Ravensburger

Ravensburger AG is a German game, puzzle and toy

Ravensburger AG
company, publishing house, and market leader in the
jigsaw puzzle market.

History
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Company type Aktiengesellschaft
Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Industry Puzzle, toy
Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first
Founded 7 May 1883
author contract. He started publishing instruction
Headquarters Ravensburg, Germany
folders for craftsmen and architects, which soon
acquired him a solid financial basis. His first board Area served Worldwide
game appeared in 1884, named Journey Around the Owner Maier family, private company
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
Ravensburger headquarters
with the Imperial patent office. As of 1912, many board and
activity games had an export version that was distributed to
Western Europe and 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 but 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 produces one of the only two packs of true Tarock cards in
Germany: a 54-card pack of the Bourgeois Tarot pattern with genre scenes and used for playing the game
of Cego, popular in the Black Forest region.
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 Seattle, Washington and releases
approximately 25 games per year, the most successfully of which so far is Villainous, based on various
Disney properties.[6] Ravensburger NA sold about 3 million copies of games in 2018.[6]

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 JoWooD Productions.[7]

Ravensburger Film + TV/RTV Family Entertainment

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

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
Karawane
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:

Auf Achse
Torres
Black Forest Cego playing cards
Games sold under the "Ravensburger Digital" label:

Concentration in various editions

References
 1. "NEW World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle 32000 Pieces by Ravensburger - Jigsaw puzzle -
Zimbio" (https://web.archive.org/web/20121011160237/http://www.zimbio.com/Jigsaw+puzzl
e/articles/gHoeUwlTE3N/NEW+World+Largest+Jigsaw+Puzzle+32000+Pieces). Archived
from the original (http://www.zimbio.com/Jigsaw+puzzle/articles/gHoeUwlTE3N/NEW+World
+Largest+Jigsaw+Puzzle+32000+Pieces) on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
2. Morgan, Matt. "Ravensburger Shatters Record with 32,000+ Piece Puzzle" (https://web.arch
ive.org/web/20110214081838/http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/02/ravensburger-shatter
s-record-with-32000-piece-puzzle/). Wired. Archived from the original (https://www.wired.co
m/geekdad/2011/02/ravensburger-shatters-record-with-32000-piece-puzzle/) on February
14, 2011.
3. "The worlds biggest Puzzle | Ravensburger" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180623170137/
https://www.ravensburger.us/discover/40-320-pieces-disney-puzzle/index.html).
www.ravensburger.us. Archived from the original (https://www.ravensburger.us/discover/40-
320-pieces-disney-puzzle/index.html) on June 23, 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
4. "Brio - press release" (http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ravensburger-acquires-re
nowned-swedish-toy-company-brio-287891001.html). PR Newswire. 2015-01-08.
5. "Jacobe Chrisman | LinkedIn" (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobe-chrisman-7607b4/).
Retrieved 2018-11-29.
6. Talbott, Chris (December 2, 2019). "Ravensburger's Capitol Hill office shows the growth of
the board game creation industry in Seattle" (https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/ra
vensburgers-capitol-hill-office-shows-the-growth-of-the-board-game-creation-industry-in-sea
ttle/). Seattle Times. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
7. "May 16: JoWooD Takes over Ravenburger" (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2002/05/16/may-16-j
owood-takes-over-ravenburger). 16 May 2002.
8. https://www.yfe.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/rtv_ar_e_99.pdf
9. "RTV scores Ravensburger block on Super RTL" (https://www.c21media.net/news/rtv-score
s-ravensburger-block-on-super-rtl/). C21Media.
10. "RTV Family Entertainment AG to Become Your Family Entertainment AG -
elEconomista.es" (https://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/111637/11/06/R
TV-Family-Entertainment-AG-to-Become-Your-Family-Entertainment-AG.html).
11. "GeekBuddy Analysis: The Name of the Rose (2008)" (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardga
me/35488/name-rose/credits). BoardGameGeek.

External links
Official website (http://www.ravensburger.com/)
Ravensburger (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/company/34), Alea (https://www.boardgam
egeek.com/company/9) and FX Schmid (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/company/11) at
BoardGameGeek

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