Hobby games in the US and Canada reached $3.66 billion in sales in 2025, up from $2.84 billion the year before (ICv2, 2026). Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment alone booked $2.19 billion in net revenue, a 44.7% jump (Hasbro, FY2025 10-K). Games Workshop posted record revenue of 617.5 million pounds (Games Workshop, Annual Report 2024-25), and a May 2026 YouGov poll found 65% of Americans like or love playing board games. The category is not one market but several moving at different speeds: trading cards are booming, classic boards are flat, and tariffs are squeezing everyone in between. This analysis consolidates data from ICv2, Hasbro, Games Workshop, and 13 other primary sources into 50-plus figures across market size, publisher revenue, crowdfunding, players, live events, and supply-chain pressure.
TL;DR
- Hobby games trade in the US and Canada hit $3.66 billion in 2025, up from $2.84 billion in 2024 (ICv2, 2026).
- Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment earned $2.19 billion in 2025, up 44.7% (Hasbro, FY2025 10-K).
- Hasbro tabletop gaming revenue rose 62.2% to $1.69 billion, with Magic: The Gathering adding $638.2 million (Hasbro, FY2025 10-K).
- Games Workshop reported record revenue of 617.5 million pounds, up 18%, and pre-tax profit of 262.8 million pounds (Games Workshop, 2025).
- The Pokemon Company produced 10.2 billion cards in FY2024-25, more than 75 billion lifetime (The Pokemon Company, 2025).
- Gamefound recorded about $189.7 million in tabletop crowdfunding volume in 2025, up 19% (Gamefound, 2025).
- Spiel Essen 2025 drew a record 220,000 visitors; Gen Con drew a record ~72,000 (Spiel Essen; Gen Con, 2025).
- Catan has sold more than 45 million copies in 40-plus languages since 1995 (Catan, 2025).
- A May 2026 YouGov poll found 21% of US adults love board games and 44% like them (YouGov, 2026).
- Stonemaier Games faced a $1.5 million tariff bill under peak 145% US-China rates in 2025 (Stonemaier Games, 2025).
1. Market Size: How Big Is the Board Game Business?
There is no single board game market number, and anyone who quotes one without a scope is guessing. ICv2’s $3.66 billion covers the specialty hobby trade in the US and Canada only; the double-digit-billion “global” figures from market-research firms fold in mass-market retail, puzzles and regional channels, which is why they diverge by more than $6 billion. The most defensible hard number is ICv2’s $3.66 billion for 2025, roughly a third larger than 2024’s $2.84 billion. Within that trade, trading cards, not boards, are doing the heavy lifting.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby games trade, US and Canada, 2025 | $3.66 billion | ICv2, 2026 |
| Hobby games trade, US and Canada, 2024 | $2.84 billion | ICv2, 2025 |
| TCG share of hobby games dollars, 2025 | ~2/3 | ICv2, 2026 |
| Miniatures segment, US and Canada, 2025 | $585 million (up 7.3%) | ICv2, 2025 |
| Consecutive years of hobby-channel growth | 17 | ICv2, 2026 |
| Global board game market, 2025 (est. range) | ~$14.3B to $20.4B | Business Research Insights / market-firm estimates, 2026 |
| US toy market dollar-sales growth, 2025 | +6% | Circana, 2026 |
Outlier note: the “global” market-firm figures should be read as order-of-magnitude estimates, not audited totals, and cross-referenced. ICv2 remains the tightest trade-channel measure.
2. The Big Publishers: Who Is Winning
The gap between the top publishers widened sharply in 2025. Hasbro’s tabletop engine ran on Magic; Games Workshop turned miniatures into record profit; Asmodee’s headline revenue grew on card-game distribution even as its own board-game publishing shrank. Hasbro’s tabletop gaming revenue jumped 62.2% to $1.69 billion, with Magic: The Gathering alone contributing $638.2 million of growth (Hasbro, FY2025 10-K). The lesson for 2026: distribution and licensing scale faster than making your own boxes.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hasbro WotC and Digital Gaming net revenue, 2025 | $2,186.9M (+44.7%) | Hasbro, FY2025 10-K |
| Hasbro tabletop gaming revenue, 2025 | $1,686.6M (+62.2%) | Hasbro, FY2025 10-K |
| Games Workshop revenue, FY2024-25 | 617.5M pounds (+18%) | Games Workshop, 2025 |
| Games Workshop pre-tax profit, FY2024-25 | 262.8M pounds (+29.5%) | Games Workshop, 2025 |
| Games Workshop licensing revenue | 52.5M pounds (from 31M) | Games Workshop, 2025 |
| Asmodee net sales, FY2025-26 | 1.68 billion euros | Asmodee Year-End Report, 2026 |
| Ravensburger sales, 2024 | 790M euros (+18.2%) | Ravensburger, 2025 |
| The Pokemon Company net sales, FY2024-25 | 411 billion yen (~$2.9B) | The Pokemon Company, 2025 |
Context: Asmodee’s own board-game publishing fell 5.8% for the year even as group revenue rose, showing how much of its scale now comes from distributing others’ cards. Games Workshop’s numbers get a fuller breakdown in our Warhammer statistics roundup.
3. Trading Cards and Digital Spin-Offs Are the Money Engine
If board games were only about cardboard, this section would not exist. Instead, the fastest-growing money in the category is printed on cards or streamed to phones. The Pokemon Company produced 10.2 billion physical cards in fiscal 2024-25, pushing lifetime production past 75 billion (The Pokemon Company, 2025). Ravensburger’s Disney Lorcana crossed a billion cards, and Scopely’s Monopoly Go turned a board-game brand into a $6 billion mobile hit.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Pokemon cards produced, FY2024-25 | 10.2 billion | The Pokemon Company, 2025 |
| Pokemon cards produced lifetime (Mar 2025) | 75 billion+ | The Pokemon Company, 2025 |
| Magic: The Gathering revenue growth, 2025 | +$638.2 million | Hasbro, FY2025 10-K |
| Disney Lorcana cards sold since 2023 launch | 1 billion+ | Ravensburger, 2025 |
| US Games and Puzzles supercategory growth, 2025 | +37% (Pokemon-led) | Circana, 2026 |
| Monopoly Go lifetime in-app revenue (2025) | $6 billion | Sensor Tower / Scopely, 2025 |
| Monopoly Go revenue booked by Hasbro, 2025 | $168.0 million | Hasbro, FY2025 10-K |
Outlier note: Circana’s 37% Games and Puzzles surge was “driven primarily by Pokemon,” a reminder that headline board-game growth is often trading-card growth in disguise. Magic’s full picture sits in our Magic: The Gathering statistics roundup.
4. Crowdfunding the Table
Crowdfunding reshaped who gets published, and in 2025 the platform hierarchy flipped. Gamefound overtook Kickstarter as the dollar leader in tabletop, hosting nearly every top campaign, while Kickstarter’s tabletop totals slid for a third straight year. Gamefound recorded roughly $189.7 million in tabletop crowdfunding volume in 2025, up 19%, and hosted 9 of the 10 biggest tabletop campaigns of the year (Gamefound, 2025). The direct-to-backer model now rivals traditional retail as a launch path, echoing broader shifts covered in our e-commerce statistics roundup.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gamefound tabletop crowdfunding volume, 2025 | ~$189.7 million (+19%) | Gamefound, 2025 |
| Gamefound share of 2025 top-10 tabletop campaigns | 9 of 10 | Gamefound, 2025 |
| Kickstarter tabletop total, 2024 (latest full year) | $220 million | BoardGameWire, 2025 |
| Kickstarter funded tabletop projects, 2024 | 5,300+ | BoardGameWire, 2025 |
| Kickstarter average per tabletop project, 2024 | $41,400 (lowest since 2014) | BoardGameWire, 2025 |
| Largest tabletop crowdfund ever (Cosmere RPG) | $15.1 million | BoardGameWire, 2025 |
| BackerKit tabletop raised, 2024 | $23.1 million | BoardGameWire, 2025 |
| Gamefound acquisition of Indiegogo | Closed July 2025 | Gamefound, 2025 |
Context note: Kickstarter 2024 figures are the most recent full-year totals available; 2025 platform totals were still being reconciled at publication.
5. Who Is at the Table: Players and Communities
Board games are broadly liked but shallowly played, and the data shows a wide funnel with a narrow core. Two-thirds of Americans enjoy board games, yet fewer than one in ten play weekly, and the classics still dominate the actual table. A May 2026 YouGov poll of 1,131 US adults found 21% love board games and 44% like them, while only 9% play weekly (YouGov, 2026). The enthusiast core lives on BoardGameGeek, whose four-million-plus registered users catalog a hobby most casual players never see.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US adults who love board games | 21% | YouGov, 2026 |
| US adults who like board games | 44% | YouGov, 2026 |
| US adults who play at least monthly | 28% | YouGov, 2026 |
| Under-30s who love board games | 28% | YouGov, 2026 |
| Have played Monopoly “many times” | 53% | YouGov, 2026 |
| Have never played Catan | 76% | YouGov, 2026 |
| BoardGameGeek registered users (Mar 2025) | 4 million+ | BoardGameGeek, 2025 |
| Board games catalogued on BoardGameGeek | 150,000+ | BoardGameGeek, 2024 |
A growing share of play happens online, on Board Game Arena and Tabletop Simulator, where remote groups keep the table talk alive over voice chat, and social-deduction nights often run through a shared Discord voice channel. For tabletop RPGs specifically, which follow a very different demographic curve, see our D&D and tabletop RPG statistics.
6. Live Play: Conventions and Fairs
The clearest proof of demand is not a market model; it is a sold-out hall. In-person events set records across the board in 2025, with Europe’s flagship fair dwarfing the largest US convention. Spiel Essen drew a record 220,000 visitors in 2025, filling seven halls and 77,500 square meters (Spiel Essen, 2025). Gen Con, the biggest US tabletop convention, hit its own record with nearly 72,000 attendees.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Spiel Essen 2025 visitors | 220,000 (record) | Spiel Essen, 2025 |
| Spiel Essen 2025 exhibitors | 948 from 50 countries | Spiel Essen, 2025 |
| Spiel Essen 2025 new products shown | 1,700+ | Spiel Essen, 2025 |
| Gen Con 2025 attendance | ~72,000 (record) | Gen Con, 2025 |
| Gen Con 2025 exhibiting companies | 575+ | Gen Con, 2025 |
| Gen Con 2025 local economic impact | $82 million+ | Gen Con, 2025 |
| Games Workshop retail stores worldwide | 570 | Games Workshop, 2025 |
Outlier note: Spiel Essen’s 220,000 attendance is roughly three times Gen Con’s, underlining how much larger the European hobby scene is at the show-floor level.
7. Headwinds: Tariffs and Supply Shocks
The single biggest story of 2025 was not a game; it was a tax. Because the overwhelming majority of board games are manufactured in China, US tariff swings hit publishers directly, and small studios felt it worst. US tariffs on Chinese imports spiked to 145% in 2025 before easing to 30% under a 90-day truce, leaving Stonemaier Games with a $1.5 million bill at the peak rate (Stonemaier Games, 2025). Combined with a major distributor bankruptcy, the year tested the whole supply chain.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Peak US tariff on Chinese imports, 2025 | 145% | Stonemaier Games, 2025 |
| Reduced US-China tariff (90-day truce) | 30% | BoardGameWire, 2025 |
| Stonemaier tariff bill under 145% rate | $1.5 million | Stonemaier Games, 2025 |
| Stonemaier projected 2025 tariff cost | up to $5 million | Stonemaier Games, 2025 |
| Stonemaier tariffs paid by Sept 2025 | ~$300,000 | Stonemaier Games, 2025 |
| Asmodee US net sales decline (one quarter) | -23% | BoardGameWire, 2026 |
| Asmodee own board-game publishing decline, FY | -5.8% | Asmodee, 2026 |
| Traditional board games in the hobby trade, 2025 | Down (card games up) | ICv2, 2026 |
Context: ICv2 noted consumers “searching for value with price or replayability,” which helped cheaper card games while pressuring premium boxed board games.
Summary: Board Games by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby games trade, US and Canada, 2025 | $3.66 billion | ICv2, 2026 |
| Hobby games trade, US and Canada, 2024 | $2.84 billion | ICv2, 2025 |
| Hasbro WotC and Digital Gaming revenue, 2025 | $2.19 billion (+44.7%) | Hasbro, FY2025 10-K |
| Hasbro tabletop gaming revenue, 2025 | $1.69 billion (+62.2%) | Hasbro, FY2025 10-K |
| Magic: The Gathering revenue growth, 2025 | +$638.2 million | Hasbro, FY2025 10-K |
| Games Workshop revenue, FY2024-25 | 617.5M pounds (+18%) | Games Workshop, 2025 |
| Games Workshop pre-tax profit, FY2024-25 | 262.8M pounds | Games Workshop, 2025 |
| Asmodee net sales, FY2025-26 | 1.68 billion euros | Asmodee, 2026 |
| Ravensburger sales, 2024 | 790M euros (+18.2%) | Ravensburger, 2025 |
| Pokemon cards produced, FY2024-25 | 10.2 billion | The Pokemon Company, 2025 |
| Disney Lorcana cards sold since 2023 | 1 billion+ | Ravensburger, 2025 |
| Monopoly Go lifetime in-app revenue | $6 billion | Sensor Tower / Scopely, 2025 |
| Gamefound tabletop crowdfunding, 2025 | ~$189.7 million (+19%) | Gamefound, 2025 |
| Kickstarter tabletop total, 2024 | $220 million | BoardGameWire, 2025 |
| US adults who like or love board games | 65% | YouGov, 2026 |
| BoardGameGeek registered users (Mar 2025) | 4 million+ | BoardGameGeek, 2025 |
| Spiel Essen 2025 visitors | 220,000 (record) | Spiel Essen, 2025 |
| Gen Con 2025 attendance | ~72,000 (record) | Gen Con, 2025 |
| Catan lifetime copies sold | 45 million+ | Catan, 2025 |
| Peak US tariff on Chinese imports, 2025 | 145% | Stonemaier Games, 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
Data was gathered by aggregating primary company filings, official annual reports, first-party surveys and disclosed-methodology trade trackers published in 2025 and the first half of 2026, cross-referencing market-size figures across multiple firms and flagging any estimate older than 2024 or measuring a different scope.
- ICv2 - Big Growth in Hobby Games in 2025; 2024 Was a Year of Stabilization; Miniatures Show Solid Growth (2025-2026)
- Hasbro, Inc. - FY2025 Form 10-K, Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment (2026)
- Games Workshop Group PLC - Annual Report 2024-25 (2025)
- The Pokemon Company - FY2024-25 card production and financial results (2025)
- Circana - US Toy Market Grows in 2025 (2026)
- Asmodee Group - Year-End Report 2024-25 (2026)
- Ravensburger - FY2024 sales and Disney Lorcana results (2025)
- Gamefound - 2025 Tabletop Summary (2025)
- BoardGameWire - Kickstarter and Gamefound tabletop crowdfunding totals (2025-2026)
- YouGov - What Americans think about board games, poll of 1,131 US adults, May 2026
- BoardGameGeek - registered users and database size (2024-2025)
- Catan GmbH - lifetime sales and franchise reach (2025)
- Gen Con - Gen Con 2025 record attendance (2025)
- Spiel Essen - Spiel Essen 2025 record attendance (2025)
- Sensor Tower / Scopely - Monopoly Go $6 billion milestone (2025)
- Stonemaier Games - Tariff Tax Update September 2025; Tariffs: Impact on Tabletop Publishers (2025)
- Market-research firms (Business Research Insights, GM Insights, Statista Market Forecast) - global board game market-size ranges (2025-2026), reported as estimates and cross-referenced
Data watch: ICv2’s next hobby games market estimate is expected around GAMA Expo in early 2027; Hasbro will file its FY2026 10-K in early 2027; Games Workshop reports full-year FY2025-26 results in mid-2026; Gamefound and BoardGameWire typically publish annual crowdfunding recaps in Q1; YouGov reruns its board game polling periodically; Gen Con and Spiel Essen release fresh attendance figures each autumn.
Last updated: July 13, 2026.
We review and update this page quarterly as new data is published.