THE HISTORY OF ASMODEE

Asmodee was founded by Marc Nunès in 1995. The original aim was to develop their own board games, whilst also reaching out to smaller publishers and offering their publishing and distribution services to them. In the early days, their focus was mostly on developing the French market.

Fast forward to 2019 and Asmodee has become the second biggest board game publisher in the world, following Hasbro. After gaining investment from Montefiore in 2007, the company began to make their acquisitions within the industry. They've gone on to acquire several of the major board game publisher in the last decade.

In 2013, Asmodee was acquired by French private equity firm, Eurazeo, for €143 million. Eurazeo began searching for a potential buyer for Asmodee in early 2018, and announced by July 2018 that it was selling the company to another French private equity firm, PAI Partners at a price of about €1.2 billion.

FRANCHISES AND DISTRIBUTION

An early success for Asmodee was Jungle Speed, a card game created by Thomas Vuarchex and Pierric Yakovenko in 1991. Asmodee gained the rights to the game in 1998 and promoted it heavily to several toy stores and retail outlets in France - selling four million copies.

They now have several top-selling franchises under their ownership, such as Ticket to Ride, Dixit, Splendor, Arkham Horror and Dobble.

On the distribution side of the business, Asmodee aquired the largest hobby games distributor in the UK, Esdevium Games, in 2010. The Esdevium name remained in place until 2018, when the firm officially became known as Asmodee UK. The company supplies many of the UK's board game retailers with stock.

Asmodee Game Collection - Esdevium

THE HISTORY OF ASMODEE

Asmodee was founded by Marc Nunès in 1995. The original aim was to develop their own board games, whilst also reaching out to smaller publishers and offering their publishing and distribution services to them. In the early days, their focus was mostly on developing the French market.

Fast forward to 2019 and Asmodee has become the second biggest board game publisher in the world, following Hasbro. After gaining investment from Montefiore in 2007, the company began to make their acquisitions within the industry. They've gone on to acquire several of the major board game publisher in the last decade.

In 2013, Asmodee was acquired by French private equity firm, Eurazeo, for €143 million. Eurazeo began searching for a potential buyer for Asmodee in early 2018, and announced by July 2018 that it was selling the company to another French private equity firm, PAI Partners at a price of about €1.2 billion.

FRANCHISES AND DISTRIBUTION

Asmodee was founded by Marc Nunès in 1995. The original aim was to develop their own board games, whilst also reaching out to smaller publishers and offering their publishing and distribution services to them. In the early days, their focus was mostly on developing the French market.

Fast forward to 2019 and Asmodee has become the second biggest board game publisher in the world, following Hasbro. After gaining investment from Montefiore in 2007, the company began to make their acquisitions within the industry. They've gone on to acquire several of the major board game publisher in the last decade.

In 2013, Asmodee was acquired by French private equity firm, Eurazeo, for €143 million. Eurazeo began searching for a potential buyer for Asmodee in early 2018, and announced by July 2018 that it was selling the company to another French private equity firm, PAI Partners at a price of about €1.2 billion.

Asmodee Game Collection - Esdevium

ASMODEE ACQUISITIONS

Asmodee have acquired large number of board game publishers in the last few years. In 2014, the company agreed on a merger with Days of Wonder and Fantasy Flight Games. They then acquired the English rights to the Catan Game Series from Mayfair Games, creating Catan Studio Inc in the process. In 2016, Asmodee acquired Z-Man Games, Plaid Hat Games and Filosophia. These are just a few examples of the acquisitions made by Asmodee.

FROM THE BLOG

Arkham Horror Third Edition Review

By Alex Toren | 07/12/2018

In the third edition of Arkham Horror, one to six players take on the role of investigators working together at to uncover a mystery in the city of Arkham.

Catan Board Game Review

By Ben Garry | 07/12/2021

Catan is often credited with being the forefather of the present-day Euro game. The game has been printed in 39 languages and sold over 27million copies.

Formula D Board Game Review

By Gareth Thomas | 22/09/2017

Formula D is great, it’s a fun game you have can have with the family and friends. You don’t need to a fan of F1 either! Find out more.

Ticket To Ride Review

By Robert Edmonds | 05/01/2022

Ticket to Ride looks stunning, plays really well with so much replay ability and is just a great way to spend an evening.

Splendor Review

By Martyn Poole | 27/02/2017

In his latest guest blog entry, Martyn gives his views and opinions on Splendor – the chip-collection and card development game buy the guys over at Space Cowboys.

Stuffed Fables Review

By Nick Welford | 09/02/2018

Stuffed Fables charms and awes with it’s engaging story, and escalating gameplay. It’s a journey that will win over adults and children alike.

Time Stories Review – (Asylum)

By Luke Hector | 21/09/2017

Well there were three major hype trains in 2015 – Blood Rage, Pandemic Legacy and Time Stories. Now you know I love meeting these trains head on and seeing what’s […]

GAMES PUBLISHED THROUGH THE ASMODEE COMPANY

DOBBLE

£10.34Add to basket

Dobble is a quick to learn, easy to play card game where players have to find the matching image as quickly as they can! Each Dobble card features various images, each card having just ONE symbol in common with all the other cards. Quick thinking, a keen eye and a loud voice are all vital if you want to win.

JUNGLE SPEED

£11.44Out Of Stock

Your keen eye and swift hand can win the day if you can stop laughing long enough to catch your breath. Jungle Speed is a dexterity game for two to 10 players that seems simple enough and everyone will be playing minutes after you open the box. Once you start playing though, the chaotic action takes all your concentration.

FORMULA D

£39.35Add to basket

Formula D  is a dice-rolling, grid movement game, with ongoing elements of press-your-luck. Up to 10 players take control of their own F1 car and race it around a multi-lane track. The game revolves around your gearbox, which is a physical, 3D device that even has a movable gear stick! Will you cross the line first?

SPLENDOR

£32.29Out Of Stock

Splendor, a game suitable for 2-4 players, is a fast paced, gem drafting, card development game that see players take on the role of gem merchants, battling through the renaissance to mine raw materials, transform them into precious stones and then sell them on to the rich and affluent.

T.I.M.E STORIES

£14.01Out Of Stock

T.I.M.E Stories is a narrative game, a game of "decksploration". Each player is free to give their character as deep a "role" as they want, in order to live through a story, as much in the game as around the table. But it's also a board game with rules which allow for reflection and optimisation. This game is from Space Cowboys.

DIXIT

£21.95Add to basket

Dixit is the winner of the 2010 Spiel dea Jahres Family Game of the Year Award. It's a game of imagination and interpretation. Dixit comes with 84 unique cards, each with wonderful, vivid and sometimes quite surreal artwork on them. The first to 30 points, or whoever has the most points when the deck runs out, is the winner.

£32.29Out Of Stock

£14.01Out Of Stock

£21.95Add to basket

DOBBLE

£10.34Add to basket

Dobble is a quick to learn, easy to play card game where players have to find the matching image as quickly as they can! Each Dobble card features various images, each card having just ONE symbol in common with all the other cards. Quick thinking, a keen eye and a loud voice are all vital if you want to win.

£10.34Add to basket

JUNGLE SPEED

£11.44Out Of Stock

Your keen eye and swift hand can win the day if you can stop laughing long enough to catch your breath. Jungle Speed is a dexterity game for two to 10 players that seems simple enough and everyone will be playing minutes after you open the box. Once you start playing though, the chaotic action takes all your concentration.

£11.44Out Of Stock

FORMULA D

£52.75Add to basket

Formula D  is a dice-rolling, grid movement game, with ongoing elements of press-your-luck. Up to 10 players take control of their own F1 car and race it around a multi-lane track. The game revolves around your gearbox, which is a physical, 3D device that even has a movable gear stick! Will you cross the line first?

£52.75Add to basket

SPLENDOR

£32.29Out Of Stock

Splendor, a game suitable for 2-4 players, is a fast paced, gem drafting, card development game that see players take on the role of gem merchants, battling through the renaissance to mine raw materials, transform them into precious stones and then sell them on to the rich and affluent.

£32.29Out Of Stock

T.I.M.E STORIES

£14.01Out Of Stock

T.I.M.E Stories is a narrative game, a game of "decksploration". Each player is free to give their character as deep a "role" as they want, in order to live through a story, as much in the game as around the table. But it's also a board game with rules which allow for reflection and optimisation. This game is from Space Cowboys.

£14.01Out Of Stock

DIXIT

£21.95Add to basket

Dixit is the winner of the 2010 Spiel dea Jahres Family Game of the Year Award. It's a game of imagination and interpretation. Dixit comes with 84 unique cards, each with wonderful, vivid and sometimes quite surreal artwork on them. The first to 30 points, or whoever has the most points when the deck runs out, is the winner.

£21.95Add to basket