Andre & Stella Games
Irricana, Alberta · Etsy shop · etsy.com
Small businessMain products hit
André Proust cuts, sands, wood-burns and stains oversized wooden yard games in the couple's home shop north-east of Calgary — a collapsible Ring Toss with cotton rope rings, GIANT Horseshoes, Quoits, a folding mini-cornhole Bean Bag Toss, a child-to-adult Limbo set, cedar Yardzee lawn dice, double-six and double-nine Giant Dominoes and a Giant Tic Tac Toe — most of them packed into a drawstring bag and offered with personalisation, at roughly US$30 to US$230 a game.
I can’t expect our customers, our buyers, to take on that burden.Source: cp24.com, Jul 22, 2026
Ring toss, horseshoes, quoits, bean bag toss and limbo sets are articles for outdoor games under HTS 9506.99.60 on the CBP Section 338 list, so every game Andre & Stella Games sends to an American buyer carries a 50% duty on top of the price, in effect since August 22, 2026. More than half the shop's sales went to the United States, and because a game takes two to three weeks to build, Proust and Brassard shut US orders off ahead of the announced August 19 deadline rather than have work cross the border into a charge they could not pass on. "You put five years into a business, and something like that determines if you're going to make money or not," Proust told CP24 on July 22, 2026; the plan now is to "Keep it Canadian" while they look at Europe.
In their own words
You put five years into a business, and something like that determines if you’re going to make money or not.
Andre Proust, quoted by Kathy Le, CP24 · cp24.com, Jul 22, 2026
Proust on what five years of building the shop comes down to once a 50% duty sits between his workbench and his biggest market.
We’ve had to shut it down now to get ahead of that, so that we don’t end up surprised with a whole bunch of orders that are going out, but all of a sudden we have to pay 50 per cent more.
Stella Brassard, quoted by Kathy Le, CP24 · cp24.com, Jul 22, 2026
Brassard explains why they closed US orders early: a game takes two to three weeks to build, so an order taken today could cross the border under different rules.
Long term, I’m hoping that the tariffs disappear and we can get back to helping out our U.S. friends with game play.
Stella Brassard, quoted by Kathy Le, CP24 · cp24.com, Jul 22, 2026
Brassard says the door is shut for now, not for good.
Quoted word for word from public posts and articles. Owners can claim the listing to add or remove a quote.
Made in Canada
Everything is built by the two of them in Irricana, Alberta: the shop describes itself as "handcrafted wood lawn yard games by AndreStellaGames located in Irricana, Canada" and tells buyers "Our lawn games are all handmade wood labours of love", and the couple spent months qualifying those Canadian-made goods under CUSMA before the new duty landed.
On the tariff list
- HTS 9506.99.60 · Articles and equipment for general physical exercise, gymnastics, athletics, other sports (including table-tennis) or outdoor games, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter; swimming pools and wading pools; parts and accessories thereof, Other, Other, Other · 50% since Aug 22, 2026
The shop's listings are outdoor games and nothing else: "GIANT Horseshoes, outdoor lawn backyard game, handmade wood, collapsible", "Quoits rope ring toss outdoor lawn/backyard game, handmade wood, rope rings, collapsible", "Ring Toss outdoor lawn/backyard game, handmade wood, rope rings, collapsible, lawn game", "Mini Cornhole Lawn Game, Wooden Yard Game" and "Limbo. Giant, child to adult size, ultra sturdy. Lawn Game." Articles for outdoor games not specified elsewhere in chapter 95 fall under HTS 9506.99.60 on the CBP Section 338 list.
Rates are the additional US duty under Section 338. About the tariffs
Sources
- cp24.com · accessed 2026-09-09
IRRICANA, Alta. - An Alberta couple has stopped selling their handcrafted wooden lawn games to American customers after the United States announced a 50 per cent tariff on a wide range of Canadian goods, including some products covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
- cp24.com · accessed 2026-09-09
Andre Proust and Stella Brassard, owners of Andre and Stella Games, craft their games at their home-based shop in Irricana, Alta., and sell them through the e-commerce site Etsy.
- cp24.com · accessed 2026-09-09
More than half of their sales go to the U.S.
- cp24.com · accessed 2026-09-09
The couple has suspended U.S. orders before the tariffs are set to take effect on Aug. 19, because their games can take two to three weeks to produce.
- cp24.com · accessed 2026-09-09
Becoming CUSMA compliant allowed the business to demonstrate that its Canadian-made products met the agreement’s rules, allowing them to export to the United States without paying tariffs under the trade agreement.
- web.archive.org · accessed 2026-09-09
Shop Andre & Stella Games, handcrafted wood lawn yard games by AndreStellaGames located in Irricana, Canada.
- web.archive.org · accessed 2026-09-09
Our lawn games are all handmade wood labours of love.
- web.archive.org · accessed 2026-09-09
The carpenter and creator of our games is André. The behind the scenes work and details are handled by me, Stella. We're Andre & Stella Games.
- web.archive.org · accessed 2026-09-09
GIANT Horseshoes, outdoor lawn backyard game, handmade wood, collapsible, wedding lawn game, safe easy family game, great gift, custom
- web.archive.org · accessed 2026-09-09
Giant Wooden Lawn Dice, Yardzee or Yarkle Yard Game, Wedding Game, Dry Erase Score Cards, Family Gift, Family Game, 5 or 6 Lawn Dice, Cedar
- web.archive.org · accessed 2026-09-09
- Several of our games feature wood burning so the numbers and dots won’t fade away over time (Ring Toss, Giant Dominoes, Lawn Dice, and personalization)
- content.govdelivery.com · accessed 2026-09-09
9506.99.60