Board game retailer Zatu Games denies exploiting low-paid apprentices, ‘toxic’ work culture claims after wave of online criticism
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Board game retailer Zatu Games has exploded in scale since it was launched nine years ago by Simon Budd, when he was frustrated that he couldn’t source a particular game in the UK. As well as growing into one of the UK’s biggest hobby game retailers, Zatu has also expanded its operations into fulfilment and distribution - but that growth has been accompanied in recent years by significant online criticism from former staff about how the business treats its workers.
Zatu has been hit with a fresh spate of complaints over the past few months, with ex-workers slamming the business on jobsite Indeed, where it posts adverts for its warehouse roles, as well as on workplace review website Glassdoor and via a series of excoriating Reddit posts. Those criticisms have claimed Zatu has abused the UK’s apprenticeship program, which allows companies to bring in staff on less than the regular minimum wage, runs an exploitative revolving-door operation for both its apprentices and other warehouse staff, and has unrealistic demands for how many orders warehouse staff must handle each hour.
Those claims have now been emphatically denied by Zatu’s commercial director David Budd, who spoke at length to BoardGameWire in the company’s first public acknowledgement of the situation.
Elsewhere, we have a follow-up on our exclusive from last month that board game manufacturing major Panda was expanding its production outside of China for first time amid the upheaval from US tariffs. Panda CEO Michael Lee tells BoardGameWire it plans to stick with its new Brazilian production operation despite the country almost immediately falling foul of a surprise 50% tariff announcement from the US - and details the other benefits of the move beyond just getting games into the US.
We also have our regular roundup of all the other recent board game industry news, our designer-focused advice and discussion zone, and all the latest job openings in the hobby.
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Mike Didymus-True - Editor
Board game retailer Zatu Games denies exploiting low-paid apprentices, ‘toxic’ work culture claims after wave of online criticism
One of the UK’s biggest board game retailers, Zatu Games, has moved to fend off a wave of online criticism claiming it exploits low-paid apprentices and runs a toxic ‘hire-and-fire’ culture in its growing warehouse operation. Zatu has been hit with a spate of reviews over the past few months slamming the business on jobsite Indeed, where it posts adverts for its warehouse roles, as well as on workplace review website Glassdoor and via a series of excoriating Reddit posts, which have since been deleted.
Those reviews allege a range of poor practices at the company, including abuse of the UK’s apprenticeship program, which allows companies to bring in staff on less than the regular minimum wage – as little as £7.55 per hour – in order to provide training and support for their future employment.
The claims have now been emphatically denied by Zatu’s commercial director David Budd, who spoke at length to BoardGameWire about the stream of recent criticism in the company’s first public acknowledgement of the situation.
Board game maker Panda to stick with new Brazilian expansion deal, despite Trump threatening country with 50% tariff rate
Board game manufacturing major Panda says it plans to stick with its new Brazilian production operation, despite its first expansion outside of China immediately falling foul of a surprise 50% tariff announcement from the US.
BoardGameWire revealed last month that Panda had agreed a tie-up with Brazilian print and packaging company Kawagraf, offering board game publishers the chance to circumvent the hugely volatile US tariff situation with China and instead take advantage of Brazil’s 10% US tariff rate.
That plan was upended just a month later, however, when Trump threatened Brazil with a 50% tariff beginning on August 1 unless the country scraps the “witch hunt” trial of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of being part of a coup that attempted to overturn the result of the presidential election he lost in 2022.
Co-op designs continue to dominate board gaming’s biggest prize as Bomb Busters seals Spiel des Jahres win
Co-operative bomb disposal game Bomb Busters has won this year’s Spiel des Jahres, beating the much-fancied push-your-luck card game Flip 7 to the high-profile award.
The win marks the first Spiel des Jahres triumph for an Asian designer – Japan’s Hisashi Hayashi – in the prize’s 46-year history, underscoring the huge rise in tabletop designs making their way across from Asia to Europe and North America in the past decade.
His victory means the Spiel des Jahres has now been won by a co-operative game design in five out of the past seven years
“I’m rather worried about the restriction of liberties of all sorts in the US”: Spiel des Jahres chairman takes aim at Trump policies, tariffs during awards ceremony
Donald Trump’s tariff policies and the restriction of liberties in the US are threatening the creation and release of new board games, the chairman of the Spiel des Jahres association told attendees at the high-profile award ceremony this year.
Harald Schrapers said [in German, translated via an English dub] onstage at the 2025 Spiel des Jahres – widely considered the biggest award in board gaming – that, “The tariffs Mr Trump has introduced mean that the board game as a production of culture, as a creative work of art, will probably not be there – because the creative minds are in one place in the world, and the ones who produce the games are in a different place in the world.
“Tariffs will mean there’s an obstacle to the production and release of new games, but I’m rather worried about the restriction of liberties of all sorts in the US, because game playing is a cultural good, and creative brains need freedom of press, need free expression.”
Board game industry professionals from Asmodee, Brotherwise Games, The Op among nominees in this year’s Wonder Women Awards
A cluster of board game industry professionals have picked up nominations in this year’s Wonder Women Awards, which aim to shine a light on women helping to shape the future of toys and games, consumer products, licensing and entertainment.
A total of nine employees from board game giant Asmodee and its Exploding Kittens subsidiary have been nominated in this year’s awards – which are run by industry group Women in Toys, Licensing & Entertainment (WiT) – alongside individual designers, retailer and marketing executives, and publisher owners.
Lucky Duck brings in former Quartermaster Logistics sales director Matt Goldrick to boosts B2B localisation, licensing arm
Lucky Duck Games has brought in Quartermaster Logistics sales director Matt Goldrick as senior partner for its Global Publishing Network, the B2B localisation and licensing arm it launched two years ago.
Goldrick previously spent almost five years with Quartermaster, joining as sales manager before being named director of sales and business development at the start of 2023.
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Other news:
Synapses Games Acquires Medium and Get Bit! - BoardGameGeek
The results of the 2025 Flip Awards are out, celebrating both published and unpublished designs - Ludovox
Workers at London board game cafe Draughts celebrated a unanimous strike vote with a rally and a police visit - Rascal News
Design Zone
Sen-Foong Lim from the Ludology podcast speaks with Daniel Newman about how his love of trick-taking games lead to the inception of the Indie Games Night Market.
Sen again, this time with George Drayer to discuss designing for player interaction with Wyrmspan and Apiary designer Connie Vogelmann
Designer Diary: Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship by Matt Leacock - BoardGameGeek
Seppy Yoon from Fight in a Box Games chats with Josh from board game accessories company Modern Meeple about the ins and outs of manufacturing board games in the US
The always excellent Skeleton Code Machine has a deep-dive into action drafting, worker placement, and worker placement with dice workers in The White Castle - and how it creates tough choices in a tight game
The Decision Space podcast have a discussion on the many ways different types of tiles are used in board games
Joe Slack from The Board Game Design Course presents his top three ways to tell your game is NOT ready to pitch or publish
Designer Diary: Ofrenda by Orlando Sa - BoardGameGeek
Game Design Unboxed speaks to Crustaceous Rails designer Ann Journey about a host of topics including revisiting concepts from prior designs, the value of FLGS’ for playtesting, and bringing a developer on board
The Tabletop Takeaway board game design podcast looks at The Banishing, whether drafts always need to be competitive, and what should and shouldn’t have a name in your game
Ellie Dix on the Game Design Round Table podcast sits down with Indie Game Studios designer Sydney Engelstein to unpack what makes a game pitch succeed — and fail
Job Watch
Remote - Head of Hobby Retail Strategy and Engagement, Asmodee
US - Digital Product Manager - eCommerce, Southern Hobby Distribution
UK - Office & Manufacturing Assistant, All About Games Consulting
Malta - Project Manager, Modiphius
All these jobs are from the very excellent Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook Group - head there to take a look at all the latest listings
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