Description:

175 Years of ASS Altenburger

Germany’s oldest playing card manufacturer celebrated their 175th anniversary in 2007.

History:

• 1832 Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik was founded by the Bechstein brothers.
• 1945 The company was split in an Eastern and Western part in Germany.
• 1952 The trump game is invented under brand ASS in the Western part of Germany.
• 1991 Political turning point in Germany: Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg is reprivatized and sold to Company F.X. Schmid, Vereinigte Münchner Spielkartenfabriken by the German trust agency.
• 1996 Companies F.X.Schmid as well as Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg were bought by the company Ravensburger.
• 2002 Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg has been sold from Ravensburger to the international manufacturer of cards and playing cards Carta Mundi. The headquarters of Carta Mundi is in Turnhout, Belgium.
• 2004 A successful story made in Thuringia: 40 million game units were sold - a record year in the history of the company Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg GmbH

2007 is a very special year for the ASS Altenburger Company. Besides strong new marketing cooperation, e.g. with the Pegasus-Verlag, the company is able to take over the Königsfurt-Urania GmbH in October, thus strengthening their leadership on the German market. What is more, ASS Altenburger showcases their products for the first time at the Essener Spieletage, Germany’s most important consumer toy fair in October 2007. Today, ASS offers more than 300 different games and develops over 30 new products every year. That makes them leading production development site of the global Carta Mundi Group. With 161 employees and up to 50 million products each year, ASS Altenburger is market leader in the categories Retail, Premium (Promotional Cards) and Games (external suppliers for game companies) in Germany.