You might not be surprised at one of the more frequent questions we are asked at AMIGO (after “When is [game name] coming out?”) – why is a German game company named AMIGO?
AMIGO Spiel + Freizeit GmbH (the full name of our German company) was founded in 1980 by two men, Rudolf Jansen and Günther Voigt. Their agreement to go into business together was forged at a hotel in Brussels – The Hotel Amigo. So, the company is named after the hotel in Belgium!
Indeed! Umm….
Why is there a hotel in Belgium called the Hotel Amigo?!
Well, for that, we’ve got to talk about some history. Brussels became part of the Spanish Empire in 1477. In 1522, the building that the Hotel AMIGO is in was sold to the city to become a prison. Rumor has it that during this phase, Spanish soldiers confused the Dutch word for prison (“vrunt”) for the Dutch word for friend (“vriend”). This became “amigo” in Spanish, and the name stuck.
We are very happy with the “friend” vibe that our name suggests, and we are very grateful to those Spanish soldiers for their confusion. After all, we would be perceived very differently if we were called Prisiòn Games! Instead, we’re happy that our “friendly” games bring happiness and joy to our worldwide fans!
