Mensch ärgere Dich nicht

Daddy, we're bored. In the winter of 1907/08, Josef Schmidt managed to put a stop to his three sons' griping with a home-made game in the shape of a cross. Because the new pastime also proved a great hit with other children in the neighbourhood, the inventive father started to have the board game series-produced in 1914. With the outbreak of World War I, however, the success of the business failed to materialize. Partly for reasons of compassion, and partly to boost sales, Josef Schmidt came up with a brilliant idea – he produced 3,000 copies of his game and gave them to military hospitals for free to cheer up the wounded soldiers. At the end of the war, there was a major breakthrough for Schmidt's version of Ludo, which he called "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" – because soldiers returning home still wanted to enjoy the fun of knocking the counters of their fellow players off, blocking and overtaking them, sales of the game rose to a million by 1920.

Significance: with 70 million copies sold, "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" has become the most popular game in German-speaking countries. Nothing could stop the game, which soon enjoyed an international breakthrough.

Invented by: Josef Schmidt
In: 1905