Schmidt Spiele is a German games publisher for a wide variety of games, especially

German-style board game A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, (generally just referred to as board games in Europe) is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical componen ...

s. Founder

Josef Friedrich Schmidt Josef Friedrich Schmidt (24 November 1871 – 28 September 1948) was a German board game inventor. Schmidt was the inventor of board game Mensch ärgere Dich nicht. He invented the game in 1907/1908. See also * Schmidt Spiele Schmidt Spiele ...

developed

Mensch ärgere dich nicht Mensch ärgere Dich nicht (English: ''Man, Don't Get Angry'') is a German board game (but not a German-style board game), developed by Josef Friedrich Schmidt in 1907/1908. Some 70 million copies have been sold since its introduction in 1914 an ...

in 1907/1908, based on antique forerunners. Five years later his new publishing firm began the game's serial production. The firm expanded their range of products to include a very wide range of games of all kinds. In the 1980s, Schmidt Spiele published the highly successful German

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

Das Schwarze Auge ''The Dark Eye'' (German: ''Das Schwarze Auge'', lit. "The Black Eye") is a German tabletop role-playing game with a high fantasy theme created by Ulrich Kiesow and launched by Schmidt Spiel & Freizeit GmbH and Droemer Knaur Verlag in 1984. ...

'' (The Dark Eye). Josef Friedrich Schmidt's son Franz founded his own independent enterprise named Schmidt Spiele in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(seated in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

after the war). The two enterprises maintained a shared channel of distribution, and merged in 1970. The firm's complete archives were lost in a fire in the 1970s. Schmidt Spiele went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

in 1997 and were bought up by the Blatz-Gruppe who subsequently maintained the vastly better known

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

''Schmidt Spiele'', publishing their own games under this name as well. Schmidt Spiele is run as a GmbH (Schmidt Spiele GmbH). In 2006 their turnover was reportedly 33.5 million

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

External links

* http://www.schmidtspiele.de/ (Schmidt Spiele homepage - German) Board game publishing companies Publishing companies of Germany Manufacturing companies established in 1907 Design companies established in 1907 1907 establishments in Germany Companies based in Nuremberg