Kappa Publishing Group
Kappa Publishing Group, Inc. is a Blue Bell, Pennsylvania based publishing company concentrating on adult puzzle books and magazines as well as children's magazines and maps. It is a private company founded in 1955 with $11.5 million in annual sales.
It has a number of subsidiary companies, such as London Publishing or GAMES Publications. It original owner, H.L. Herbert ("Larry") founded his puzzle business, Official Publications in Manhattan with titles including Teen Word-Finds, Superb Word-Finds, Variety Word-Finds and countless crossword puzzle, crosspatch and fill-it-in titles. Sons Anthony Herbert (Editorial Director) and Paul Herbert (Sales) helped the business grow to the success it became. Edward Tobias was the Editor. Prior to Mr. Herbert, Sr.'s passing in the 1980s, he sold the business to Nick Karabots, who owned the printer where the titles were being printed. The business was then moved to Ft. Washington, PA. Top word-find contributors in the early 80's included Rich Latta and Frank J. D'Agostino.
Kappa Publishing Group has a number of brands used for publishing magazines and books for puzzles and games.
- GAMES, which is used for GAMES Magazine and other magazines and books
- Official, such as for Official's Logic Puzzles and Official's Variety Puzzles
- Blue Ribbon, such as for Blue Ribbon Word Find
- Children's Fun Puzzles
Kappa also publishes Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Former boxing publications include:
- Ring Magazine
- KO Magazine
- World Boxing
In December 2005, Kappa Publishing settled a class-action lawsuit where they allegedly sent junk faxes. The settlement was for $1.5 million to 13,500 potential class members, $560,000 in attorneys' fees and expenses and $65,000 for administrative expenses.
Kappa began acquiring map publishers in 2007 with the acquisition of Universal Map. It acquired Mapsco in March 2010 and the map division of travel publisher Langenscheidt in August.