Board Game Design & Manufacturing (Company Story)

Michael Spahitz

(Owner, CEO, CCO, Game Inventor of Board Game Designs & Manufacturing )
Story and photos by VEA Magazine

Michael was always a creative, different thinker. Always crafting designs and a vast spectrum of making inventions whenever the ideas come about. Some of the inventions eventually were created by others as time passed, but not as efficient (lol). Some ideas, but not limited to, are thins such as  custom tooth brushes, Spider-man wrist bands that shoot silly string, custom light fixtures, cooking appliances, auto inventions and many unique board games and card games, and more!

With friends and family around, he played many board games, card games and any off beat games purchased by his father. Later, he attended the College of Staten Island and then the School of Visual Arts.

In 1989, Michael Spahitz (pronounced SPA-HITS) established a small media design company in Staten Island, New York. Working with top media & corporate companies in the Manhattan area, he was on the front ground of graphic artistry and product development work having started design on the first computer design programs available.

In 1997 Michael started offering Game Design & Manufacturing Services to individuals as well as large companies. The business grew rapidly from there being one of the fist companies to offer all the necessary services from game parts, to design to manufacturing!

Board Game Design & Manufacturing has grown from that humble beginning to a large design and manufacturing company with warehousing opportunities and website designs, operated by Michael, other family and team members.

The Spahitz family ventured into board game design and manufacturing just over 2 decades ago. We started with a well known game titled DOGOPOLY (The Original Game of High Steaks & Bones) that currently sits as a permanent part of history being located in the New York Historical Society archives. We developed the game kind of from an accident due to a concept that was created when the family dog walked across a Monopoly board during game play. The design was developed in a matter of weeks and eventually the manufacturing was started. May other games have been developed as well!

To date, Board Game Design and Manufacturing has designed and manufactured hundreds of board games for novice & experienced inventors, and companies all over the world. With over 3 decade’s experience of helping others, the Spahitz’ best days begin and end with happy clients realizing their full potential of being an inventor and making their own success stories.

Innovator Leads the Way to a Successful Board Game Design Business
Story and photos by Chiara Profenna

Michael Spahitz's Pahrump, Nevada, warehouse bursts with creative energy. The Board Game Design and Manufacturing headquarters sees plenty of imaginative and unique games within its walls. Each year, novice and expert game designers bring their innovative ideas to Michael, where he pieces together the puzzle to produce a finished game. Michael displays colorful custom board games on the headquarters' showroom walls, highlighting only a fraction of the games he has helped create. Cardboard boxes house a diverse array of games, from trivia challenges to strategic games, stylized Monopoly boards and myriad other inventive concepts. The game that started it all sits on the center shelf: DOGopoly (The Original Game of High Steaks & Bones).

Inspiration Strikes

Michael and his brother, Rob, grew up playing board games on rainy days in New York. One day, while the boys were playing Monopoly, their dog walked across the board. “Normally, we were very particular about our games;” Rob says. “It's like, 'Don't bother us while we're playing: But we loved our dog so much ... We just went over and hugged him, and somewhere right about then is when we got this inspiration of, 'Wouldn't it be fun if all of the Monopoly properties were named after dogs?’” Not long after, Rob and Michael created the first iteration of DOGopoly by taping together sheets of paper and referencing a picture dictionary for dog breed names. Their passion for board games followed them as they grew older, but they never forgot their first venture into game design. “As we got older, we started creating our own games;” Michael says. “I learned how to become a graphic artist and merged the two into offering a service for people online to come to me whether they need design services or just manufacturing services:” Michael eventually established the design business on his own.

Turning Concepts Into Classics

“What we offer is a service for others;” Michael says. “You have a game concept, and we take the concept and bring it to fruition, from the rough concept to a finished product, where we have it manufactured, and it can be sold in stores:” Since 1997, the business has grown from offering only manufacturing services to including graphic design and selling game components on a separate website. Michael has created hundreds of tabletop games, serving individuals and larger corporations from his warehouse in Pahrump. For about 15 years, the business has operated out of this small town an hour outside of Las Vegas. “When I moved to Pahrump, one of the pluses for us was the low overhead;” Michael says. “We could actually have a building where we could do warehousing and order fulfillment:” Looking through the rows of games Michael has helped create, it is apparent no two designs look alike. Vintage games are washed in sepia with old photographs on display while contemporary designs use eye catching graphics and vibrant cartoon characters. According to Michael, he aims to keep singularity and longevity in mind when designing a game.

The Finished Product

The global tabletop games market was estimated at $24.91 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $48.69 billion by 2028, according to market research company Arizton. Among the thousands of new games released yearly, Board Game Design and Manufacturing has contributed hundreds since its inception. With hopes of eventually opening his own large-scale manufacturing building, Michael envisions expanding the company's reach and impact. His business is a haven for emerging inventors. "One of the pluses of me being a game inventor and a graphic artist is that I've been through this;' Michael says. "When it comes to helping my customers, I can make a lot of suggestions and advise them on things they might want to consider:' As the CEO, owner, art director and webmaster, Michael prides himself on being able to offer services for anyone with a thought-out concept. He advises aspiring game makers to play and test their games with as many people as possible and to choose a professional designer to create packaging that gives a great first impression. “I enjoy doing this;” he says. “It's a very rewarding job because one of the things that we're doing is helping people to make their dreams come true.”