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Why doesn’t Cards Against Humanity print its game in the US? It’s complicated.

Cards Against Humanity says US printers struggled with its 2011 run and that a later US supplier trial was costlier, slower, and less reliable than its Chinese factory. Here is what the company actually claims and what remains unproven.
From TheFinanceBase Team5 min to read
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Cards Against Humanity’s explanation is less about one price tag than about a chain of experiences. By the company’s own account, US printers rejected or priced out its first small run in 2011, and a later trial with a US factory produced a result it considered worse on cost, speed, and quality than its long-standing factory in China. The company also says it values keeping one supplier that can handle its mixed-component products and a relationship it describes as a moral obligation. These are the company’s statements about specific jobs, not an industry-wide measurement of US manufacturing.

The 2011 run: a small order with an unusual card job

The earliest production account comes from Kickstarter’s case study on Cards Against Humanity, which reproduces the creators’ recollections of their first campaign. Kickstarter’s case study says the team first considered printing business cards and using a stock cardboard box, then sought professional production once the project grew.

Two constraints shaped that search. The creators wanted no more than 2,000 sets, and they described the 550 unique cards as a difficult job to set up, print, cut, and sort. After weeks of talking to US card companies and printers, they say they received rejections, and the few that quoted the work wanted over $20 a set. Only after widening the search to China did they find AdMagic, the printer the company still names today.

That history explains the origin of the decision, but it is a 2011 account from the creators, reproduced by Kickstarter. It does not describe current pricing, current capacity, or any printer’s present-day quote.

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The 2025 US supplier trial

The most detailed recent statement comes from a company spokesperson quoted by Nate Anderson in Ars Technica, published October 11, 2025. The spokesperson said:

“We actually tried diversifying our suppliers by working with a US factory several years ago, but they were twice as expensive, three times slower, and much lower quality—something like 20 percent of games were unsellable due to production errors.”

Three points in that statement need careful reading. The trial happened “several years” before 2025, so the spokesperson gave no exact date. The cost and speed figures are comparisons against the Chinese factory, not published dollar amounts or production calendars. And the “20 percent” is the company’s estimate of unsellable games from that one trial, not a measured defect rate across US or Chinese factories.

Comparing the two accounts

The table below separates what the company reported in 2011 from what it reported in 2025. Where a figure was not given in a source, the cell says so.

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Item Original US quotes (2011) US supplier trial (reported 2025)
Who reported it Creators, as reproduced in Kickstarter’s case study A company spokesperson, quoted by Ars Technica
Cost Printers quoted “over $20 a set” “Twice as expensive” than the Chinese factory; no dollar figure stated
Speed Not stated “Three times slower” than the Chinese factory
Quality and defects Not stated “Much lower quality”; “something like 20 percent” of games unsellable due to production errors (company estimate)
Job size and scope 550 unique cards; no more than 2,000 sets Not stated
Outcome Rejections or high quotes; search moved to China Trial not continued; Chinese factory retained

Because the two accounts describe different jobs, years, and suppliers, they should not be merged into one cost or quality trend.

Why the company keeps its Chinese factory

The company gives more than one reason. Cost and speed are part of the explanation, but it also points to product range and to a relationship that predates the 2025 comparison.

One supplier for mixed components

According to the 2025 Ars Technica report, the company prefers a single manufacturer that can handle products combining cards with components such as wooden tokens, folding boards, books, or small boxes. Spreading that work across several suppliers was not, in the company’s account, a simple swap. This is a stated preference about its own product line, not a general claim about what US factories can do.

A relationship the company values

The spokesperson said the company has used the same Chinese factory since 2010 and described its stance this way:

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“They do great work, we like them, and we feel a moral obligation to stand by them through Trump’s insanity.”

The statement reflects the company’s own view of the supplier relationship. It is the company’s reasoning, and it is one of several factors it cites alongside cost, speed, and quality.

Printer name versus place of manufacture

The company’s current support page says AdMagic “prints everything we make.” That statement names a printer. It does not, on its own, establish where each item is physically produced, and the 2011 and 2025 accounts describe a Chinese factory relationship. A printer’s name and a manufacturing location can differ, so readers should not treat AdMagic’s listing as proof of a US or Chinese plant.

What industry voices say about US capacity

The Ars Technica piece also quotes board-game people discussing broader constraints. These are individual assessments, not a survey of the industry. Jamey Stegmaier, a board-game publisher, recalled the following:

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“I recall getting quoted a cost of $10 for just a standard empty box from a company in the US that specializes in making boxes,”

Meredith Placko, CEO of Steve Jackson Games, put the gap more broadly:

“But the infrastructure to support full-scale board game production—specialty dice making, die-cutting, custom plastic and wood components—doesn’t meaningfully exist here yet.”

Both remarks support the idea that specialized components are harder to source domestically for some publishers. Neither measures how common that is, and neither tests Cards Against Humanity’s specific trial.

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Worker conditions: what is on record

Fortune reported in December 2015 that Cards Against Humanity had paid workers at its Chinese printer during a week of paid vacation. In the company’s account, the factory had no formal paid-vacation procedure, so the company bought a week of the factory’s capacity and paid workers while production stopped. The company’s 2015 statement, as Fortune quoted it, reads: “Our printer in China has grown with us from a small business to a huge operation, and it’s important to us to go above and beyond our obligation to the workers who make our game.”

That is a historical company claim, reported by Fortune on December 18, 2015. It is not an independent labor audit, and it does not describe current working conditions at any factory.

What this means if you are buying the game

For a buyer, the practical point is that the printer and the edition are separate questions. The company’s support page lists five regional editions, US, UK, Australian, Canadian, and International, and states that the edition you receive depends on where you live. Check the edition that applies to your country on the support page rather than assuming it matches the factory story above.

What is established and what is not

  • Established by the company’s own statements: the 2011 small-run difficulties and the 2025 comparison with a past US supplier trial.
  • Not established: any current US or Chinese price, current capacity of US printers, or the defect rate of any factory other than the company’s trial supplier.
  • Not established: the exact date of the US trial, or whether the company has retested US suppliers since 2025.
  • Not established: the present-day working conditions at the Chinese factory; the 2015 vacation account is historical.

The company’s reasons combine cost, speed, quality, product range, and a long relationship. Any one of them alone would be a weaker explanation than the set together, and none of them is a measurement of US manufacturing as a whole.

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Quick Recap

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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