For over a century until 1996, F.X. Schmid was an important German manufacturer of playing cards (traditional card games and quartets), board games and puzzles. It was considered one of the major European manufacturers. In 1995, its turnover was 67 million DM and there were around 250 employees.
The publishing house has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Ravensburger since 1996. The name F.X. Schmid is used today in the field of children's books and playing cards by Ravensburger.
History
German entrepreneur, Franz Xaver Schmid, founded the publishing house in Munich in 1860, which produced toys and cards. The company was then run as the United Munich Playing Card Factories (Vereinigte Münchener Spielkarten-Fabriken) in 1915. During the Second World War the company relocated its headquarters to Prien am Chiemsee. The manufacture and production of board games and puzzles started there in 1955. In 1977 the site was expanded and there was a branch in the United States.[1]
In 1991, the playing card programme of F.X. Schmid was integrated into the production of the ASS Altenburger in Thuringia.