Ravensburger

Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market.

Ravensburger AG
TypeAktiengesellschaft
IndustryPuzzle, toy
FoundedMay 7, 1883 (1883-05-07)
Headquarters
Ravensburg, Germany
Area served
Worldwide
OwnerMaier family, private company
Ravensburger headquarters

History

The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier with seat in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract. He started publishing instruction folders for craftsmen and architects, which soon acquired him a solid financial basis. His first board game appeared in 1884, named "Journey around the world".

At the turn of the 20th century, his product line broadened to include picture books, books, children’s activity books, Art Instruction manuals, non-fiction books, and reference books as well as children’s games, Happy Families and activity kits. In 1900, the Ravensburger blue triangle trademark was registered with the Imperial Patent office. As of 1912, many board and activity games had an export version that was distributed to Western Europe, the countries of the Danube Monarchy as well as Russia.

Before the First World War, Ravensburger had around 800 products. The publishing house was damaged during the Second World War and continued to produce games in the years of the reconstruction. The company focused on children's games and books and specialized books for art, architecture and hobbies, and from 1962 grew strongly. The company started to produce jigsaw puzzle games in 1964, and in the same year opened subsidiaries in Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 1977 the company split into a book publishing arm and a game publishing arm.

Today there are approximately 1800 available books and 850 games as well as puzzles, hobby products and CD-ROM titles at Ravensburger and its subsidiaries, which include Alea for "hobby and ardent game players" and F.X. Schmid for games, playing cards and children's books. Ravensburger products are exported to more than fifty countries.

Under the label, F.X. Schmid, Ravensburger produce one of the only two packs of true Tarock cards in Germany: a 54-card pack of the Tarot Nouveau pattern with genre scenes and used for playing the Tarot game of Cego popular in the Black Forest region.

In September 2010, Ravensburger broke Educa's record for the world's largest jigsaw puzzle of 24000 pieces.[1] Ravensburger's new puzzle design by late pop artist Keith Haring titled, "Keith Haring: Double Retrospect" breaks the Guinness Book of World Records measuring 17' × 6' (5.18 m x 1.82 m) built from 32000 pieces and comes with its own dolly cart for toting. Currently, the largest commercial puzzle in the world is Grafika's "Travel by Art" with 54000 pieces.[2][3] Ravensburger's currently largest puzzles are "Memorable Disney Moments" and "Making Mickey Magic" with 40320 pieces.[4]

Swedish toy train company BRIO was acquired by the Ravensburger Group on 8 January 2015.[5] In 2017, Ravensburger acquired American game company Wonder Forge.[6]

The company's North American division, Ravensburger NA, is based in Seattle, Washington and releases approximately 25 games per year, the most successfully of which so far is Villainous, based on various Disney properties.[7] Ravensbuger NA sold about 3 million copies of games in 2018.[7]

Media Subsidiaries

Ravensburger Interactive Media
Logo for Ravensburger Interactive Media.

Ravensburger Interactive Media GmbH was a video game and software subsidiary of Ravensburger which published and distributed various games in Germany. The company had two brands; Ravensburger Interactive, which published family-friendly games and educational software, and Fishtank Interactive, which published games for mature players.

In May 2002, Ravensburger Interactive was sold with Fishtank Interactive to JoWooD Productions.[8]

Ravensburger Film + TV

Ravensburger Film + TV GmbH is a former motion picture and television subsidiary of Ravensburger.

In Late-1998, Ravensburger sold off the unit, with the new owners rebranding the company as RTV Family Entertainment AG.[9] Ravensburger remained as a shareholder and continued to allow RTV to license their branding. The company launched a Ravensburger TV block on Super RTL in 2001.[10]

In 2005, Ravensburger sold all their shares in the business, and in Mid-2006, the company rebranded as Your Family Entertainment AG.[11]

Notable board games

Games sold under the "Ravensburger" imprint:

Games sold under the "Alea" label:

Games sold under the F.X. Schmid label:

Games sold under the "Ravensburger Digital" label:

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2011-03-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "51300 pieces: 27 Wonders from Around The World - Kodak". www.kodak.com. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  3. https://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/02/ravensburger-shatters-record-with-32000-piece-puzzle/ Archived February 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "The worlds biggest Puzzle | Ravensburger". www.ravensburger.us. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
  5. "Brio - press release". PR Newswire. 2015-01-08.
  6. "Jacobe Chrisman | LinkedIn". Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  7. Talbott, Chris (December 2, 2019). "Ravensburger's Capitol Hill office shows the growth of the board game creation industry in Seattle". Seattle Times. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  8. "May 16: JoWooD Takes over Ravenburger". 16 May 2002.
  9. https://www.yfe.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/rtv_ar_e_99.pdf
  10. "RTV scores Ravensburger block on Super RTL".
  11. "RTV Family Entertainment AG to Become Your Family Entertainment AG - elEconomista.es".
  12. "GeekBuddy Analysis: The Name of the Rose (2008)". BoardGameGeek.
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