ASS (Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkartenfabrik) claims to be the market leader in Germany for playing cards.

In 1793 it was taken over by Georg Friedrich Schlüter and, in 1823, passed to the von der Osten family with whom it remained for decades.

The company grew steadily: in 1888 the Stralsund firm of Falkenberg & Co. (founded 1872) was bought up, in 1891 the company of Tiedemann in Rostock, in 1894 the Berlin playing card manufacturers of Rochus Sala, in 1895 the Hallesche factory, Ludwig & Schmidt, in 1897 the Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik, in 1901 Sutor from Naumburg (Saale), in 1905 Booch in Werdau and 1907 the Berlin concern of Büttner & Cie.

The Stralsund factories manufactured the majority of playing cards sold on the German market but also produced them for export.

The Stralsund Museum houses examples of many of the playing cards made, some very rare, displayed in a permanent exhibition.

On 16 November 1832, the brothers Bernhard and Otto Bechstein, in the residential town of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, had been granted permission to manufacture German and French playing cards in the name of the Duchy and the Ducal Saxon Altenburg Playing Card Company (Herzogliche Sächsische Altenburger Concessionierte Spielkartenfabrik) was founded.

It operated for many years with great energy, but no profit due to tough competition from passing traders from Weimar, Leipzig and Dresden.

At the shareholder's meeting on 14 February 1931 it was decided to merge the premises in Stralsund and Altenburg and to move the firm to Thuringia.

Some time afterwards the Leinfelder concern went bankrupt and went, as ASS Spielkarten, to the Berliner Blatz-Group (Schmidt Spiele).

In 2000, the brand of Berliner Spielkarten was integrated, along with its additional product fields of games and puzzles, into ASS.

In 2002 the international playing card manufacturers, Cartamundi, who had taken over the ASS Spielkartenverlag in Steinenbronn the year before, acquired Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg from the Ravensburger Group.

Several German playing cards dating to 1509 and made by Altenburger cardmaker, Merten (Martin) Hockendorf, have survived.

For this reason, the town and its cardmakers jointly celebrated "500 Years of Altenburg Playing Cards" in 2009.

As of 2017, the company produces almost 40 million different card decks per year in Altenburg according to its own figures.