Pegasus Spiele

1993–2020

Pegasus Spiele was founded by two friends, Karsten Esser and Andreas Finkernagel, in 1993 as a fantasy shop in downtown Friedberg, Germany.^[1][2] Finkernagel has said that he was inspired by his English teacher to start a board game company.^[3] The founders, 19 and 20 at the time, had dropped out of college to establish the store.^[4][5] The original store was in a location vacated by their parents, next to the former Joh department store.^[3][6] The founders also started a fantasy club, Die Gemeinschaft des Rings (transl. The Community of the Rings),^[1] and published a gaming magazine.^[2] The business first evolved into a game wholesaler, and in 1994, Pegasus expanded into publishing.^[2][4] Their first published game was GURPS, a pen-and-paper role-playing game (RPG).^[1] Pegasus adopted the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering early, being one of its first distributors for 4 years.^[2] The company hosted Germany's first Magic championship in Friedberg.^[5]

The game Munchkin, published in 2003, contributed greatly to the company's growth in the 2000s and remains the company's bestseller.^[1][7] Pegasus began publishing the cooperative game Pandemic in 2008, which Esser described as a "game changer" for the company.^[2][8] They received their first Spiel des Jahres nomination in 2009 for Pandemic and their first win in 2012.^[7] Pegasus had to relocate their store several times for space, but wanted to remain in Friedberg.^[5] The company first moved to the western industrial park, but after running out of room again, they built a new building in the southern industrial park in 2014.^[4][5] In 2018, the publisher entered into a licensing agreement with Games Workshop for Talisman.^[9][10]

2020–present

During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, sales of Pegasus games boomed as families began playing more games.^[6] In 2021, Pegasus opened its North America branch in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which now operates as a subsidiary.^[3][11][12] For Friedberg's 800th anniversary, the company released The Tsar is Coming for the city.^[13] This game was inspired by Tsar Nicholas II's 1910 visit to Hesse.^[13] The company's first original development to win the Spiel des Jahres was Dorfromantik: The Board Game (2022).^[3]

For a few months in 2023, Pegasus operated a pop-up store in downtown Friedberg.^[4] Also in 2023, construction started on a new adjacent building, dubbed "Pegasus 2".^[2][14] The expansion, completed in April 2024, includes new buildings and doubled the business's capacity, costing seven figures to build.^[14][15] Pegasus participates in the "Get to the Center" downtown initiative (German: Ab in die Mitte) as well as the Bad Nauheim- and Friedberg Plays festivals.^[16][17] Trade disruptions during the second Trump government impacted Pegasus both ways; devaluation in currencies benefited the company financially while uncertainty made foreign retailers hesitant to buy games.^[12] As of April 2023^[update], Pegasus employs 58 people, as well as over 100 freelancers.^[7][18] Both Esser and Finkernagel remain as joint CEOs of the company.^[4] Esser primarily manages finances while Finkernagel manages marketing and sales, although they collaborate on other aspects of the company.^[4] In 2024, Finkernagel stated that Pegasus has a brand awareness of 17% in Germany.^[6] As of October 2025^[update], Pegasus produces 90% of its products in China.^[12] Pegasus uses an alliance system to cooperate with smaller publishers.^[2] The company has distribution or licensing agreements with Games Workshop, Deep Print Games, and others.^[10][19]

Spiel des Jahres awards and nominations