EXITING THE PAST: THE 200-YEAR TIMELINE OF THAMES & KOSMOS

One of the USA's hottest game publishers has a long history overseas.

- Natalie Rodriguez

Thames & Kosmos may be relative newcomers to the gaming industry, but parts of the company have been around for 200 years.

Its parent company, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG (Kosmos), founded in 1822 in Stuttgart, Germany, published science books and magazines for most of its history. In the 1920s, the company sold its first science kits for children and young adults. The company later expanded into board games, but limited itself to the European market.

CROSSING THE POND

The U.S. branch of the corporation began as the Thames Science Center, a small science center and toy store located in Newport, Rhode Island. In 2001, they teamed up with Kosmos to bring that company's popular science kits to the U.S. In 2013, Kosmos invested in Thames, with the company taking on the name Thames & Kosmos (T&K). As part of the acquisition, T&K gained access to most of Kosmos's board game library. Two years later, as company officials noticed the increased demand for board games, T&K released a collection of Kosmos's best games for North American gamers.

"Adding board games to our line was a natural progression for the company. And personally, as an avid gamer and CATAN fan, I was excited to have an even more personal connection to the products we were producing," explains T&K President Ted McGuire.

The new company has grown its gaming catalog in seven short years from six games to 70 active titles. According to McGuire, most of the company's game development starts in Germany with Kosmos. There, the editors and designers work on the games, which T&K adapts for their customers in the U.S. and Canada. Ensuring a game made in Germany works for English-speaking customers across the Atlantic doesn't stop with translations. Games must be playtested rigorously, rulebooks edited intensively, and packaging adapted. Sometimes, the game's title also changes.