By Arthur Chen      photo：Engin Akyurt

TGL has done the door-to-door international transportation services for several US importers in which the estimated volume of customers for next year is more optimistic to grow.

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 has caused cities around the world to lock down cities, leading to a suddenly freezing of global shipping. However, our company's shipping volume last year reached almost the same level as the 2019 futures in container volume. Among them, it is worth mentioning that several US customers imported "table games" we shipped the entire year basically had a limited impact on them by the pandemic. It is still in hot sale with importing about 3000 TEU from China. The reason why it is not affected by the covid thing too much can be summarized as table games have always been a leisure way for people to get together; they also promote communication and provide the fun of face-to-face interaction; an important tool to cultivate the knowledge and logical thinking to children and adults. With the spread of COVID-19, people stay indoors most of the time, regardless of working and spending daily life. In addition to daily routing stuffs, the families have enough time to enjoy the fun of gatherings, face-to-face interaction, and play fun board games together such as Monopoly. This is probably why the import volume of table games in the United States did not decline due to the pandemic. The trend of hot demand for table games continues to drive the huge demand this year and the next few years.

Although this year 2021, because of the release of the vaccine, the world has unlocked one after another. Working from homes and returning to work at offices going at the same time, and people’s habits will not change easily. What's more, the use of table games to maintain the relationship during family gatherings in the US and Europe is a way of living that has been accustomed since childhood and rooted in minds. It can be easily found out from the container volume of these US importers in our company this year that the demand for table games has increased by about 20% compared to last year. By October, the container volume had exceeded last year's 3,000 TEU. This has not yet taken into account the lack of shipping space due to Port congestion in the United States and the recovery of outdoor life in restaurants, bars, and fitness after unlock. These will affect demand accordingly. Our company provides door-to-door international transportation services for those American importers, so I have a great feeling about the optimistic growth in demand for table games this year. And judging from the estimated volume of customers for next year, more positive beliefs will continue to grow. We must to realize the future demand in order to determine with the shipping lines for next year's capacity and price and to negotiate with the carriers for the annual contract prices as well as guaranteed space. 

The following is a collection of some materials for this industry to provide interested readers with reference. According to the analysis of professional articles, the global table game market in 2019 is estimated to be USD 13.1 billion, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 9% during the forecast period from 2019 to 2025. North America is the world's largest table game market, with an estimated value of US$4.4 billion in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 10%. The US market is dominant. The TV series "Game of Thrones" and "The Big Bang Theory" have also increased the demand for table games in the region. European strategy games have also become popular in the region. Europe is the second largest region for table games. It is estimated to reach US$4 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6% during the 2017-2023 forecast period. There is strong demand for strategy games in the region, especially in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Children, teenagers and adults all seem to like to play these games.

Many people are always curious what exactly is a table game? It is a collective term for puzzles, table games, collectible card games, card and dice games, and RPG games. Table games including Monopoly, Ludo, Scrabble, Checkers and Chess have the highest market share, estimated to be about 67%. Monopoly maintains its Monopoly as the most popular game, with 30% market share in the desktop category. Scrabble and chess are expected to experience high growth rates. The market share of collection cards is approximately 35%. Poker, UNO, Rummy and Spades are some popular card games. If we look at it from the perspective of "themes," it includes education, strategy and war, sports and fantasy. Education-themed board games are in considerable demand in all markets (Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe). Generally, people who buy table games go to physical retail stores to account for the largest market share in 2019, exceeding 65%. Most consumers seem to be accustomed to buy table games in retail stores, which is expected to drive the growth of the gaming market. Gradually, table game cafes have emerged all over the world. In these cafes, people are not going to buy table games, but to interact with other players. With the rise of these cafe cultures, this has also spawned new physical business opportunities. Based on the above introduction, the table game industry has actually pushed up sales due to the covid pandemic.

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Music : papule-planet Geoff Harvet