In the game for 200 years!
The Viennese playing card factory Ferdinand Piatnik und Söhne can look back on a 200-year history of success. Its three main divisions – playing cards, board games and puzzles – form the foundation of the company. From the very beginning, the focus has been on products that bring fun and bring people together. This mission is still relevant today and contributes to the company’s international success.
A special anniversary year
To mark its 200th anniversary, Piatnik is launching a special product for each of its three pillars. In addition, many new games are being released that are aimed at both families and couples and thus follow current trends.
On May 14, 1824, Anton Moser founded a card painting business in Vienna’s 7th district. After his death, Ferdinand Piatnik took over the business and renamed it “Ferdinand Piatnik in Vienna”. He quickly established unique playing card motifs such as the “Double Germans” and the rummy cards that are still popular today. Piatnik soon became synonymous with card games, and even today you can still hear “Heiliger Piatnik, schau oba” in Viennese coffee houses.
Ferdinand Piatnik’s sons continued to run the company, utilized the technological possibilities of their time and made Piatnik internationally known.
In 1891, the company switched to modern industrial production, moved to its current location in Hütteldorfer Straße and designed the well-known logo with the horseman. After the losses in the war, Piatnik started almost from scratch in 1945. Another milestone was the production of board games such as Halma and chess, before the company developed its own games. In 1966, puzzles were added as the third pillar.
Over the last 40 years, Piatnik has made a name for itself with a clever selection of board games. Every year, the Austrian publisher brings around 20 new games onto the market, mainly for children, families and parties. Managing Director Dieter Strehl, great-grandson of the company founder, emphasizes that it is difficult to recognize the potential of a game in advance. But with games such as Activity, Tick Tack Bumm and Smart 10, Piatnik has achieved successes that it is proud of because they bring joy to millions of people.
Piatnik focuses on sustainability through the use of FSC-certified materials, raw materials of European origin and production in Vienna. 100% green electricity and an “Ökoprofit” program to avoid waste reduce the company’s CO2 footprint. This path will be consistently pursued in order to guarantee gaming fun for the next 200 years.
“Gaming fun, community and family, curiosity, humanity and responsibility for people and the environment – these values characterize our corporate culture,” emphasizes Managing Director Dieter Strehl.
The tradition-conscious family business currently employs 100 people at its site in Hütteldorfer Straße, where production also takes place alongside purchasing, sales, marketing and development – a unique feature in the toy industry. Every year, around 25 million packs of playing cards, 3 million games and 1 million puzzles are sold worldwide.
You can also find various board games from Piatnik in our store, from Activity to Tick Tack Bumm!
