Our Story

2008

How it all started

In 2008, as Hadi was preparing for a citizenship test, he experienced a moment of enlightment while quizzing Swiss friends. They clearly did not know as much about Switzerland as they wished they did – they would actually have failed the test. They had a good laugh about it and that moment triggered the creation of a fun and interactive game about Switzerland.

2008 - 2010

Success of a hobby

The game became a classic, selling over 40,000 copies in Switzerland alone.

The “hobby” exceeded all expectations – and took more time than expected. In 2010, Hadi decided to drop everything else and focus on HELVETIQ, from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2011

Cantuun was born

As soon as you have a second game, you have a publishing house. The second game was Cantuun.

The inspiration for the game came from a childhood obsession to know all the different cantonal flags of Switzerland.

A game of travel and learning. The answers were always in your hand, which made the game very democratic. Something we like very much.

2014

The Matchbox is lit

After a couple of years learning the rules of the game in Switzerland, we ventured out onto what is now our favourite playground: the world.

In August 2014, we launched the Matchbox collection. Question: is it a game in a matchbox, or some matches in a game box? The collection has sold in over 15 countries.

2014

Wow, seems like 2014 was an important year.

We published the first volume of the Beer Hiking series. The concept is simple, hike to a craft brewery, meet the brewers and enjoy refreshing brew. We went on from there and published equivalent books for France, Belgium, Germany, the USA and Québec. Certainly more to come.

2015

Basel, here we are!

On top of having an office in Lausanne, we opened a new office in Basel, Switzerland. It was timed well – new people joined the team.

We had 2 swings in the office; they were also known as "the meeting room”. Basel touches Germany and France and the Rhine flows all the way to the Netherlands. Just perfect!

2016

Working the trade shows

We set out to conquer the world...on the roof of a gondola.

2016

The little ones

We started making perfect games for kids to play with adults. Bandido was first – and has been a fabulous locomotive. The game has become one of our best sellers, and is distributed in 43 countries on 5 continents.

Anyone interested in Antarctica? Please get in touch with Alizée.

2018

Inspiration from absolutely anything

We launched Team Up! The first in what would become the Play with Wood collection. Fun fact: the game was inspired by a random wooden pallet used as a tea mug holder on Hadi’s desk. Now we are paying attention to absolutely every little thing around us… who knows what will get us inspired next…

2018

HELVETIQ, aged 10

To celebrate HELVETIQ's 10 year birthday, the entire team travelled to Poland for ten days. We visited factories, developed new ideas, met local game clubs and publishers, and of course, celebrated A LOT.

2018

Melting in and out

August. 32°C outside. We tested recipes from the book Haute Fondue, together with authors Jennifer and Arnaud Favre. Who says you can't eat a fondue in summer? The book would be released a few months later, becoming a massive best seller.

2019

Nominated for publisher of the year

Recognition by peers in German-speaking Switzerland. That made us very happy and grateful.

2019

Basel team moves to new offices

The team working in German-speaking Switzerland moved to a new office in Basel! The new place did not come with swings, as the old office did, but we still love it because we gained a great Indian restaurant nearby...

2020

What a year

Due to the pandemic, team HELVETIQ moved most work and business online. It was a fruitful but also weird year of starting every meeting with “can you hear me?" and "can you see me?”

2020

Pocket games around the world

Our Pocket Games collection grew to 10 titles and 650 000 copies sold. We continue to give the people what they want.

2021

Beer Hiking Family got bigger

After the success of Beer Hiking Switzerland, published in 2014, we teamed up with several authors and hikers around the world to publish new titles. The family will grow again in 2022!

2021

Helvetiq & Bergli

With Richard and Bergli, we used to play basketball (both rooting for the Celtics) and advise each other about book projects. In 2021, we joined forces and now form one team on Mittlere Strasse.

2022

Books to North America—and the World

We began selling our books in the United States—the world's largest publishing market—via an American distributor, who also re-exports our books to English-speaking markets around the world. By working with a US-based sales and marketing team, but keeping editorial and design work in our Swiss offices, we've made it possible for our creators to reach a global readership.

Not long after starting, we'd already notched several regional bestsellers as well as award selections including an American Library Association's Best Graphic Novel, the Global Literature in Libraries Book Prize and a USBBY Outstanding International Books Selection.

2023

Steffen Spiele adds another imprint

Year by year, the family keeps growing. We took over the German games publisher Steffen Spiele from founder Steffen Mühlhäuser. For twenty years, he has built up a renowned publishing house for simple wooden strategy games. We look forward to bringing these high-quality games, which impress with their clarity, to players all over the world.

2024

Recognition for our graphic novel program

Although our graphic novel program is only two years old, we can already celebrate important successes.
Der Letzte löscht das Licht by Tobias Aeschbacher wins the prestigious Max und Moritz Prize for the best German-language debut at the Comic Salon in Erlangen. In France, Alison makes it into the important selection of the Angoulême International Comic Festival.
The Great Turkey Walk lands a spot on the American Library Association's Best Graphic Novels of 2024 list. We're pretty sure we're the only publisher in the world with a graphic novel on a major list in Germany, France and the United States in the same year.

2025

We are delighted to receive further nominations

We are delighted that our books and games continue to meet with recognition. In France, our little Viking game Odin has been nominated for the As d'Or as Game of the Year. In Germany, our funny neon-orange children's non-fiction book has been nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize.