Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag (NSV) is a German

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

manufacturer and

board game publisher A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

based in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. It was founded in 1989 after outsourcing from the publishing house of F.X. Schmid and builds on the "Heinrich Schwarz Playing Card Factory, Nuremberg" (''Spielkartenfabrik Heinrich Schwarz Nürnberg'') founded in 1948. The company produces

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a Pap ...

and

dice games Dice games are games that use or incorporate one or more dice as their sole or central component, usually as a random device. The following are games which largely, if not entirely, depend on dice: Collectible dice games Patterned after the su ...

and, especially in recent years, increasingly proprietary games from various game authors.

History

NSV emerged from the Heinrich Schwarz's Playing Cards Factory in Nuremberg which he founded in 1948. In the early 1960s the company traded under the name "Heinrich Schwarz & Co" and was sold to Gisela Herfurth, who further developed and expanded the company as ''Nürnberger Spielkarten GmbH'' with the label "''Neue Nürnberger Spielkarten''" (New Nuremberg Playing Cards). It was able to expand the range of playing cards and expand it to include advertising material and other toys, as well as establishing international trade. In 1989, the company was acquired by F.X. Schmid. In 1995, NSV became independent again and in the following year F.X. Schmid was taken over by

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game, puzzle and toy company, publishing house, and market leader in the jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...

. The publishing house was managed by Gerhard Lang until 2005, after which his successor and current managing director, Franz Jurthe, took over.

Range

NSV produces

card games A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

dice game Dice games are games that use or incorporate one or more dice as their sole or central component, usually as a random device. The following are games which largely, if not entirely, depend on dice: Collectible dice games Patterned after the su ...

s, memo games,

puzzles A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different ...

and advertising games. Its manufacturing facility is in

Zirndorf Zirndorf () is a town, which is part of the district of Fürth. It is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. Neighbouring municipalities The following towns and municipalities share borders with Zirn ...

near Nuremberg. According to the publisher, playing cards for popular classics such as Skat,

Tarock Tarock is German for Tarot and may refer to: * German Tarok, progenitor of a family of American and Austro-German card games * Bavarian Tarock, once popular Bavarian card game * Königrufen, most popular Austrian tarot game, often just called Ta ...

Schafkopf Schafkopf (, lit. 'sheep's head'), also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German Trick-taking game, trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. ...

Poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

as well as large range of game are an important part of the range, as well as games and playing cards as an advertising medium for companies, and in recent years increasingly proprietary games designed by various game authors. They are the only producers of special packs for the game of Zwicker which include 6 Jokers in a standard, 52-card, Berlin pattern pack. One of the publisher's most important German sales partners is

Heidelberger Spieleverlag Michael Heidelberger (April 29, 1888 – June 25, 1991) was an American immunologist, often regarded as the father of modern immunology. He and Oswald Avery showed that the polysaccharides of pneumococcus are antigens, enabling him to show tha ...

. Well-known author games from NSV are the dice game ''Qwixx'', nominated for

Game of the Year Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...

in 2013, and the card game, ''The Game'', both by Steffen Benndorf. In 2018 the game, ''The Mind'', by Wolfgang Warsch was nominated for Game of the Year.

Games

In addition to classic card packs for the games like Skat,

Binokel Binokel is a card game for two to eight players that originated in Switzerland as Binocle, but spread to the German state of Württemberg, where it is typically played with a Württemberg pattern pack. It is still popular in Württemberg, where i ...

NSV produces various other games including: 160507 Qwixx Spielmaterial 07

* ''Ärger dich schwarz'' (2007, Frank Stark) * ''Ochsen soxen'' (2007, Marco Teubner) * ''Zoff am Herd'' (2007, Thomas Camenzind and Robert Stoop) * ''Sticheln'' (2012, Klaus Palesch) * ''Land unter'' (2012, "Modern Classic" Stefan Dorra) * ''Qwixx'' (2013, Steffen Benndorf) * ''Basari'' (2014, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Dicht dran'' (2014, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Kuh Vadis'' (2014, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Kuhlorado'' (2014, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Zum Kuhkuck'' (2014, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Qwixx – the Card Game'' (2014, Steffen Benndorf) * ''The Game'' (2015, Steffen Benndorf) * ''Träxx'' (2016, Steffen Benndorf) * ''Life is Life'' (2016, Lorenz Kutschke) * ''Take that'' (2016, Andreas Spies, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Qwinto'' (2016, Uwe Rapp, Bernhard Lach) * ''Qwixx: Das Duell'' (2016, Steffen Benndorf) * ''Qwinto: Das Kartenspiel'' (2017, Uwe Rapp, Bernhard Lach, Reinhard Staupe) * ''twenty one'' (2017, Steffen Benndorf, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Tembo'' (2017, Andreas Spies) * ''Wat’n dat!?'' (2017, Claude Weber) * ''Knister'' (2017, Heinz Wüppen) * ''The Game: Face to Face'' (2017, Steffen Benndorf) * ''Illusion'' (2018, Wolfgang Warsch) * ''Alle gegen Rudi'' (2018, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Qwantum'' (2018, Stefan Kloß, Anna Oppolzer, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Li-La-Laut'' (2018, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Würfelland'' (2018, Andreas Spies, Reinhard Staupe) * ''The Mind'' (2018, Wolfgang Warsch) * ''Go5'' (2019, Armin Mumper) * ''The Mind - The Sound Experiment'' (2019, Wolfgang Warsch, Andreas Bindig) * ''Knaster'' (2019, Markus Schleininger, Reinhard Staupe, Heinz Wüppen) * ''Ohanami'' (2019, Steffen Benndorf) * ''Silver & Gold'' (2019, Phil Walker-Harding) * ''Kippelino'' (2019, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Qwixx on Board'' (2019, Steffen Benndorf, Reinhard Staupe) * ''Anubixx'' (2019, Florian Ortlepp, Helmut Ortlepp, Steffen Benndorf) * ''The Mind Extreme'' (2019, Wolfgang Warsch) * ''Contact – Signale aus dem Weltall'' (2020, Steffen Benndorf) * ''The Game: Quick & Easy'' (2020, Steffen Benndorf) * ''Wir sind die Roboter'' (2020, Reinhard Staupe)

References

Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag
at reich-der-spiele.de; retrieved 26 January 2017.
Qwixx
' at the

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, 'Game of the Year') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence an ...

website; retrieved 26 January 2017.
The Game
' at the

website; retrieved 26 January 2017.

External links

Official website
* *
Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag
at reich-der-spiele.de {{DEFAULTSORT:NurnbergerSpielkartenVerlag Playing card manufacturers Board game publishing companies Publishing companies of Germany Manufacturing companies based in Nuremberg 1989 establishments in West Germany