|
The roots of card game culture are in Austria: Here Piatnik started their carrier 185 years ago. Today, the company belongs to the most important cards manufacturers on Earth and – due to best selling games like “Activity” – has long become one of the leading games companies on the world market. A major contribution to their success makes their German subsidiary in Mönchengladbach. Since their foundation 16 years ago they support the Vienna-based publisher on the German market.
Passion for games
It’s their passion for games that unites Piatnik in Vienna, Austria, and in Piatnik in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Not only the Alpine region is considered the cradle of game culture, which finds its crest in Vienna’s coffee houses – also Germany has a tradition of board games: Here the local pub is inseparably linked to good games of trumping, here no child grows up without having their own jigsaw, and here “Activity” is the most popular activity for merry evenings with friends.
 |
|
Tradition and innovation
The secret to Piatnik’s continuing success on the German market lies in their company philosophy: They combine traditional values with innovation, high quality made in Vienna with a keen sense of new trends. So within the last 185 years the small cards manufacture developed into a large publishing company that plays on all markets. Subsidiaries like Piatnik Germany contribute to their success on major markets, which CEO Dieter Strehl considers to be in Europe, the USA and Asia. Despite difficult conditions, Piatnik generates about 80% of their sales abroad. And even international business looks back on a long tradition: Their products have been shipped to East and South Europe even before World War I. |
Sense of markets and trends
A keen sense of sales potentials and upcoming markets is still a major trait of Pianik: In addition to their German subsidiary, they also established offices in the USA, Hungary and the Czech Republic. “We rely on new development and investment in strategic places”, said Strehl. The company optimised and modernized production flows at their parent company in Vienna, Hütteldorfer Straße. Efficient production and distribution are topped off by a knack for product development: Successful party games like “Activity” (about five million sold games) and “Tick-Tack-Bumm” (almost three million sold games) testify to their sense of consumers’ demands. Piatnik picks up latest trends like the Poker craze with top-class products, including the high quality “Pro Poker-Koffer”. Lifestyle ideas come true in their “Kollektion für Genießer” with the exclusive trivia game “Sybarit”. Piatnik also provides several hits for young gamers – including the popular “Fische fangen”, learning games like “Magische Wörter” and hilarious entertainment like “Jack, der Krähenschreck”.
|
Piatnik - 185 years of game history
The playing cards manufacturer Ferdinand Piatnik & Söhne has long become a synonym for traditional Vienna game culture. Founded back in 1824 as a small cards manufacture the company today operates in more than 60 countries. The sons of founder Ferdinand Piatnik rebuilt the craftman’s establishment into a modern machine production of playing cards at the site of today’s headquarters in Vienna, Hütteldorfer Straße. The family enterprise soon began to expand their businesses: At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century they acquired companies like “Ritter & Cie” in Prague and “Spielkartenfabrik Vannak” in Budapest as well as a paper mill in Ratschach, Slovenia, to guarantee continuing supply of base paper and adjusted production to modern print technology. Political changes during and after both world wars influenced company structure and ownership. Since 1939 the company operated under the name “Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne”. But Piatnik never gave in, modernized their production facilities and reorganized international businesses. At the end of the 1960ies the company extended their product portfolio to board games and jigsaw puzzles. At the beginning of the 1990ies they started founding international subsidiaries, like Piantik Germany GmbH in 1993, that make a major contribution to international success. Today Piatnik is leading the playing cards market in Austria, and belongs to the most important playing cards manufacturers worldwide. |
|
 | |
