Ravensburger
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
game company. It is a leader in the European puzzle
Puzzle
A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
market.
History
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier with seat in RavensburgRavensburg
Ravensburg is a town in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg.Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an important trading centre...
, a town in Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The name refers to the area between the Swabian Alb, Lake Constance and the Lech...
in southern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. 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 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
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
was registered with the Imperial Patent office
Patent office
A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...
. As of 1912, many board
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
and activity games had an export version that was distributed to Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, the countries of the Danube Monarchy as well as Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
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 puzzle games in 1964, and in the same year opened subsidiaries in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. In 1977 the company split into a book publishing arm and a game publishing arm.
Today there are approximately 1,800 available books and 850 games as well as puzzles, hobby products and CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
titles at Ravensburger and its subsidiaries, which include Alea for "hobby and ardent game players" and FX Schmid for games and children's books. Ravensburger products are exported to more than fifty countries.
In September 2010, Ravensburger broke Educa's record for the world's largest puzzle of 20,000 pieces. Ravensburger's new puzzle design by late pop artist Keith Haring
Keith Haring
Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...
titled, 'Keith Haring: Double Retrospect' breaks the Guinness Book of World Records measuring 17' x 6' built from 32,256 pieces and comes with its own dolly cart for toting.
Notable games
Games sold under the "Ravensburger" imprint:- Amazing LabyrinthAmazing LabyrinthLabyrinth is a board game for 1–4 players, published by Ravensburger in 1986 simultaneously with the film Labyrinth.- Gameplay :The game board forms a maze built of both fixed and moving pieces. The players rearrange the maze to their advantage by moving a row of pieces in turn. Each player has one...
- DingbatsDingbatsDingbats is the name of a board game that was devised by Paul Sellers and is currently manufactured by Ravensburger. The game, for two or more people, involves solving rebuses...
- Enchanted ForestEnchanted Forest (game)Enchanted Forest is a board game designed by Alex Randolph and Michel Matschoss that requires players to remember the locations of fairytale treasures...
- HavannahHavannahHavannah is an abstract strategy board game invented by Christian Freeling. It is played on a base-10 hexagonal board, ten hexes to a side...
- JavaJava (board game)Java is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 2000 by Ravensburger in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. It is illustrated by Franz Vohwinkel....
- Journey through EuropeJourney through EuropeJourney through Europe is a family board game published by Ravensburger. The board is a map of Europe with various major cities marked, for example, Athens, Amsterdam and London. The players are dealt a number of cards with the cities on. They must plan a route between each of the cities in their...
- MexicaMexica (board game)Mexica is a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 2002 by Ravensburger in German and Rio Grande Games in English. Mexica was awarded 5th prize in the 2002 Deutscher Spiele Preis....
- ReversiReversiReversi is a board game involving abstract strategy and played by two players on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns and a set of distinct pieces for each side. Pieces typically are disks with a light and a dark face, each face belonging to one player...
- Scotland YardScotland Yard (board game)Scotland Yard is a board game in which a team of players, as "police", cooperate to track down a player controlling a "criminal" around a board representing the streets of London. It is named after Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police Service...
- Star Wars
- Take It Easy
- TikalTikal (board game)Tikal is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 1999 by Ravensburger in German and by Rio Grande Games in English...
- Top Secret SpiesTop Secret SpiesTop Secret Spies is a spy-themed German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and published in 1984 by Ravensburger. The game, also known as Under Cover or Detective & Co, won the Spiel des Jahres award in 1986.The object of the game is to score the most points, while not revealing which...
Games sold under the "Alea" imprint:
- Puerto Rico
- RaRa (board game)Ra is a board game for two to five players designed by Reiner Knizia and themed around Ra, the sun-god of Heliopolis in ancient Egyptian culture....
- San JuanSan Juan (game)San Juan is a card game designed by Andreas Seyfarth and published in 2004 by Alea in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. The game is derived from the board game Puerto Rico, and takes its name from San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico....
- Princes of Florence
- Chinatown
Games sold under the "FX Schmid" imprint:
- Auf AchseAuf AchseAuf Achse is a logistics-themed board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and published in 1987 by FX Schmid. The game won the Spiel des Jahres award. In 1992, a junior edition was released; and in 1994 a rummy-like card game spinoff was released...
- TorresTorres (board game)Torres is a German-style board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling and published in 1999 by FX Schmid in German and by Rio Grande Games in English. The game strongly influenced Kramer and Kiesling's Mask Trilogy of games, but is not considered to be a part of the trilogy...
Games sold under the "Ravensburger Digital" label:
- MemoryConcentration (game)Concentration, also known as Memory, Pelmanism, Shinkei-suijaku, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards...
Editions: Classic, Kids, My Photos - App Store
External links
- Ravensburger's official site.
- World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle by Ravensburger.