Outset Media Corporation is a Canadian company which develops and distributes family entertainment products, specializing in board games, party games, card games, and jigsaw puzzles. In addition to developing its own games, Outset Media also distributes games and puzzles in Canada for United States-based companies.

History

The company was founded in 1996 by 23-year old university student David Manga, originally with the sole purpose of publishing and distributing a single board game called All Canadian Trivia. Development of the product was 16 months. The original edition of All Canadian Trivia was released in May of 1997. While the Original edition went on to become a Canadian bestseller - breaking 100,000 copies sold in Canada, the French edition was a flop and sold less than 3,000 copies.

A limited print-run Millennium Edition of All Canadian Trivia was released in 1999. The game's creator embarked on a two-month guerilla marketing campaign across Canada to promote the game. David Manga was selected as one of a hundred young Canadians to watch in the new millennium by Maclean's

Maclean's

Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...

 magazine.

In 2002, Outset Media nearly closed its doors after its largest customer, Stewart House Publishing, a former gift division of book publisher McClelland & Stewart, ran into financial difficulties and went into bankruptcy. With nearly 50% of its annual revenue in bad debt and unrecoverable, Outset Media was bailed out with angel investments from family members and financing from the Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada

The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...

. Later that year, Outset Media added a new division, distributing other companies' games in Canada, when it began to distribute the line of "opoly" games from US-based Late for the Sky

Late for the Sky Production Company

Late for the Sky Production Company is a U.S. based board game production and manufacturing company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were founded in 1984. They are best known for their manufacture and production of games based on Monopoly...

.

In 2003, Outset Media made its first appearance on the Profit magazine's annual ranking of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies. The company would appear on the Profit 100 list for six consecutive years from 2003 to 2008.

Professor Noggin's

Outset Media's most recognized brand is the Professor Noggin's series of educational card games. First published in 2002, the series now includes over 30 different titles, and has garnished 14 international toy awards to date. Over 800,000 copies have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into French as "Professeur Caboche".

Supplier of the Year

The Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS), a non-profit association representing independent toy retailers across Canada, has named Outset Media the "Supplier of the Year" five times in the past seven years (2004-2007 and 2011), beating out such companies as Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

, Irwin Toy, Lego, Mattel, and Playmobil

Playmobil

Playmobil is a line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group , headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany.New products and product lines developed by a 50-strong development team are frequently introduced by Brandstätter. Some of these, such as promotional products, are only produced in limited quantities...

.

International partnerships

Outset Media has developed distribution partnerships with several European and American game and puzzle companies, including MindWare, Patch Products

Patch Products

Patch Products is a family-owned company, leading the toy industry in design, manufacturing and marketing of games, children’s puzzles, toys, activities and teaching tools. Since 1985, Patch has developed high-quality, award-winning products that enrich lives by providing fun and interaction...

, Mayfair Games

Mayfair Games

Mayfair Games is a publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games. They also license German-style board games and publish them in English throughout the world...

, Green Board Games, Late for the Sky

Late for the Sky Production Company

Late for the Sky Production Company is a U.S. based board game production and manufacturing company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were founded in 1984. They are best known for their manufacture and production of games based on Monopoly...

, Cheatwell Games, Monkey Business Sports, Cobble Hill Puzzles, and White Mountain Puzzles.

Games developed by Outset Media

• All American Trivia
• All Canadian Trivia
• Artifact, The Hunt for Stolen Treasure
• Beam Me Up
• Camper Damper
• Charades In-A-Box
• Chicago Cribbage
• Conjecture
• Canada-Opoly
• Pond Hockey-Opoly
• Professor Noggin's
• Quebec-Opoly
• Rhyme Thyme
• Skullduggery
  Skullduggery (board game)
  Skullduggery, created and illustrated by Allegra Vernon, Outset Media's Creative Director is a children's board game, teaching basic logic and strategy. The pirate-themed game is played on a tiled board, with tokens representing the players. The game uses pirates and gemstones as enemies to create...
  
  
• Ultimate Baseball Trivia
• Ultimate Hockey Trivia
• What? Games 100
  GAMES 100
  The Games 100 is an annual feature of Games magazine, a United States magazine devoted to games and puzzles. The Games 100 first appeared in the November/December 1980 issue as an alphabetic list of the 100 games preferred by the editors of the magazine...
  
   Best Party Game Runner Up

Games licensed by Outset Media

• Car Tag
• Fart
• Humm Bug
• Kids Charades
• Know Your Partner
• MindTrap
  MindTrap
  MindTrap is a series of lateral thinking puzzle games played by two individuals or teams. Invented in Canada, it is the main product of MindTrap Games, Inc., who license the game for manufacture by various companies including Outset Media, Blue Opal, the Great American Puzzle Factory, Pressman Toy...
  
  
• PickTwo
• Saucy Charades
• Telepaths
• Them and Us
• Theories
• Word Thief

Games distributed in Canada by Outset Media

• 5 Second Rule
• Bed Bugs
• BrainBox
• BuzzWord
• CrossCribb
• Don't Make Me Laugh
• Farkle
• Horse-Opoly
• Malarky
  Malarky
  Malarky was developed by Ernie Capobianco, a Dallas advertising executive, and David Feldman, the maker of the Imponderables novels, and published by Patch Products in 1997...
  
  
• Pillars of the Earth
• Q-Bitz
• Qwirkle
  Qwirkle
  Qwirkle is a tile-based game for 2-4 players. It was designed by Susan McKinley Ross and published by MindWare. Qwirkle shares some characteristics with the games Rummikub and Scrabble. It is distributed in Canada by game and puzzle company, Outset Media. Qwirkle is considered by MindWare to be...
  
  
• The Settlers of Catan
  The Settlers of Catan
  The Settlers of Catan is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber and first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag as Die Siedler von Catan. Players assume the roles of settlers, each attempting to build and develop their settlement while trading and acquiring resources...
  
  
• What's Yours Like
• Word Shout