Buying Canadian-made board games and goodies - just follow the leaves!
- Last updated
If you're shopping Canadian these days, we've added a fun new feature to our website.
All Canadian products now have a little maple leaf in product listings / search results. Then if you click an item, the product page will indicate how each product qualifies for its leaf.
The potential badges include:
Designed in Vancouver - at least one member of the design team lives in or near the Vancouver area
Designed in Canada - at least one member of the design team is Canadian
Illustrated in Canada - at least one member of the art / illustration team is Canadian
Canadian Publisher - the game’s lead publisher is located in Canada
Manufactured in Canada - the item was printed or otherwise produced in Canada
We've done our best to research as many products as possible, but we’ve probably missed a few - this sort of data wasn't particularly relevant until recently, so it's hard to find.
If you spot anything that should be tagged (or shouldn't be!) please get in touch so we can fix it!
A bit more about how games are developed
Why so many categories? Shouldn’t a game just be Canadian or not?
Well, it’s complicated.
Making a game is a long, multi-step process involving multiple parties. Here’s a simplified rundown of each party’s role:
The designer is the person (or team) who develops and refines the original game idea into an actual playable game. This involves prototyping the game, playtesting it hundreds of times, and refining the design over months and years. (We host a biweekly playtesting event at our Vancouver store if you want to see what this looks like!)
The illustrator is the person (or team) who makes the game pretty! But it’s a bit more than that - experienced gamers know that art and graphic design can make or break a game, adding clarity to more complicated mechanics or totally muddying the waters. Plus board game art has gotten astoundingly good in recent years, so eye-catching art is now essential for commercial viability.
The publisher is typically an established company who signs on designers and recruits illustrators to make a game come to life. That said, indie game designers may also wear this hat and go the DIY route. Regardless, the publisher is in charge of further development of the game, final refinements to the design, overseeing production, marketing the game, and getting it into distribution.
The manufacturer is the company that physically prints and produces the game and its components. These facilities are typically located in China, though a few games are printed in Europe or North America. Games and items manufactured in Canada are rare; as far as we’re aware, only select card games from Outset Media and indie labels with handmade goods qualify for the leaf in this category.
As of this writing (February 2025), only the locally-handmade dice trays from Crits + Bones, D&D stickers by Sam Brady, and dice from Jar of Mayonassey qualify for all 5 Canadian-made badges - but we’re always on the hunt for more!