Jonathan Silva is the CEO of the WS Game Company, which sells high-end board games. Most of them are made in China, like nearly every other toy on the market. After a seven-figure tariff bill in 2025, Silva decided to find out whether he could make a version of Monopoly in the United States instead, and what he found was a lesson in how hard reshoring actually is.
He Couldn’t Find Anyone to Make the Dice
Silva chose a special edition Monopoly game tied to America’s 250th birthday, and almost immediately ran into a problem he hadn’t anticipated. He could not find anyone in the United States willing to make him 10,000 dice on his timeline.
Silva told NPR he searched the entire country for a domestic dice maker. “It requires special machinery. It requires investment,” he said, and that kind of production could not be arranged and delivered in a couple of months. He ultimately had to import the dice.
He found the rest of what he needed domestically, but it took more than a year to pull it all together. A former Hasbro factory in Massachusetts prints the board. A company called Pioneer Packaging makes the tray that holds the money. Stateline Industries, a small business in Liberty, Indiana, fabricated the custom metal tokens in shapes like a cowboy hat, a covered wagon, and an apple pie.
By the time the game was ready, Silva had missed the first half of the 250th birthday selling season. The cost to manufacture was at least double what it would have been in China, and the game retails for $80.
Why So Much Is Still Made in China
Nearly 80% of all toys and games sold in the United States are made in China, and that is no accident. China has spent decades building a factory ecosystem that supplies not just finished products but all the specialized components that go into them. When Silva places an order in China, every capability he needs is under one roof, while in the United States he had to coordinate across multiple states just to make a single board game.
Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of the Toy Association, told NPR that bringing toy production back to the US is far more complicated than it sounds. He also questions whether it makes economic sense for toys in particular, which tend to carry both low prices and thin margins.
Silva, for his part, is still making the rest of his board games in China, and he does not expect that to change.
What This Means for Buyers
The Monopoly story is less a failure than a reality check on how hard making things in America has become. The businesses that have committed to it made a real investment, often at a real cost, and that is worth recognizing.
It also means that when you find a business making products here, it is not the default but a deliberate and often costly choice. Every purchase from one of these businesses supports that choice, and for buyers who care about where things come from, knowing which businesses have made it matters.
How One Bison Helps
One Bison is a curated directory of American businesses, filtered by the values that matter to you, and every listing is reviewed by a real person on our team before it goes live. For American-made specifically, that means we confirm the claim directly from the company’s own website and product labeling. If the claim does not hold up, the company does not receive our American-made tag.
We do that work so you don’t have to guess. Browse American-made businesses on One Bison.
Source: Scott Horsley, What a Monopoly importer learned when it tried to make things in the U.S.A., NPR, July 12, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it so hard to make things in America?
Countries like China have spent decades building factory ecosystems that supply not just finished products but all the specialized components that go into them. In the United States, much of that manufacturing infrastructure was lost over time as production moved overseas. Rebuilding it requires significant investment in machinery, workforce, and supply chains, which takes years, not months.
Does Made in USA mean every part was made in America?
Not always. The FTC’s standard requires that a product be all or virtually all made in the USA for an unqualified Made in USA claim. Some products carry qualified claims like Made in USA with globally sourced components, which is legal under FTC rules as long as it is clearly stated. On One Bison, we confirm the claim directly from the company’s own website and labeling before listing them.
How does One Bison verify American-made businesses?
Every business on One Bison is reviewed by a real person on our team before it goes live. We check the company’s own website and product labeling to confirm the American-made claim meets FTC rules. If the claim is unclear or not backed up by the company’s own words, it does not receive our American-made tag.
