Two hundred and twelve brand guides to the hobby and games-room trade — from model kits, trains and diecast to darts, playing cards, chess and pinball — with who owns each name today.
Hobby brands carry a lot of childhood memory, and many of them have changed owners several times since. The guides below follow those changes, and where the products are made now.
One collapse, many owners
Some of the best-known names were scattered by a single failure. Hobbico’s collapse in 2018 sent Revell to Germany’s Quantum Capital Partners, which also owns the slot-car maker Carrera. Airfix belongs to Hornby Hobbies, which in early 2026 sold Scalextric to Purbeck Capital Partners. Round 2 owns Auto World alongside the AMT and MPC model kits.
Hidden families of brands
Many rival-looking names share a parent. Mattel has owned Matchbox since 1997, making it a sibling of its old rival Hot Wheels; Hong Kong’s May Cheong Group owns both Maisto and Bburago; Germany’s Simba Dickie Group owns Majorette and Märklin; and Horizon Hobby owns ARRMA, Losi and Athearn. In darts, Nodor owns Winmau and Red Dragon, and in playing cards Belgium’s Cartamundi owns the US Playing Card Company — and with it Bicycle, Bee and Fournier — as well as Copag.
Others are independent by design: Traxxas is held by the Jenkins family, Tamiya is still family-owned, and Atlas is still run by its founding family.
Still made where they began
Others have stayed close to home. Italeri still produces its kits in Italy, Bandai still molds Gunpla at its Shizuoka Hobby Center in Japan, and Bonzini still assembles its baby-foot tables in Bagnolet, outside Paris. Diamond’s professional pool table is, by our guide’s account, 100% US-made, and several puzzle makers — Springbok, White Mountain — still manufacture in America. Shot Darts makes its darts and boards in-house in New Zealand, and Noj hand-makes chess sets in Slovenia even as most of the trade moved to India.
Standards and survivors
Some names set the standard others follow: Jaques of London first made the Staunton chess set in 1849, the pattern tournaments now use, and DGT’s clocks and electronic boards are FIDE’s official equipment. In pinball, our guide calls Stern the lone continuous survivor of the trade.
Five official tables
Foosball has no single world table: the International Table Soccer Federation recognises several, and our guides cover Tornado, Bonzini, Garlando and Roberto Sport among the five official ITSF tables.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers who owns the name today, where the products are made — by the maker’s own account and, where it differs, by other sources — and the brand’s visual identity. A company’s description of itself is attributed to the company, and where a business has closed we say so plainly. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
Model kits
Plastic scale-model-kit makers, from Revell and Airfix to Bandai.
- Revell — The 1943 US-and-German kit brand that Hobbico’s 2018 collapse sent to Germany’s Quantum Capital Partners, the same failure that scattered Estes and ARRMA.
- Airfix — The 1939 name behind the 1/72 Spitfire, part of Hornby Hobbies (with Corgi and Humbrol) since 2006.
- Italeri — The 1962 Bologna maker that, unusually, still produces its kits in Italy while trading molds with the rest of the industry.
- Academy — The 1969 South Korean company (Soon Hwan Kim) that grew from Academy Science into a global value brand, distributed in the US by MRC but Korean-owned.
- Trumpeter — The Zhongshan maker whose ambitious large-scale kits (giant ships and aircraft) mark the model world’s shift East.
- Bandai — The Gundam-kit maker under Bandai Namco (via Bandai Spirits) whose flagship Gunpla, the world’s best-selling model kits, is still molded at its Shizuoka Hobby Center in Japan.
- Dragon — The 1987 DML maker famous for finely-detailed 1:35 armor and figures, its Smart Kits and DS plastic, designed in Hong Kong and made in Shenzhen.
Slot cars
Slot-car makers and the investors who now own them.
- Scalextric — The definitive British 1:32 slot brand from 1957 (Fred Francis, Minimodels) that Hornby, keeping Airfix and Corgi, sold to Purbeck Capital Partners in early 2026.
- Carrera — The 1963 Fürth slot-track maker, its name licensed from Porsche, now owned by Quantum Capital Partners and paired with Revell under the same parent.
- Ninco — The 1993 Barcelona maker (founders ex-EXIN) of mass-market 1:32 sets and track, reported acquired around 2018 by Educa Borrás, which then shifted toward drones and RC.
- Slot.it — The Reggio Emilia performance house (Galileo Engineering, from 1998, Maurizio Ferrari and Maurizio Gibertoni) whose competition cars and tuning parts run the club racing scene, and which owns the revived Policar brand.
- Policar — The historic 1960s Italian slot marque (from APS-Politoys) that Slot.it brought back around 2014 as its ready-to-race line and modular track system.
- Fly — The Madrid collector-favourite (Rafael Barrios, from 1996) famous for exquisitely detailed 1:32 cars and trucks, active once more with a new EVO3 racing range made in partnership with Scaleauto.
- Auto World — The reborn 1958 mail-order name (now a Round 2 brand alongside the AMT and MPC model kits) that keeps the classic Aurora Thunderjet HO slot-car lineage running.
Foosball tables
Table-football makers in the US, France and Italy.
- Tornado — The US tournament-standard foosball table (from 1970), one of the five official ITSF tables, and a brand of Valley-Dynamo alongside Dynamo, Valley and Champion.
- Bonzini — The Parisian baby-foot institution (Bergaglia family, since 1927, ~90% of the French café market) that still designs and assembles its tables in Bagnolet, one of the five official ITSF tables.
- Garlando — The 1954 Piedmont firm (Giuseppe Garlando), one of the five official ITSF tables and the exclusive Italian distributor of Stiga table tennis, still family-owned and made in Italy.
- René Pierre — The 1952 French maker (from Ranchot in the Jura, now Chalon-sur-Saône), 100% family-owned, that builds both football tables and billiard tables in France.
- Shelti — The maker that shares Tornado’s 1947 Valley Co. root (Bay City, Michigan) but split off, staying American-made in Michigan and now owned by Game Room Guys as Shelti / Gold Standard Games.
- Roberto Sport — One of Italy’s oldest calcio-balilla makers and a five-official-ITSF table, 100% Made in Italy at Lessolo, its commercial operations today run by Sportify SRL.
- Warrior — The Hesperia, California tournament brand (ITSF-recognized, sold direct) whose founding, ownership and country of manufacture it simply does not publish.
Billiards
Cue and pool-table makers, and the scattered Brunswick name.
- Predator — The Predator Group (owner Karim Belhaj) whose 1994 “314” shaft revolutionized cues, now an umbrella over Poison, Uni-Loc, the Arcos II balls and APEX tables.
- Brunswick — The heritage billiards giant whose pieces scattered: Brunswick Corp is a boat company now, and the Brunswick Billiards table brand belongs to Escalade’s Brunswick Billiards Group.
- McDermott — The 1975 Wisconsin brand, American-made, whose Star cues are the overseas-built value line, and which (contrary to a common mix-up) does not own Lucasi.
- Diamond — The 1987 Indiana maker (reportedly founded by Greg Sullivan) whose Diamond Professional, 100% US-made, is the table pro tournaments run on, against Brunswick’s heritage Gold Crown.
- Cuetec — The carbon-and-fiberglass cue brand owned by Imperial International, the fourth-generation family game-room distributor, its Cynergy carbon shaft the modern flagship.
- Meucci — The Mississippi cue brand (Bob Meucci, from 1975) whose founder retired from day-to-day operations in 2022, remaining designer and ambassador, and whose current ownership it does not disclose.
- Olhausen — The 1972 Olhausen-family maker (brothers Butch and Don Olhausen), building premium American pool tables with its Accu-Fast cushions in Portland, Tennessee.
Jigsaw puzzles
Puzzle makers, from US consolidators to family firms.
- Buffalo Games — The Buffalo, NY maker (private-equity-owned by Mason Wells since 2018) whose brands include Ceaco, Gamewright, Brainwright and Skee-Ball, most of it made in the USA.
- Ceaco — The 1987 Canton maker of licensed-art puzzles, itself a Buffalo Games brand, that in turn owns the Gamewright and Brainwright game lines.
- Springbok — The 1963 Lewin maker of circular and octagonal puzzles that went from Hallmark to Allied Products to Allied Brands, still made in the USA in Kansas City.
- White Mountain — The 1978 Jackson maker (founders Minton and Wroblewski, now their sons) of nostalgic collage puzzles, manufactured in America.
- Cobble Hill — The Victoria, BC puzzle line (its thick blue board and linen texture) that is a brand of Outset Media rather than a standalone company, made in North America.
- Gibsons — The London-founded, fourth-generation Gibson family maker (Kate Gibson MD; a B Corp) whose puzzles carry a British-since-1919 heritage.
- Pomegranate — The 1968 Portland art house (Thomas Burke) whose fine-art jigsaw puzzles license museums and artists like Escher and Charley Harper, still independent and shipping from Portland.
Diecast cars
Diecast model-car makers.
- Matchbox — The Lesney “1-75” cars that a Hong Kong owner and then Tyco carried before Mattel acquired the brand in 1997, making it a sibling of its old rival Hot Wheels.
- Maisto — The budget 1:18 and 1:24 diecast brand (launched 1990) owned by the May Cheong Group, which also owns its stablemate Bburago.
- Bburago — The Burago di Molgora brand (from 1974) that went bankrupt in 2005 and was bought in 2006 by Hong Kong’s May Cheong Group, the same owner as Maisto.
- Tomica — The ~1:64 Japanese-market diecast that Tomy launched in 1970, now a brand of Takara Tomy (the 2006 Takara-plus-Tomy merger).
- Majorette — The 1961 Lyon diecast brand (Émile Véron) that, after French financial troubles, has been part of Germany’s Simba Dickie Group since 2010.
- AutoArt — The high-detail 1:18 model-car brand (from 1998) that moved to composite construction, privately held under a Gateway-group association whose ultimate ownership is not public.
- Greenlight — The Indianapolis maker (founded 2002) of 1:64 and larger diecast, known for its “Hollywood” movie- and TV-licensed cars, independently held as of its last documented ownership change in 2013.
Model trains
Model-railway makers.
- Lionel — The New York store-window loco that Joshua Cowen turned into O-gauge tinplate, through a 2004 bankruptcy and, in 2026, a merger with Round 2 into Lionel Brands Group.
- Bachmann — The American ready-to-run model-train name (the E-Z Track system, the Thomas range) that has belonged to the Hong Kong manufacturer Kader since the early-to-mid 1980s, and is made in China.
- Hornby — The 1901 Liverpool model-railway name (Frank Hornby of Meccano) that owns Airfix, Corgi and Humbrol, went private in 2025 under Phoenix Asset Management, and sold Scalextric in early 2026.
- Märklin — The Göppingen inventor of Z scale and the three-rail AC system that, after a 2009 insolvency, has belonged since 2013 to Germany’s Simba Dickie Group, the same parent as the diecast brand Majorette.
- Atlas — The New Jersey model-railroad company founded in 1924 as the Atlas Tool Company, still run by the founding Schaffan-Haedrich family, and known as much for its track as its trains.
- Kato — The Tokyo model-train maker (founded 1957 by Yuji Kato) behind the Unitrack integrated-track system, family-led under Sekisui Kinzoku, with Kato USA of Illinois as its distribution arm.
- Athearn — The California model-train maker (from Irv Athearn’s 1940s business) whose Genesis and Roundhouse lines have belonged since 2004 to Horizon Hobby, the hobby group that also owns ARRMA and Losi.
RC cars
Radio-controlled car makers.
- Traxxas — The McKinney, Texas maker (since 1986) of the Slash and X-Maxx, privately held by the Jenkins family and, unlike its conglomerate-owned rivals, owned by no group.
- ARRMA — The Kraton and Outcast “bash” trucks that came to Horizon Hobby out of Hobbico’s 2018 bankruptcy, sharing their parent with Losi.
- Losi — The early-1980s California racing marque (Gil Losi’s Team Losi) that merged into Horizon Hobby in 2000, sharing its parent with ARRMA.
- Tamiya — The Shizuoka company (from a 1946 lumber business) behind the buildable Grasshopper and Hornet RC kits and a huge plastic-model line, still family-owned under the red-and-blue twin-star.
- Redcat — The Arizona-based brand (founded 2005) whose affordable Gen8 crawlers and Blackout trucks make it the accessible, big-box name, presenting as independent and privately held.
- HPI Racing — The 1986 Southern-California RC name (the Savage and Baja) whose original operation ended around 2016 and which now sits under Europe’s Vestergaard Group, after UK distributor Ripmax took it on.
- Team Associated — The California maker of the legendary 1984 RC10 buggy, an American racing icon that has been owned since 2005 by Taiwan’s Thunder Tiger.
Model rockets
Model and high-power rocketry brands.
- Estes — The 1958 Penrose flagship (the Alpha, the Saturn V) that passed through Damon, Estes-Cox and Hobbico’s bankruptcy to the Langford family in 2018, its old parent long ago absorbing its rival Centuri.
- Quest Aerospace — Bill Stine’s value line (son of the father of model rocketry) that Marvel once owned and that since 2014 has been a division of RCS/AeroTech.
- AeroTech — The high-power reloadable-motor maker (RCS Rocket Motor Components, Cedar City, Utah) that runs both AeroTech and Quest under one roof.
- LOC Precision — The 1985 high-power kit brand, Wisconsin-owned since 2016, that also fronts the wound-down Public Missiles line.
- Apogee Components — The Colorado Springs, education-first rocket company (since 1987, the Peak of Flight newsletter) that stayed independent as the field consolidated around it.
- Public Missiles — The Michigan kit brand whose standalone business wound down (its own website now lapsed) and whose name is carried on today by LOC Precision.
- Semroc — The classic-kit reproduction brand (roots in a 1970s North Carolina firm) now made by eRockets in Dayton, Ohio.
Darts
Dart and dartboard makers.
- Nodor — The English chemist’s business (from 1919) credited with the modern sisal dartboard in the 1930s, now the Welsh holding company (Bridgend) that owns Winmau and Red Dragon too, majority-bought in a 2025 buyout by an undisclosed investor.
- Winmau — The maker of the official PDC Blade dartboard and the Winmau World Masters, which is not an independent firm but a brand of the Nodor group (its old rival) since a 2002 takeover.
- Unicorn — The “since 1937” darts name (Eclipse boards, “Play With The Best”) still controlled by the Lowy family, which in 2025 restructured it under a new holding company and trust rather than selling it.
- Target — The Harlow, Essex darts maker (its OMNI auto-scoring, its top-player signatures) that is privately owned by Garry Plummer through Elysian Holdings, and is entirely unrelated to the American retailer Target.
- Red Dragon — The Welsh-branded, player-driven darts maker (Gerwyn Price’s signature ranges) whose own company registration is Nodor International Limited, placing it alongside Nodor and Winmau in the Bridgend group.
- Shot Darts — The Katikati maker (founded 1970 as Puma Dart Products, Shot since 2017) that, uniquely in the round, is a Southern-Hemisphere, McCormick-family firm making its darts and boards in-house in New Zealand.
- Viper — The American electronic- and soft-tip-dartboard brand (the Viper 800 and Neptune) made by GLD Products of Muskego, Wisconsin, the distributor-owned house-brand answer to the British steel-tip heritage houses.
Playing cards
Playing-card makers.
- Bicycle — The 1885 Cincinnati flagship (the Rider Back, the magician’s deck) that, through its maker USPCC, has belonged since 2019 to Belgium’s Cartamundi.
- Bee — The borderless No. 92 diamond-back (1892, the casino table’s card) that, like Bicycle, is a USPCC brand owned since 2019 by Belgium’s Cartamundi.
- Copag — The São Paulo plastic-card maker (the poker-boom deck, the WSOP supplier) that has been a Cartamundi subsidiary since 2005.
- Fournier — The Vitoria maker of the baraja española (founder Heraclio Fournier, cards from 1870) that USPCC bought in 1986 and that passed with USPCC to Belgium’s Cartamundi in 2019.
- theory11 — The founder-led US deck brand (Jonathan Bayme, 2007; the luxury collector decks) that stays independent yet has its cards printed by USPCC, the very maker Cartamundi now owns.
- Modiano — The Trieste card maker (from 1868, out of a cigarette-paper business) that is independent of Cartamundi yet, since 1988, is owned not by the Modiano family but by Grafad, the Crechici family’s company.
- Dal Negro — The Treviso maker (a card tradition to 1756; the Teodomiro Dal Negro firm) that stands outside the Belgian group and, in its own small way, has rolled up Masenghini and NTP.
Chess sets
Chess-set and chess-equipment makers.
- Jaques of London — The family firm (since 1795) that first made the Staunton chess set in 1849, the pattern every tournament in the world now uses.
- House of Staunton — The US premium reproduction house (Frank Camaratta, from about 1993) whose high-end wooden Staunton sets are, like most of the trade, made in India.
- DGT — The Dutch electronics maker in Enschede whose clocks and electronic boards are FIDE’s official equipment, from the 1998 Olympiad boards to the modern DGT3000.
- Rechapados Ferrer — The La Garriga veneer-panel maker (since 1959) whose Ferrer Chess arm made the Queen’s Gambit board, a real European workshop rather than an import.
- ChessBazaar — The Punjab exporter (since 2007) that ships the world’s handmade wooden Staunton sets straight from the Amritsar artisans who actually make them.
- Regency Chess — The Frome, Somerset online retailer that curates and imports the wooden chess sets it sells, mostly Amritsar-made, rather than making any itself.
- Noj — The family woodturning workshop (Janez Novak, 1978) famous for Dubrovnik chessmen, hand-making its sets in Slovenia even as the trade moved to India.
Pinball
Pinball-machine makers.
- Stern Pinball — The lone continuous survivor of pinball, formed in 1999 by Gary Stern out of Sega’s pinball division, its family line running back through Data East and Stern Electronics to the Williams era.
- Jersey Jack Pinball — The 2011 upstart from Jack Guarnieri whose Wizard of Oz brought the first US LCD-backbox pinball, and which now, like Stern, builds in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
- Chicago Gaming — The Cicero maker (a division of Churchill Cabinet Co.) that builds officially-licensed remakes of the classic Williams and Bally machines, under a license administered by Planetary Pinball Supply.
- American Pinball — The Chicago-area maker (since about 2015) of original tables like Houdini that also brought back the 1997 Bally Cirqus Voltaire.
- Spooky Pinball — The boutique maker co-founded by Ben Heck and Charlie Emery in Benton, Wisconsin, hand-building horror and pop-culture tables.
- Multimorphic — The Texas maker (Gerry Stellenberg; begun as PinballControllers.com in 2009) of the P3, the modular platform whose playfield games can be swapped in and out of a single cabinet.
- Haggis Pinball — The Melbourne boutique (Damian Hartin) that brought back Bally’s Fathom and Centaur before going into liquidation in 2024.
Toy and game icons
Barbie, Hot Wheels, Rubik’s Cube, Monopoly, Playmobil, Nerf and Scrabble.
- Barbie — The trademark ‘Barbie Pink’ (Pantone 219 C), the script wordmark, Ruth Handler and the 1959 debut, the Bild Lilli origin, and Mattel ownership.
- Hot Wheels — The flame logo, the iconic orange track, Redline wheels, Elliot Handler and the 1968 launch, the Sweet 16, and the Matchbox rivalry.
- Rubik’s Cube — The six-colour 3×3 design, Ernő Rubik’s 1974 invention, the ‘Magic Cube’ to ‘Rubik’s Cube’ story, MoMA status, speedcubing, and Spin Master ownership.
- Monopoly — Mr. Monopoly (no monocle), the true Lizzie Magie/Landlord’s Game origin vs. the Darrow myth, the red wordmark, the board, and Hasbro ownership.
- Playmobil — The 7.5cm smiling figure with gripping hands, Hans Beck’s design, the 1973 oil-crisis origin, the 1974 debut, and geobra Brandstätter’s foundation ownership.
- Nerf — The safety-orange branding and blasters, the 1969–70 foam ball by Reyn Guyer, the ‘Non-Expanding Recreational Foam’ backronym, and Hasbro ownership.
- Scrabble — The lettered tiles and 15×15 board, Alfred Mosher Butts’ letter-frequency study, James Brunot’s 1948 name, the ~1952 Macy’s boom, and the Hasbro/Mattel split.
Jigsaw puzzles, part 2
Clementoni, Educa, Schmidt Spiele, Piatnik, Trefl, Wentworth and Liberty Puzzles.
- Clementoni — The family games company founded in 1963 by Mario Clementoni in a garage in Recanati, in the Marche, known for Sapientino since 1967 and for puzzles since 1970, and still run by his children from its Recanati plant.
- Educa — The puzzle brand of Educa Borras of Sant Quirze del Vallès, near Barcelona, formed in 2001 when Educa (founded 1967) was absorbed by Borrás Plana (founded 1894), and which says it makes most of its games at its own Barcelona-area facilities.
- Schmidt Spiele — The games and puzzle publisher founded in Munich in 1907 by the lithographer Josef Friedrich Schmidt, maker of Mensch ärgere Dich nicht, owned since 1997 by the Berlin group now called Good Time Holding.
- Piatnik — Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, the Vienna playing-card maker that traces itself to Anton Moser’s workshop of 1824, was taken over by Ferdinand Piatnik in 1843, added board games in 1956 and puzzles in 1966, and redrew its jockey logo in 2016.
- Trefl — The Gdynia jigsaw and board-game company that Kazimierz Wierzbicki founded in 1985, which took on a Kraków playing-card factory in 1998, runs an animation studio and backs the Trefl Sopot and Trefl Gdańsk teams, and says it makes its puzzles in Gdynia.
- Wentworth Wooden Puzzles — The Wiltshire jigsaw maker founded by Kevin Wentworth Preston, incorporated in 1991 and named the Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Company in 1994, which laser-cuts wooden puzzles with themed “whimsy” pieces and moved from Pinkney to Swindon in 2025.
- Liberty Puzzles — The Boulder, Colorado, wooden jigsaw maker established in 2005 by Chris Wirth and Jeff Eldridge, which laser-cuts maple plywood puzzles with “whimsy” pieces, an eagle among them, under the slogan “Sit Long, Talk Much.”
Jigsaw puzzles, part 3
Eurographics, Galison, Castorland, Jumbo, MasterPieces, Heye and Mudpuppy.
- Eurographics — The privately owned Montreal art publisher and puzzle maker that, by its own account, was founded in 1987 as a small poster distributor and now runs product development, graphic design and its warehouse from Montreal.
- Galison — The New York publisher founded in 1979 that turned museum art into notecards and later jigsaw puzzles, sister brand to Mudpuppy, whose parent, GMG Publishing, was bought by the San Francisco–based McEvoy Group in March 2012.
- Castorland — The jigsaw puzzle brand of Castor, a printing and publishing partnership in Kraków, Poland, which says its puzzle story began in 1989 and that its puzzles are made in Kraków, with separate ranges for children and for adults.
- Jumbo — The Dutch puzzle and games maker whose history English Wikipedia traces to an 1853 Amsterdam import partnership, home of Wasgij, Falcon and Jan van Haasteren puzzles, merged with Spain’s Diset in 2016 and with Britain’s James Galt in 2019, now part of Jumbo Group.
- MasterPieces — The Arizona puzzle, game and craft company David Rolls founded in 1995, headquartered in Tucson and built on licensed lines such as Realtree, Clifford The Big Red Dog, Sesame Street, Smokey Bear and the U.S. Navy.
- Heye — The publisher Friedrich Wilhelm Heye founded in 1962 with a cartoon calendar, known for Mordillo, the Familienplaner and art puzzles for adults, and part of the South Tyrolean Athesia group since November 2015 through Athesia Kalenderverlag in Unterhaching.
- Mudpuppy — The children’s puzzles, games and toys brand of Galison, the New York gift and stationery publisher founded in 1979 that the McEvoy Group, owner of Chronicle Books, acquired in 2012, and which now works from Chronicle’s New York office.
Wooden and design toys
Djeco, Janod, Tegu, KAPLA, goki, SmartGames and Le Toy Van.
- Djeco — The Paris toy and games company founded in 1954 by Véronique Michel-Dalès, revived by her son Frédéric Michel-Dalès from 1989, and known for games, puzzles and craft kits illustrated by children’s-book artists and developed in its Paris workshop.
- Janod — The wooden-toy brand founded in 1970 by Louis Janod in Orgelet, in the French Jura, grown into the Juratoys group with Kaloo and Lilliputiens, owned by Alex Brands from 2015, Argos Wityu from 2018 and the French Maped group since 2022, with Orgelet kept as its toy base.
- Tegu — The magnetic wooden block maker founded by brothers Chris and Will Haughey, named after Tegucigalpa, which launched its blocks in 2009 and makes them at its own factory outside the Honduran capital, according to the V&A and the company.
- KAPLA — The wooden construction plank invented by Dutch-born Tom van der Bruggen while dreaming of a castle in southern France, sold since 1987, cut from Landes pine to fixed proportions, and made in France and in Tangier, according to the company and French Wikipedia.
- goki — The toy brand of Gollnest & Kiesel, which Gerhard Gollnest and Fritz-Rüdiger Kiesel started in Hamburg in May 1981 and which is now based in Güster, Schleswig-Holstein; its 1998 wooden birthday train led to a 2013 German Federal Court of Justice ruling on applied art.
- SmartGames — The logic-puzzle brand of Smart Toys and Games (Smart NV), founded in Belgium in 1992 by Rolf Vandoren and Ariane Van den Bossche as a toy distributor, now based in Kontich and owner of SmartMax, GeoSmart, Happy Cube and The Happy Puzzle Company.
- Le Toy Van — The family-run wooden toy company registered in England in December 1995, founded by Georges Le Van around a dolls house he made for his son, and run since his 2015 retirement by Steven and Marie Le Van.
Toy brands, part 2
small foot, Bajo, MOLUK, Magna-Tiles, Kaloo, Guidecraft and Lilliputiens.
- small foot — The wooden-toy brand of the Legler business founded in 1988 by brothers Holger and Ingo Legler in northern Germany, whose foot logo comes from a family footprint, and which became small foot GmbH & Co. KG in 2024.
- Bajo — The Polish wooden-toy company started in the early 1990s by architects Wojciech and Barbara Bajor, built around a converted carpentry workshop in Małopolska, orchard and offcut timber, and plain single-colour cardboard boxes it calls part of its identity.
- MOLUK — The Zurich toy company Alex Hochstrasser and his sister Doris founded in 2011, built around Bilibo, the plastic shell he first designed as a thesis project at the University of Arts in Zurich, which went into production in 2001, the company says.
- Magna-Tiles — The magnetic building tiles first sold in Japan as Pythagoras, whose US rights Rudy Valenta bought in 1996 before founding Valtech with his wife Noriko in 1997; Architectural Digest described Valtech in 2015 as Chicago-based.
- Kaloo — The French plush and baby-bedding brand whose story begins in late 1998 with a little bear as its emblem, part of the Juratoys group of Orgelet alongside Janod and Lilliputiens, which Maped has owned since October 2022.
- Guidecraft — The American maker of children’s toys and furniture that Fred Fein started in a one-room workshop in Garnerville, New York, in 1966, beginning with wooden Wedgies, and which now sells classroom and home furniture including a Martha Stewart collection.
- Lilliputiens — The Belgian baby and toddler toy brand created in 1995 by Fabienne Caspers, designed in Saintes near Tubize, part of the French Juratoys group since 2020 and of the Maped group since 2022, known for fabric books, activity toys and a cast of named animal characters.
Construction and game toys
Magformers, Geomag, Quercetti, K’NEX, CONNETIX and Nathan.
- Magformers — The magnetic construction shapes the V&A records as designed in South Korea in 2008, built up in North America from Medford, Oregon and later Canton, Michigan, and made in Dongguan, China, according to a 2020 company account.
- Geomag — The magnetic rod-and-sphere construction system devised by Claudio Vicentelli in 1998, first sold in Italy through Plastwood and Città del Sole, and made in Switzerland’s Canton Ticino since 2003, today by Geomagworld SA of Novazzano.
- Quercetti — The Turin toy company founded by Alessandro Quercetti in 1950, known for its plastic peg mosaics (Fantacolor), the Tor toy rocket and SkyRail marble runs, and still making its toys in its corso Vigevano factory under the founder’s sons.
- K’NEX — The rod-and-connector construction toy Joel Glickman developed at his family’s Rodon Group plant in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, launched in 1992 and owned since 2018 by Florida’s Basic Fun!, which kept rod and connector production with Rodon.
- CONNETIX — The bevelled magnetic tiles launched in 2019 by Brea Brand and Dave Alexander, two parents who met at their children’s school in Australia; the company says it began in Perth, and Brave Toys Pty Ltd operates the brand.
- Nathan — The board-game arm of the Paris publishing house founded in 1881 by Fernand Nathan, sold by Vivendi to Ravensburger in 1998, and published under licence by Spain’s Diset since 2007, French Wikipedia says.
Outdoor play and ride-ons
Wham-O, Little Tikes, Step2, Radio Flyer, PlasmaCar, Stomp Rocket and HQ Kites.
- Wham-O — The company Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin started in a Pasadena garage in 1948, named for the sound of a slingshot, home of Frisbee and Hula Hoop, owned in turn by Kransco, Mattel, investors and a Hong Kong company, and now run from Carson, California.
- Little Tikes — The rotational-moulding toy maker Tom Murdough built in Ohio from 1970, maker of the red and yellow Cozy Coupe designed by Jim Mariol, sold to Rubbermaid in 1984 and owned by MGA Entertainment since 2006, with headquarters in Hudson, Ohio.
- Step2 — The Streetsboro, Ohio maker of large plastic outdoor toys that Tom Murdough founded in 1991 after Little Tikes, sold to private equity in 2007 and acquired in October 2016 by an affiliate of Aterian Investment Partners alongside Backyard Discovery.
- Radio Flyer — The red wagon brand Italian immigrant Antonio Pasin started in Chicago in 1917, sold as the Liberty Coaster, renamed Radio Steel & Manufacturing in 1930 and Radio Flyer in 1987, and still run by the Pasin family from Grand Avenue.
- PlasmaCar — The ride-on toy that Ottawa entrepreneur Timothy Kimber renamed and launched through his company PlaSmart in 2003, driven by turning the steering wheel from side to side rather than by pedals, batteries or gears.
- Stomp Rocket — The air-powered toy rocket brand that its family-run parent, D&L Company, says was founded in 1993 and is run from Minden, Nevada, with launchers, foam rockets and a NASA Collection released in 2024.
- HQ Kites — The kite and wind-toy umbrella brand of Invento Products & Services GmbH of Rastede, near Oldenburg in northern Germany, which the company says stands for “High Quality Design”, with production moved first to Poland and now to Asia, according to the Weser-Kurier in 2026.
Classic toys
Play-Doh, Spirograph, Etch A Sketch, Lite-Brite, Slinky and Silly Putty.
- Play-Doh — The modelling compound that grew out of a wallpaper cleaner made by Kutol Products in Cincinnati, sold by Rainbow Crafts from 1956, passed through General Mills, Kenner and Tonka, and owned by Hasbro since 1991, with a scent registered as a US trademark in 2018.
- Spirograph — The gear-and-pen drawing set Leeds engineer Denys Fisher developed from Meccano parts and put on sale in 1965, licensed to Kenner in the US, later part of Palitoy and Hasbro, and relaunched in 2013 by Kahootz Toys, whose assets PlayMonster bought in 2019.
- Etch A Sketch — André Cassagnes’s aluminium-powder drawing screen, taken up by The Ohio Art Company of Bryan, Ohio, after the 1959 Nuremberg toy fair and launched in 1960, then sold with Doodle Sketch to Toronto’s Spin Master in February 2016.
- Lite-Brite — The peg-and-light-box toy developed at Chicago design firm Marvin Glass and Associates, sold by Hasbro from 1967, inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2022 and made today by Florida’s Basic Fun! under its Hasbro licence.
- Slinky — The coiled spring Richard and Betty James turned into a toy, named by Betty from the dictionary, demonstrated at Gimbels in Philadelphia in 1945, inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2000 and owned by Pennsylvania’s Just Play since 2020.
- Silly Putty — A silicone compound from wartime rubber research, named and packed in plastic eggs by marketer Peter Hodgson in 1950, launched at the New York Toy Fair, and owned by Binney & Smith, now Crayola LLC, since 1977.
Classic toys, part 2
Crayola, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoy, Meccano, Shrinky Dinks, Mega Bloks and Magna Doodle.
- Crayola — Wax crayons sold under the name from 1903 by Binney & Smith, a pigment maker founded by Edwin Binney and Harold Smith, owned by Hallmark Cards since 1984, renamed Crayola LLC in 2007 and headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylvania.
- Lincoln Logs — The notched-log construction toy devised around 1916 by John Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, sold through his Red Square Toy Company, packaged with a log cabin and a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and made in recent years by K’NEX and then Basic Fun.
- Tinkertoy — The wooden spool-and-stick construction set Charles H. Pajeau and Robert Pettit began making in Evanston, Illinois, around 1914, sold in mailing tubes, later owned by Hasbro and made and marketed under licence by Basic Fun!.
- Meccano — Frank Hornby’s Liverpool construction system of perforated metal strips, nuts and bolts, sold as Mechanics Made Easy from 1901, colour-coded through the decades, joined with the American Erector name and owned by Spin Master since 2013.
- Shrinky Dinks — The shrinking polystyrene craft sheets that Betty Morris and Kate Bloomberg made in Brookfield, Wisconsin, in 1973, later licensed to several toy companies, acquired by Alex Brands in 2014 and owned by Just Play Products as of 2020.
- Mega Bloks — The big building blocks launched in 1984 by Ritvik Holdings, the Montreal company Victor and Rita Bertrand founded in 1967, which went public as Mega Bloks Inc. in 2002, became Mega Brands in 2006 and was acquired by Mattel in 2014.
- Magna Doodle — The magnetic drawing board developed at Pilot in Japan, licensed in the US to Tyco from 1992, sold under Fisher-Price after Mattel merged with Tyco in 1997, and relicensed to Ohio Art in 2004 after a trademark dispute over the Doodle Pro.
Kites and yo-yos
Prism Kites, Into The Wind, Premier Kites, Duncan and YoYoFactory.
- Prism Kites — The sport-kite brand of Prism Designs, Inc., which the company says was launched from a Seattle basement in 1992 by Mark Reed and Scobie Puchtler, with carbon frames, Mylar and ripstop sails, and dual-line kites such as the Radian, Vapor and Zenith.
- Into The Wind — The Boulder, Colorado kite shop and mail-order business on the Pearl Street Mall, which the company says architects George Emmons and Jim Glass founded in 1980, selling its own ITW kites alongside stunt kites, wind art and toys.
- Premier Kites — The kite, wind-spinner and garden-flag maker that says it was established in 1983 as Premier Kites & Designs, a division of Primus Inc., with offices in Hyattsville, Maryland and Portsmouth, Ohio, and a catalogue built on appliqué kites and printed designs.
- Duncan — The yo-yo name Donald F. Duncan built after buying out Pedro Flores’s yo-yo business around 1929, promoted through contests and demonstrators, bought by the Ohio plastics maker Flambeau in 1968 and now selling yo-yos and skill toys as Duncan Toys Company.
- YoYoFactory — The yo-yo company that players Ben McPhee and Hans “YoHans” Van Dan Elzen founded in 2004 in Chandler, Arizona, known for the adjustable F.A.S.T. 201 with Fully Active Starburst Technology and the dial-tuned Velocity, and for a sponsored team of players.
Kids bikes and scooters
Strider, woom, Frog Bikes, Guardian Bikes, Islabikes, Early Rider and Micro.
- Strider — The balance-bike company Ryan McFarland started in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 2007 after stripping down a bike for his son, with the Strider Cup races, the 14x and the All Kids Bike school programme, still run from Rapid City.
- woom — The children’s bike company Christian Bezdeka and Marcus Ihlenfeld founded in a Vienna garage in 2013, named by a founder’s son, based in Klosterneuburg, with Bregal Unternehmerkapital and Jebsen as minority investors and green-and-black brake levers.
- Frog Bikes — The children’s bike brand Jerry and Shelley Lawson founded in 2013, built at a factory on Mamhilad Park near Pontypool from 2016, placed in administration in 2026 and sold to Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, whose Evans Cycles site the old Frog web address now leads to.
- Guardian Bikes — The children’s bike brand that grew out of Brian Riley’s Slidepad brake company, renamed SureStop in 2014, pitched on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2017 with Kyle Jansen, and moved from Irvine, California, to its own factory in Seymour, Indiana, in 2022.
- Islabikes — The Shropshire company Isla Rowntree registered in 2005 to make lighter children’s bikes, sold to its managing director in 2021, which stopped making new bikes in 2023 and returned to Rowntree’s sole ownership in 2024 as a spare-parts business.
- Early Rider — The British children’s bike brand Andy Loveland started in 2005, named as a play on Easy Rider, registered as a company in January 2006, known for Belter and Velio bikes, and marking its 20th anniversary in 2026 with a redesigned range.
- Micro — The Swiss kick-scooter brand of Micro Mobility Systems AG, founded in 1996 by former banker Wim Ouboter, based in Küsnacht near Zürich, maker of the Mini Micro and Maxi Micro and, later, the Microlino electric car.
Jigsaw puzzles, part 4
New York Puzzle Company and Cloudberries.
- New York Puzzle Company — The Brooklyn jigsaw maker founded in 2007 by Adam Silver and Sarah Dickinson, which says it began with a puzzle of the New York subway map and now publishes licensed ranges including The New Yorker covers.
- Cloudberries — The UK jigsaw brand run by Cloudberries Ltd, which says its story began on a rainy day in 2015 and commissions illustrators worldwide for colourful puzzles for adults, sold in ranges such as Small Batch and Poster Puzzles.
Scooters and bikes
Globber, Razor, Hudora, Huffy, Schwinn and Mongoose.
- Globber — The scooter brand that says it was founded in France in 2014, with the GO•UP all-in-one scooter, the EXPLORER TRIKE, GO BIKE balance bikes and the STROLL•UP stroller-to-ride-on, and a website published in 2016 by Templar SAS of Montluel, near Lyon.
- Razor — The aluminium folding kick scooter developed at JD Corporation in Taiwan under president Gino Tsai and sold in the US by Razor USA, the Cerritos, California, company Carlton Calvin founded with JD in 2000, later home to RipStik, Crazy Cart and Hovertrax.
- Hudora — The German sports and leisure brand Hugo Dornseif founded in Radevormwald on 4 August 1919 to make skate blades, named after his own initials and his town, later a scooter and trampoline maker, based in Erkrath since early 2024.
- Huffy — The Ohio bicycle brand that grew from George P. Huffman’s Davis Sewing Machine Company in Dayton, took the Huffy name in 1949, stopped US production in 1999, went through Chapter 11 in 2004–05 and is now part of Covation/United Wheels in Miamisburg.
- Schwinn — The bicycle name started as Arnold, Schwinn & Company in Chicago in 1895, which filed for Chapter 11 in 1992, was bought by Zell/Chilmark in 1993 and by Pacific Cycle in 2001, passed to Dorel in 2004 and has belonged to Pon since 2022.
- Mongoose — The BMX name that grew from Skip Hess’s cast-magnesium Motomag wheel and his company BMX Products, Inc., in 1974, later sold through Brunswick, bought with Pacific Cycle’s 2001 deal, owned by Dorel from 2004 and by Pon since 2022.
Early-years and electronic toys
VTech, LeapFrog, Fisher-Price, Playskool and TOMY.
- VTech — Founded in Hong Kong in October 1976 by Allan Wong and Stephen Leung as Video Technology Limited, renamed VTech Holdings in 1991, maker of electronic learning toys, cordless phones and contract-manufactured electronics, and owner of LeapFrog since 2016.
- LeapFrog — Founded in 1995 by Michael Wood and Robert Lally, launched with the Phonics Desk, known for LeapPad, Leapster and LeapStart, based in Emeryville, California, and owned by Hong Kong’s VTech since April 2016.
- Fisher-Price — A toy company founded in 1930 in East Aurora, New York, by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Margaret Evans Price and Helen Schelle, bought by Quaker Oats in 1969, spun off in 1991 and part of Mattel since 1993.
- Playskool — A preschool toy name that began in 1928 as the Playskool Institute in Milwaukee, became a Milton Bradley subsidiary in 1968 and a Hasbro brand in 1984, and has been licensed to PlayMonster and Just Play since 2023.
- TOMY — A toy maker founded in Tokyo in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama, named after his surname, maker of Plarail and Tomica, merged with Takara in 2006 as Takara Tomy, and still trading as TOMY outside Asia, with The First Years and Lamaze added through RC2 in 2011.
Dolls and character toys
American Girl, Cabbage Patch Kids, Polly Pocket, My Little Pony, Bratz, Care Bears and Build-A-Bear.
- American Girl — The 18-inch doll and book line launched in 1986 by Pleasant Rowland’s Pleasant Company in Wisconsin, sold first through a mail-order catalogue, owned by Mattel since 1998 and known for its Historical Characters, Truly Me and Girl of the Year lines.
- Cabbage Patch Kids — The cloth dolls that grew out of Xavier Roberts’s hand-stitched Little People and Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia, made for the mass market by Coleco from 1982 and since by Hasbro, Mattel, Play Along, JAKKS Pacific and Wicked Cool Toys.
- Polly Pocket — The compact-case playset line launched by Bluebird Toys of Swindon in 1989 from a concept by the design firm Origin Products, redesigned after Mattel bought Bluebird in 1998, and relaunched as a miniature playset line in 2018.
- My Little Pony — The Hasbro toy line that grew from the 1981 My Pretty Pony figure by illustrator Bonnie Zacherle and sculptor Charles Muenchinger, launched in 1982 and relaunched in collector-named generations in 1997, 2003, 2010 and 2021.
- Bratz — An MGA Entertainment fashion-doll line created by Carter Bryant, launched with four dolls in May 2001, relaunched several times and revived with anniversary reproductions since 2021.
- Care Bears — Greeting-card characters painted in 1981 by Elena Kucharik for American Greetings, made as Kenner toys from 1983, later managed by Cloudco Entertainment and acquired by Authentic Brands Group in August 2026.
- Build-A-Bear — The St. Louis retailer Maxine Clark founded in 1997, where customers choose and dress their own stuffed animals, which went public in 2004, trades on the NYSE as BBW and refreshed its brand in 2024 around the line “The Stuff You Love”.
Craft and science kits
Klutz, Creativity for Kids, 4M, Thames & Kosmos, Snap Circuits and Kid Made Modern.
- Klutz — The activity-book publisher founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1977 by Stanford friends John Cassidy, Darrell Lorentzen and B.C. Rimbeaux, launched with Juggling for the Complete Klutz and its beanbags, and part of Scholastic since 2002.
- Creativity for Kids — The craft-kit company founded in 1976 as Creative Art Activities, Inc. by Phyllis Brody and Evelyn Greenwald, based in Cleveland, Ohio, and owned by Faber-Castell since 1999, when Cleveland became the US headquarters of Faber-Castell USA.
- 4M — The Hong Kong maker of craft and science kits whose first product reached the market in 1993, which moved into science toys with KidzLabs in 1999 and builds its range around four words: imaginative, creative, inspiring and fun.
- Thames & Kosmos — The science-kit and board-game publisher founded in Rhode Island in 2001 to bring the Stuttgart publisher Kosmos’s experiment kits to North America, owned by Kosmos since 2013 and now based in Providence.
- Snap Circuits — The snap-together electronics kits Elenco Electronics released in 2002, made by the company Gil Cecchin founded in 1972 and based in Wheeling, Illinois, with parts that clip onto a plastic base grid and a Snap Circuits Jr. line for younger builders.
- Kid Made Modern — The children’s art-supply and craft-kit brand launched in 2012 by designer Todd Oldham after his 2009 book of the same name, sold through Target, partnered with MoMA on Making with MoMA in 2019 and extended into bedding and room decor in 2018.
Plush and collectibles
Douglas, Aurora and L.O.L. Surprise!
- Douglas — The family-owned plush company of Keene, New Hampshire, in business since 1956, which began with infant toys, moved manufacturing to Asia in the 1980s, entered the gift trade and today designs its animals in New Hampshire.
- Aurora — The plush and gift brand of Aurora World Corporation, founded in Korea in 1981 as Aurora Trading by Roh Hee-yeol, with a California sales arm since 1992, the YooHoo & Friends characters and, since 2024, ownership of Mary Meyer.
- L.O.L. Surprise! — The “Li’l Outrageous Littles” unboxing doll line that MGA Entertainment of Chatsworth, Los Angeles, launched on 7 December 2016, later extended with O.M.G. fashion dolls, J.K. mini dolls, a Netflix film and video games.
Costumes and Halloween
Rubie’s, Disguise, Leg Avenue, Fun World and Spirit Halloween.
- Rubie’s — The costume company Tillie and Rubin Beige started in 1951 as a candy store in Woodhaven, Queens, renamed Rubie’s Fun House and then Rubie’s Costume Co., which bought Ben Cooper in 1992 and since 2020 has traded as Rubies II LLC from Long Island.
- Disguise — The San Diego-area costume maker founded in 1987 by Chuck Martinez, Bob Pickens and Jerry Berko, which joined France’s Cesar Group in the late 1990s and has been owned by Jakks Pacific since December 2008, designing licensed and own-brand Halloween and dress-up costumes.
- Leg Avenue — A Los Angeles brand that grew from the Tsai family’s stockings sold at swap meets in 1984, was formed as Leg Avenue, Inc. in 1999, moved into lingerie and Halloween costumes, and later opened a European branch.
- Fun World — A New York seasonal novelty company that grew from S. Rosenberg Christmas Co. (1959), was renamed by Stanley Geller after 1963, moved into Halloween under Alan Geller and made the Fantastic Faces ghost mask that became Ghost Face in Scream (1996).
- Spirit Halloween — The seasonal Halloween retailer Joe Marver started in 1983 in the San Francisco East Bay, acquired by Spencer Gifts in 1999 and run from Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, known for pop-up stores in vacant retail space.
Christmas decor and collectables
Department 56, Kurt Adler, Balsam Hill, National Tree Company, Christopher Radko, Byers’ Choice and Old World Christmas.
- Department 56 — The holiday collectibles brand that began in 1976 as the wholesale gift imports division of Minneapolis florist Bachman’s, known for its lit Snow Village and Dickens’ Village houses, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and owned by Enesco since 2009.
- Kurt Adler — The New York holiday decorations importer that Kurt S. Adler, Inc. dates to 1946, founded by Würzburg-born Kurt Stephan Adler, family-run since, and known for ornaments, nutcrackers, snow globes and its Santa’s World and Steinbach lines.
- Balsam Hill — The artificial Christmas tree and holiday décor brand founded in 2006 by Thomas “Mac” Harman, run by the privately held Balsam Brands from Redwood City, California, and known for realistic trees, the Flip Tree and an online-first model.
- National Tree Company — The Cranford, New Jersey, maker and wholesaler of artificial Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands, founded by Sal Puleo Sr. in 1990 according to its 2019 buyer, run by his sons and backed by a Sun Capital Partners affiliate since 2019.
- Christopher Radko — The glass Christmas ornament company founded in New York by designer Christopher Radko in 1985, made with European glassblowers, owned by Rauch Industries since 2005 and still producing ornaments under its own design team.
- Byers’ Choice — The family company in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, formally created in 1978 by Joyce and Bob Byers, known for its handmade Caroler figures of wire, tissue paper, clay and fabric, plus Salvation Army and Colonial Williamsburg lines.
- Old World Christmas — The Spokane, Washington ornament company founded in 1979 by Tim and Beth Merck, built on blown glass ornaments first sourced in Germany, and owned since 2014 by Gladstone Investment.
Figurines and collectables
Goebel, Enesco, Precious Moments, Jim Shore, Willow Tree, Annalee and Hagen-Renaker.
- Goebel — The porcelain house founded in 1871 in Oeslau, now Rödental, by Franz Detleff Goebel and his son William, long the maker of M. I. Hummel figurines, and since 2010 Goebel Porzellan GmbH, owned by PM Kapital and run from Bad Staffelstein.
- Enesco — The American giftware company that began in 1958 as the import division of the N. Shure Company, named for its initials, based in Itasca, Illinois, owner of Department 56 since 2009, partner to Jim Shore since 2002, and owned by Ad Populum since January 2023.
- Precious Moments — The porcelain bisque figurines of teardrop-eyed children drawn by Sam Butcher, brought to market with Enesco from 1978 and sold since the mid-2000s by Precious Moments, Inc. of Carthage, Missouri, home of the Precious Moments Chapel.
- Jim Shore — The folk-art figurines of the artist who grew up in rural South Carolina, drawing on quilting, rosemaling and tole painting, sold through Enesco as Heartwood Creek since 2002 and extended to licensed characters from Disney, Peanuts and The Grinch.
- Willow Tree — The line of faceless, hand-painted figurative sculptures carved by Kansas City artist Susan Lordi, launched in 2000 and produced, marketed and distributed by DEMDACO of Leawood, Kansas, with expression carried by gesture alone.
- Annalee — The felt doll maker of Meredith, New Hampshire, begun by Annalee Thorndike, which dates itself to 1934, was incorporated as Annalee Mobilitee Dolls in 1955, and is known for bendable felt figures with painted, smiling faces.
- Hagen-Renaker — The Southern California pottery John and Maxine Renaker established in 1946, named in tribute to Maxine’s father Ole Hagen, known for miniature ceramic animals and Maureen Love’s horses, made in Monrovia, San Marcos and San Dimas.
At a glance: who owns the name and where it is made
Taken from each guide’s fact panel, as of October 2026. Ownership and production change; follow the link for sources and detail.
| Brand | Origin | Owner | Where made |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4M | See guide | 4M Industrial Development Ltd | Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong |
| Academy | South Korea (1969) | Independent (Kim) | South Korea |
| AeroTech | USA (1980s) | RCS Rocket Motor | Cedar City UT |
| Airfix | UK (1939) | Hornby Hobbies | India (rep.) |
| American Girl | Pleasant Company, Wisconsin (1986) | Mattel | See guide |
| American Pinball | USA (~2015) | Private (US) | USA |
| Annalee | Meredith, New Hampshire (1934) | See guide | See guide |
| Apogee Components | USA (1987) | Independent | Colorado Spgs |
| ARRMA | UK design (~2012) | Horizon Hobby | China (rep.) |
| Athearn | USA (1940s) | Horizon Hobby | China |
| Atlas | USA (1924) | Family independent | Overseas |
| Aurora | Aurora Trading, Korea (1981) | Aurora World Corporation | See guide |
| Auto World | USA (1958→rev.) | Round 2, LLC | Overseas (rep.) |
| AutoArt | Hong Kong (1998) | Private (opaque) | China |
| Bachmann | USA (1833/1899) | Kader (Hong Kong) | China |
| Bajo | Kraków region, Poland (Early 1990s) | See guide | Family company, workshop in Kamionna, Małopolska |
| Balsam Hill | Balsam Hill, California (2006) | Balsam Brands, Redwood City | See guide |
| Bandai | Japan (1950) | Bandai Namco | Shizuoka JP |
| Barbie | See guide | Mattel | See guide |
| Bburago | Italy (1974) | May Cheong Group | Italy → Asia |
| Bee | USA (1892) | Cartamundi (2019) | Erlanger KY |
| Bicycle | USA (1885) | Cartamundi (2019) | Erlanger KY |
| Bonzini | France (1927) | Bergaglia family | Bagnolet |
| Bratz | MGA Entertainment, Los Angeles (2001) | MGA Entertainment | See guide |
| Brunswick | USA (1845) | Escalade (2022) | US + imported |
| Buffalo Games | USA (1986) | Mason Wells (PE) | Mostly USA |
| Build-A-Bear | Build-A-Bear Workshop, St. Louis, Missouri (1997) | See guide | See guide |
| Byers’ Choice | Chalfont, Pennsylvania (1978) | The Byers family | See guide |
| Cabbage Patch Kids | Little People, Cleveland, Georgia | See guide | See guide |
| Care Bears | American Greetings, Cleveland (1981) | Authentic Brands Group | See guide |
| Carrera | Germany (1963) | Quantum Capital | China (rep.) |
| Castorland | See guide | Castor, a printing and publishing house | See guide |
| Ceaco | USA (1987) | Buffalo Games | Not disclosed |
| ChessBazaar | India (2007) | Private (India) | Amritsar |
| Chicago Gaming | USA (Cicero IL) | Churchill Cabinet Co. | Illinois |
| Christopher Radko | New York (1985) | Rauch Industries | See guide |
| Clementoni | Recanati, Marche, Italy (1963) | See guide | Family-run, led by the founders’ children |
| Cloudberries | See guide | Cloudberries Ltd, incorporated in England (Companies House) | See guide |
| Cobble Hill | Canada (Victoria BC) | Outset Media | North America |
| CONNETIX | Australia (Toy Book, 2022) (2019) | Brave Toys Pty Ltd | Perth, Australia (company) |
| Copag | Brazil (1908/1918) | Cartamundi (2005) | Brazil |
| Crayola | Binney & Smith, a pigment maker (1903) | Hallmark Cards | See guide |
| Creativity for Kids | Creative Art Activities, Inc. (1976) | Faber-Castell | See guide |
| Cuetec | USA (1989) | Imperial Int’l | Imported |
| Dal Negro | Italy (1756/1928) | Independent (Italian) | Treviso |
| Department 56 | Bachman’s, Minneapolis (1976) | Enesco | See guide |
| DGT | Netherlands (1980s) | Private (Dutch) | Undisclosed |
| Diamond | USA (1987) | Diamond (private) | Indiana |
| Disguise | San Diego area, California (1987) | Jakks Pacific | See guide |
| Djeco | Paris, France (1954) | See guide | Family company led by Frédéric Michel-Dalès, Paris |
| Douglas | Keene, New Hampshire (1956) | See guide | Designed in NH, made in Asia |
| Dragon | Hong Kong (1987) | Private (HK) | Shenzhen |
| Duncan | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Early Rider | England (2005) | See guide | Poole, Dorset (registered office, 2026) |
| Educa | Borrás Plana (1894), Educa (1967) | Team Toys holding (reported 2021) | See guide |
| Enesco | N. Shure Company import division (1958) | Ad Populum | See guide |
| Estes | USA (1958) | Langford (2018) | Penrose CO |
| Etch A Sketch | Bryan, Ohio (The Ohio Art Company) (1960) | Spin Master, Toronto | See guide |
| Eurographics | Montreal, Quebec, Canada (company account) (1987) | See guide | Privately owned; head office and warehouse in Montreal |
| Fisher-Price | East Aurora, New York (1930) | Mattel | See guide |
| Fly | Spain (1996) | Partnership w/ Scaleauto | Spain/China |
| Fournier | Spain (1870) | Cartamundi (2019) | Álava, Spain |
| Frog Bikes | United Kingdom (company account) (2013) | Frasers Group (sale reported 2026) | See guide |
| Fun World | S. Rosenberg Christmas Co. (1959) | See guide | See guide |
| Galison | New York (1979) | See guide | See guide |
| Garlando | Italy (1954) | Garlando family | Italy |
| Geomag | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Gibsons | UK (1919) | Gibson family (4th gen) | UK (claim) |
| Globber | France (company says) (2014) | See guide | See guide |
| Goebel | Oeslau, now Rödental (1871) | PM Kapital | See guide |
| goki | Hamburg, Germany (May 1981) | See guide | Gollnest & Kiesel GmbH & Co. KG, Güster |
| Greenlight | USA (2002) | Independent (2013) | Not stated |
| Guardian Bikes | Slidepad Technologies, renamed SureStop (2014) | See guide | See guide |
| Guidecraft | Garnerville, New York (1966 (company)) | See guide | China, per CPSC notices 2007–2026 |
| Hagen-Renaker | Southern California (1946) | See guide | See guide |
| Haggis Pinball | Australia (Melbourne) | Liquidation 2024 | Melbourne |
| Heye | Germany (1962) | Athesia group, since 2015 | See guide |
| Hornby | UK (1901) | Phoenix (private) | China |
| Hot Wheels | See guide | Mattel | See guide |
| House of Staunton | USA (~1993) | Camaratta-founded | India |
| HPI Racing | USA (1986) | Vestergaard/Ripmax | China (rep.) |
| HQ Kites | See guide | Invento Products & Services GmbH | Asia, earlier Poland (Weser-Kurier, 2026) |
| Hudora | Radevormwald, Germany (1919) | See guide | Erkrath, near Düsseldorf (since early 2024) |
| Huffy | Dayton, Ohio (1892 (bicycles)) | See guide | Miamisburg, Ohio (Covation/United Wheels) |
| Into The Wind | Boulder, Colorado, 1980 (company date) | See guide | Pearl Street Mall, Boulder |
| Islabikes | Shropshire, England (2005) | See guide | Stanton Lacy, near Ludlow (company site, 2026) |
| Italeri | Italy (1962) | Family (Italy) | Italy |
| Janod | Orgelet, Jura, France (1970) | See guide | Juratoys group, owned by Maped since 2022; Orgelet |
| Jaques of London | England (1795) | Jaques family | See notes |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | USA (2011) | Jack Guarnieri | NJ→IL 2020 |
| Jim Shore | Rural South Carolina | See guide | See guide |
| Jumbo | Amsterdam import partnership (per Wikipedia) (1853) | See guide | Part of Jumbo Group B.V., Zaandam |
| Kaloo | France (Late 1998 (brand story)) | Maped, since October 2022 | See guide |
| KAPLA | France (1987 (company; product 1986 per French Wikipedia)) | See guide | South-west France and Tangier (company, French Wikipedia) |
| Kato | Japan (1957) | Sekisui Kinzoku | Japan |
| Kid Made Modern | Todd Oldham (2012) | See guide | See guide |
| Klutz | Palo Alto, California (1977) | Scholastic | See guide |
| Kurt Adler | New York City (1946) | The Adler family | See guide |
| K’NEX | See guide | Basic Fun! (Florida) since 2018 | See guide |
| L.O.L. Surprise! | MGA Entertainment, Los Angeles (2016) | MGA Entertainment | See guide |
| Le Toy Van | See guide | See guide | Run by Steven and Marie Le Van |
| LeapFrog | Phonics Desk, Emeryville, California (1995) | VTech Holdings | See guide |
| Leg Avenue | Swap meets, downtown Los Angeles (1984) | Leg Avenue, Inc. | See guide |
| Liberty Puzzles | Boulder, Colorado (2005) | See guide | Private company, Boulder |
| Lilliputiens | Belgium (1995) | See guide | Juratoys group, owned by Maped since 2022; design office in Saintes |
| Lincoln Logs | Red Square Toy Company (c.1916) | See guide | See guide |
| Lionel | USA (1900) | Lionel Brands Group | Overseas |
| Lite-Brite | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Little Tikes | Ohio (company account) (1970) | MGA Entertainment | See guide |
| LOC Precision | USA (1985) | Barber/Turicik (2016) | Wisconsin |
| Losi | USA (early 1980s) | Horizon Hobby | China (rep.) |
| Magformers | See guide | See guide | Dongguan, China (company account, 2020) |
| Magna Doodle | Pilot, Japan (1974) | See guide | See guide |
| Magna-Tiles | Sold in Japan as Pythagoras | Valtech, Chicago-based (AD, 2015) | See guide |
| Maisto | Hong Kong (1990) | May Cheong Group | China + Thailand |
| Majorette | France (1961) | Simba Dickie (DE) | Thailand |
| MasterPieces | Arizona, United States (1995) | See guide | See guide |
| Matchbox | UK (1953) | Mattel (MAT) | Asia |
| McDermott | USA (1975) | Private (owns Star) | Wisconsin |
| Meccano | Frank Hornby, Liverpool (1901) | Spin Master | See guide |
| Mega Bloks | Ritvik Holdings, Montreal (1967) | Mattel | See guide |
| Meucci | USA (1975) | Undisclosed (2022) | Byhalia, MS |
| Micro | See guide | The Ouboter family; Wim Ouboter chief executive | See guide |
| Modiano | Italy (1868) | Grafad/Crechici (1988) | Trieste |
| MOLUK | Zurich, Switzerland (2011 (company)) | See guide | See guide |
| Mongoose | BMX Products, Inc., California (1974) | Pon, via Pacific Cycle | See guide |
| Monopoly | See guide | Hasbro | See guide |
| Mudpuppy | See guide | McEvoy Group (Chronicle Books) | Chronicle Books’ New York office |
| Multimorphic | USA (2009) | Founder-owned | Round Rock TX |
| My Little Pony | My Pretty Pony, Hasbro (1981) | Hasbro | See guide |
| Märklin | Germany (1859) | Simba Dickie | Germany + |
| Nathan | Paris (publishing house) (1881) | See guide | Nathan games under licence by Diset, from 2007 |
| National Tree Company | See guide | See guide | Cranford, New Jersey |
| Nerf | See guide | Hasbro | See guide |
| New York Puzzle Company | New York, by Adam Silver and Sarah Dickinson (company account) (2007) | See guide | Main office in Brooklyn; European office in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France |
| Ninco | Spain (1993) | Educa Borrás (~2018) | Spain (orig.) |
| Nodor | UK (1919) | Nodor Int’l (bought 2025) | Kenya (rep.) |
| Noj | Slovenia (1978) | Novak family | Slovenia |
| Old World Christmas | Spokane, Washington (1979) | Gladstone Investment | See guide |
| Olhausen | USA (1972) | Olhausen family | Portland, TN |
| Piatnik | Vienna, Austria (1824 (Anton Moser); Piatnik from 1843) | See guide | See guide |
| PlasmaCar | Ottawa, Canada (2003) | PlaSmart Inc. | See guide |
| Play-Doh | Kutol Products, Cincinnati (1930s) | Hasbro | See guide |
| Playmobil | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Playskool | The Playskool Institute, Milwaukee (1928) | Hasbro | See guide |
| Policar | Italy (1960s→2014) | Slot.it | Italy |
| Polly Pocket | Bluebird Toys, Swindon, England (1989) | Mattel | See guide |
| Pomegranate | USA (1968) | Independent | Portland, OR |
| Precious Moments | Sam Butcher’s drawings (1978) | See guide | See guide |
| Predator | USA (1994) | Predator Group | US/Asia/PT |
| Premier Kites | See guide | Premier Kites & Designs, a division of Primus Inc. (company) | Hyattsville, Maryland, with an office in Portsmouth, Ohio |
| Prism Kites | Seattle, 1992 (company date) | Prism Designs, Inc. | See guide |
| Public Missiles | USA (Michigan) | Now under LOC | USA |
| Quercetti | Turin, Italy (1950) | See guide | Run by the founder’s sons; made in Turin |
| Quest Aerospace | USA (1992) | RCS/AeroTech (2014) | Utah |
| Radio Flyer | See guide | The Pasin family; Robert Pasin CEO since 1997 | See guide |
| Razor | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Rechapados Ferrer | Spain (1959) | Family-owned | La Garriga |
| Red Dragon | UK (Wales) (1975) | Nodor Int’l (per reg.) | Bridgend (claim) |
| Redcat | USA (2005) | Independent (rep.) | China (rep.) |
| Regency Chess | UK (~2009) | Private (UK) | Imported |
| René Pierre | France (1952) | Pierre family | France |
| Revell | USA/Germany (1943) | Quantum Capital (2018) | Poland/China |
| Roberto Sport | Italy (1947) | Sportify SRL (ops) | Lessolo, Italy |
| Rubie’s | Woodhaven, Queens, New York (1951) | See guide | Rubies II LLC, Plainview, New York |
| Rubik’s Cube | See guide | Spin Master | See guide |
| Scalextric | UK (1957) | Purbeck (2026) | China (rep.) |
| Schmidt Spiele | Munich, Germany (1907 (as Schmidt & Söhne)) | Good Time Holding, Berlin | See guide |
| Schwinn | Arnold, Schwinn & Company, Chicago (1895) | Pon, via Pacific Cycle | See guide |
| Scrabble | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Semroc | USA (1970s) | eRockets | Dayton OH |
| Shelti | USA (1947 root) | Game Room Guys | Michigan |
| Shot Darts | New Zealand (1970) | McCormick family | NZ (Katikati) |
| Shrinky Dinks | Brookfield, Wisconsin (1973) | Just Play Products | See guide |
| Silly Putty | International Toy Fair, New York (1950) | Binney & Smith, now Crayola LLC, since 1977 | See guide |
| Slinky | See guide | Just Play, Pennsylvania | See guide |
| Slot.it | Italy (1998) | Galileo Eng. (owns Policar) | Reggio Emilia |
| small foot | Northern Germany (Legler OHG) (1988) | See guide | small foot GmbH & Co. KG since 2024 |
| SmartGames | Belgium (1992) | See guide | Smart NV (Smart Toys and Games), Kontich |
| Snap Circuits | Elenco Electronics, Illinois (2002) | See guide | Wheeling, Illinois |
| Spirit Halloween | San Francisco East Bay, California (1983) | Spencer Spirit Holdings | See guide |
| Spirograph | Leeds, England (1965) | See guide | See guide |
| Spooky Pinball | USA (2013) | Emery family | Benton WI |
| Springbok | USA (1963) | Open Road Brands (2025) | Kansas City |
| Step2 | See guide | Aterian Investment Partners affiliate, acquired 2016 | See guide |
| Stern Pinball | USA (1999) | Gary Stern + PE | Elk Grove Vlg IL |
| Stomp Rocket | United States (1993 (company date)) | D&L Company | Minden, Nevada |
| Strider | Rapid City, South Dakota (2007) | See guide | Rapid City, South Dakota (Dirt Bike Magazine, 2025) |
| Tamiya | Japan (1946) | Independent (family) | Japan + PH |
| Target | UK (1978/2006) | Independent (Plummer) | Attributed |
| Team Associated | USA (1964) | Thunder Tiger (Taiwan) | Asia |
| Tegu | United States and Honduras (2006 (V&A)) | See guide | Own factory outside Tegucigalpa (company) |
| Thames & Kosmos | Newport, Rhode Island (2001) | Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart | See guide |
| theory11 | USA (2007) | Independent (Bayme) | USA (USPCC) |
| Tinkertoy | Toy Tinkers, Evanston, Illinois (c. 1914) | See guide | See guide |
| Tomica | Japan (1970) | Takara Tomy | Vietnam/China |
| TOMY | Tomiyama toy works, Tokyo (1924) | Takara Tomy (TOMY Company, Ltd.) | See guide |
| Tornado | USA (1970) | Valley-Dynamo | Texas |
| Traxxas | USA (1986) | Independent (Jenkins) | Overseas (rep.) |
| Trefl | Gdynia, Poland (1985) | See guide | Trefl S.A., Gdynia |
| Trumpeter | China (Zhongshan) | ZhongShan YaTai | China |
| Unicorn | UK (1937) | Lowy family | Attributed |
| Viper | USA (1981) | GLD Products | China (rep.) |
| VTech | Video Technology Limited, Hong Kong (1976) | See guide | See guide |
| Warrior | USA (Undisclosed) | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
| Wentworth Wooden Puzzles | Pinkney, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire (1991 (company incorporated); Wentworth name 1994) | See guide | The Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Company Limited, Swindon |
| Wham-O | Pasadena, California (1948) | See guide | Carson, California (company site, 2026) |
| White Mountain | USA (1978) | Minton/Wroblewski family | Jackson, NH |
| Willow Tree | Susan Lordi, Kansas City (2000) | See guide | See guide |
| Winmau | UK (1945) | Nodor group (2002) | Kenya (rep.) |
| woom | Vienna, Austria (2013) | See guide | Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria (Leadersnet, 2021) |
| YoYoFactory | Chandler, Arizona (2004) | See guide | See guide |
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Bicycle playing cards?
Belgium’s Cartamundi, which bought the US Playing Card Company in 2019, according to our guide.
Are Matchbox and Hot Wheels the same company?
Both belong to Mattel, which acquired Matchbox in 1997, according to our guide.
Who owns Revell?
Quantum Capital Partners of Germany, which took over Revell after Hobbico’s 2018 collapse and also owns Carrera, according to our guides.
Is Scalextric still owned by Hornby?
No. Our guide reports that Hornby sold Scalextric to Purbeck Capital Partners in early 2026, keeping Airfix and Corgi.
Part of our Toys & Games brand guidelines. See also all collections.