
Base-game crowdfunding pledge	$69–$79
Eventual MSRP	$79
Customer shipping	charged separately
Campaign goal	$60,000–$75,000
Backers at $75 average	approximately 800–1,000

At the research-snapshot date, Kickstarter stated that successfully funded projects paid a five percent platform fee and roughly three to five percent payment processing. Accordingly, a $70,000 campaign would retain roughly $63,000–$64,400 before taxes, refunds, manufacturing, and fulfillment. Verify the fee schedule at launch. See Kickstarter Support.

A 500-copy run may be suitable for an expensive direct-only edition but is unlikely to support conventional retail economics. The product hypothesis is one non-miniature edition rather than a deluxe component ladder.

Recommended publishing paths

Prototype phase

Planning allocation: $2,000–$4,000 for:

One complete physical master
Six to ten polished prototypes
A blind-test rulebook
Setup diagram
Locked component inventory
One-page sell sheet
Short overview video

The Game Crafter is a candidate for small prototype quantities. At the research-snapshot date, its bulk-pricing documentation said discounts begin at ten copies and can reach approximately 35 percent at one hundred copies, depending on the game’s components. Randomized decks are excluded from bulk pricing. See The Game Crafter bulk pricing.

Licensing

Planning cash exposure: approximately $3,000–$8,000 for design, prototypes, rules, video, and pitch materials. A publisher may rename or retheme the game, change factions or components, reduce player count, or alter the visual direction. Those are negotiation possibilities, not predictions.

Self-publishing

Request matched quotes for 500, 1,500, and 3,000 copies with identical components and clearly stated EXW, FOB, CIF, DDU, or DDP terms.

PrintNinja states a typical 500-unit board-game minimum.
Gameland states a 500-unit minimum for paper-print board games and offers several freight terms.
Panda states a 1,500-unit minimum, or 2,000 with custom plastic.

Sources:

Panda describes quote, design verification, pre-production copy, mass production, mass-production copy, assembly inspection, and shipping as separate gates. Its snapshot-date FAQ gave representative—not guaranteed—ranges of two to four weeks for design verification, two to three for pre-production, eight to ten for production, two to three for assembly, and four to eight for shipping for a comparable game. See Panda’s process and Panda’s timing FAQ.

Panda p20 opportunity

As of this research snapshot, Panda’s p20 program states:

Submissions close May 2027.
It is open to eligible designers with no more than two published games.
Twenty credits range from $2,000 to $20,000.
Submission requires a sell sheet, a video of at most ten minutes, and a blind-tested English rulebook.
Entries must use original IP and be physically playable.

Eligibility must be confirmed before applying. See Panda p20.

Fictional-institution publishing recommendation

The current design uses fictional institutions and fictional CEOs. Before a retail print run or crowdfunding campaign, obtain an explicit legal review of the complete cards, box, art, and marketing, including the final chosen names.

Do not add recognizable portraits, real company logos, proprietary interfaces, or trade dress to retail artifacts without a separate explicit decision.

New York Civil Rights Law §51 provides a cause of action where a living person’s name, portrait, picture, likeness, or voice is used for advertising or trade without written consent. Other jurisdictions and federal law can add different publicity, trademark, endorsement, and unfair-competition rules. Satire and commentary can receive protection, but this project does not treat “satire” as automatic commercial clearance. See New York Civil Rights Law §51.

Historically inspired Headlines should continue to target current board state, not accuse their real-world inspiration.

This section is issue spotting, not legal advice. Obtain qualified review before public sale or marketing.

Copyright, trademark, and product classification

The U.S. Copyright Office states that game ideas, titles, and methods of play are not protected by copyright, while sufficiently expressive rule text and graphic art may be. Contributor agreements must cover the commercial rights needed for rulebook text, illustration, graphic design, and marketing. See U.S. Copyright Office: Games.

Before announcing a settled title:

Conduct a professional trademark clearance search.
Secure relevant domains and social handles.
Consider an intent-to-use filing after the name is selected.

At the research-snapshot date, the USPTO listed a base electronic filing fee of $350 per class when the application met the base requirements, plus possible additional and intent-to-use fees. Verify current fees before filing. See USPTO trademark fee information.

The design should be assessed for a 14+ general-use product, but an age label alone does not determine U.S. product classification. The manufacturer or importer should document the intended audience and applicable testing. See CPSC children’s-product guidance.

Tariff and import boundary

Do not use a permanent flat tariff assumption.

The cited CBP ruling classifies a boxed board game under HTSUS 9504.90.6000 with a free base general duty, but additional Chapter 99 duties, fees, and origin-specific measures can apply. See CBP CROSS ruling N353003.

The February 2026 presidential proclamation imposed a temporary ten-percent Section 122 surcharge effective February 24, 2026 through 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 24, 2026 unless earlier modified or extended by Congress. Because this study is dated July 25, its expiration language should not be converted into a current zero-tariff claim. Later measures or entry-specific treatment may apply. See the White House proclamation.

For every serious quote:

Request an FOB quote.
Request a fully itemized DDP quote.
Identify country of origin.
Have a customs broker verify classification, Chapter 99 duties, processing fees, harbor fees, and entry-date treatment before production authorization.

Consolidated recommendation

Do not manufacture inventory yet.

First:

Run the controlled four-player 0.8.0-rc.17-test physical test.
Rebuild player aids and prototype components from the frozen rulebook.
Decide the physical format of Generators, Links, tracks, and shared tokens.
Test the twelve Mandates while keeping deferred modules out.
Produce six to ten blind-testable prototypes after the first corrections are selected.
Validate three- and five-player quality as explicit supported formats rather than extrapolating from the four-player balance target.
Lock dimensions, materials, card count, and packaging.
Build one manufacturer RFQ with identical columns for 500, 1,500, and 3,000 copies.

Then compare licensing with self-publishing using actual quotes, legal review, and measured demand.