ASS Altenburger
Playing card maker in Altenburg, Thuringia, the town where Skat was invented; licensed in 1832, it has belonged to Belgium's Cartamundi since the early 2000s and prints tens of millions of decks a year.
- Sector
- Consumer Brands
- Headquarters
- Altenburg, Thuringia
- Founded
- 1832
- Ownership
- Subsidiary of Cartamundi (Turnhout, Belgium) since 2002/2003
- Known for
- Skat and Doppelkopf card decks
- Website
- www.spielkarten.com
- Topics
- playing cards Skat games Thuringia Cartamundi East German brand
What they do
ASS Altenburger prints and sells playing cards for Skat, Doppelkopf, Rommé, bridge and poker, along with card and board games. Most of its production takes place in Altenburg, a former ducal residence town south of Leipzig. According to figures the company published in 2017, Altenburg turns out almost 40 million card decks a year, and Wikipedia describes the factory as the German market leader.
Why it matters
Altenburg is not just any card town. Skat, Germany's national card game, was developed there in the 1810s by members of a local Tarock club, and the International Skat Court, which settles disputes over the rules, still sits in Altenburg. The town's nickname is the playing card town, and its castle houses a museum with a historic collection of playing cards. Making the cards where the game was born is a branding gift few firms enjoy.
Products to know
- Skat decks: in French and German suit patterns.
- Doppelkopf, Rommé and Canasta cards.
- Licensed games: card and board games for German-speaking markets.
The German angle
The company's history mirrors Germany's. On 16 November 1832 the Bechstein brothers received permission to make playing cards in the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg. After the Second World War the business split: in the East it became the state-owned VEB Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik, while a separate ASS company operated in Leinfelden-Echterdingen in the West. After reunification the Altenburg plant passed through Ravensburger before Cartamundi, the Belgian card maker founded in Turnhout in 1765, bought it in 2002. In 2003 the eastern and western brands were merged as ASS Altenburger. Today a Belgian group owns a Thuringian factory that prints the cards for a game invented in the same town two centuries ago.
Sources
Stories
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Last reviewed 4 November 2026. Main source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASS_Altenburger. Something out of date? Suggest a correction.