Ravensburger
Company type | Aktiengesellschaft |
---|---|
Industry | Puzzle, toy |
Founded | 7 May 1883 |
Headquarters | |
Area served | Worldwide |
Owner | Maier family, private company |
Ravensburger AG is a German game, puzzle and toy company, publishing house, and leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market.
History
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier 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,
Before the
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
In September 2010, Ravensburger broke the world record for the largest jigsaw puzzle, with one designed by late pop artist Keith Haring titled "Keith Haring: Double Retrospect".[1] Built from 32,256 pieces, it measured 17' × 6' (5.18 m x 1.82 m) and came with a hand truck for transportation.[2] Ravensburger has since released larger puzzles, with their largest being "Memorable Disney Moments" and "Making Mickey Magic" having 40,320 pieces each, however they have also since lost the world record to a 51,300 piece puzzle released by Kodak.[3]
Swedish toy train company BRIO was acquired by the Ravensburger Group on 8 January 2015.[4] In 2017, Ravensburger acquired American game company Wonder Forge.[5]
The company's North American division, Ravensburger NA, is based in
Media subsidiaries
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
Ravensburger Film + TV/RTV Family Entertainment
Ravensburger Film + TV GmbH is a former
In late 1998, Ravensburger split off Ravensburger Film + TV as a separately operated company and was renamed to RTV Family Entertainment AG.[8] Ravensburger remained a shareholder in RTV, holding 90% of its shares, and continued to license the "Ravensburger" brand. The company launched a Ravensburger TV block on Super RTL in June 2001.[9]
In 2005, Ravensburger sold all their shares in the business, and in mid-2006, the company rebranded as Your Family Entertainment AG.[10]
Notable games
Games sold under the "Ravensburger" imprint:
- Das Buch von LuLu
- Dingbats
- Disney Lorcana
- Emoji
- Enchanted Forest
- Havannah
- Horrified
- Java
- Journey through Europe
- Know Interactive Board Game
- Labyrinth (board game)
- Lotus
- Make 'n' Break
- Malefiz
- Mexica
- The Name of the Rose (2008)[11]
- Nobody is Perfect
- Quest
- Reversi
- Rivers, Roads & Rails
- Scotland Yard
- Tactil
- Take It Easy
- Tikal
- Top Secret Spies
- Villainous
- What Do You Hear?
Games sold under the "Alea" label:
- Broom Service
- Castles of Burgundy
- Chinatown
- Las Vegas
- Princes of Florence
- Puerto Rico
- Ra
- San Juan
Games sold under the F.X. Schmid label:
Games sold under the "Ravensburger Digital" label:
- Concentrationin various editions
References
- ^ "NEW World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle 32000 Pieces by Ravensburger - Jigsaw puzzle - Zimbio". Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
- ^ Morgan, Matt. "Ravensburger Shatters Record with 32,000+ Piece Puzzle". Wired. Archived from the original on February 14, 2011.
- ^ "The worlds biggest Puzzle | Ravensburger". www.ravensburger.us. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
- ^ "Brio - press release". PR Newswire. 2015-01-08.
- ^ "Jacobe Chrisman | LinkedIn". Retrieved 2018-11-29.
- ^ Seattle Times. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- ^ "May 16: JoWooD Takes over Ravenburger". 16 May 2002.
- ^ https://www.yfe.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/rtv_ar_e_99.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "RTV scores Ravensburger block on Super RTL". C21Media.
- ^ "RTV Family Entertainment AG to Become Your Family Entertainment AG - elEconomista.es".
- ^ "GeekBuddy Analysis: The Name of the Rose (2008)". BoardGameGeek.