RAVENSBURGER, BOARD GAMES, PUZZLES AND MORE
The
company was originally a book shop and a publishing company in the city of Ravensburg. This family
business was lead by Carl Maier until the year 1876, when his son Otto took
over his place. Otto Maier was born in 1852.
In
1883 Otto Meier signed the first contracts with game authors, releasing the
first games the following year. Those were numbered OM-1, OM-2 and so on (Otto
Maier). The first board game was called “Reise um die Erde”, which can be
roughly translated to “Around the Globe”, and that was based in the stories by
the priest and writer Christoph von Schmid.
Apart
from numerous books, the company also had a vast catalogue of games, even in
such an early year like 1914. Since the market for games was not mature yet,
most of their publications were books. This situation would remain like this
until the last 50s. Prior to those years (including World War 2 in between), board games,
quartet card decks and Patience games were only a small part of all available
publications.
During
the last 50s, economy was again going better in Germany (after very hard times) and
so Ravensburger could expand their catalogue with children’s books as well as
technical books for arts and hobbies. That was a sign of the times. People had
again time for their hobbies, and also time to play. The turning point in this
company occurred in 1959: Ravensburger released a game called Memory that has
been sold over 50 million copies, and that still today is one of the “best
sellers” in games for children.
In
the 60s, the company would expand for most European countries. In 1977, the
book publishing business and the board game business would separate in two
companies with the same name.
The
board game and card deck manufacturer F.X. Schmid is also part of the
Ravensburger group, since it was acquired in 1996.
The deck
today is rather old. It was edited in 1956, still under the “Otto Maier Verlag”
name, but also under “Ravensburger Spiele”. We can see the logo on the lower
right corner: an “O” with an “M” inside, that builds the belly of a figure.
The same
logo appears on the back of the case, so it is the original one.
The card
with the instructions is still there, as well as a card promoting the games: “Fische
Fangen”, “Das Jagsspiel” and “Großwildjagd in Afrika” (Catch the Fishes, The
Hunt Game and Hunting in Africa).
The
instruction card has on its back a short list of quartet games also available
at the time with their reference numbers. The owners of the pictures are
correctly credited in that same card.
To finish the article, the
families of cards are:
South and Western Switzerland
Northern Italy
Italian Riviera
Central Italy
Sicily
Greece
Yugoslavia
French Riviera
Spain
FACTS AND FIGURES
- Name: SONNIGER SÜDEN
- Year: 1956
- Company: Ravensburger / Otto Maier Verlag (Germany)
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