Mensch ärgere Dich nicht

The game goes back to an old Indian game called Pachisi, which is still known today. Moreover, it is very common in Sri Lanka ('pahada kolya'), Malaysia ('dhola'), Myanmar ('pasit', 'chwe-pyit-thi' or 'ansah-pyit-thi'), Iran ('pachis'), as well as in Arabic countries ('parchis'). Finally, through the Moors, it was brought to Spain, and thus to Europe. Occasionally, it is played at oriental courts using household servants as tokens on correspondingly large fields.

In its present form, Mensch ärgere Dich nicht was invented in the winter months of 1907/1908 by Josef Friedrich Schmidt, a native of Amberg, Germany and the founder of Schmidt Spiele. This game was invented in a workshop in Munich-Giesing and was based on the English game, Ludo. This game was first published in 1910 and was produced in series from 1914 on. Mensch ärgere Dich nicht is considered the most popular parlour game in Germany. In contrast to Ludo, the game's role model, Schmidt left aside all tactical and strategic variations in the rules. Also, the symbolism of the origin game, Pachisi, was completely eliminated.[2][3]

The rules of this classic game have essentially not changed since 1914, but now there are different variations of the game, e.g. Nichts als Ärger and Teufelsrad. While the game was not particularly successful in the early years, it became popular during the First World War. Schmidt sent 3,000 games to field hospitals so that the soldiers had something to do to escape boredom.[4] Thanks to this tactic and the subsequent word-of-mouth propaganda, it was possible to sell 1 million games at the price of 35 Pfennigs by 1920.

After the Second World War, the game remained largely unchanged. In 1953, Schmidt Spiele introduced an official Mensch ärgere Dich nicht version as a licensed edition in East Germany. Soon after, almost identical counterfeits appeared in West Germany under the title of "Wir werfen raus!" and "Mensch wir werfen raus!". One version, "Verliere nicht den Kopf!" puts a shortcut across in the middle of the board. Its successor, "Raus!", which had a square-shaped board, was also being sold at the time.[5] Different counterfeits appeared in other countries, such as an Austrian version of the game, such as Das Spiel, by the Viennese publisher Werner Schneider Jr.[5] In addition to these games, many other promotional games appeared in the 1980s that were modeled after the original. Apart from these counterfeits, other internationally refined and independent games evolved from Mensch ärgere Dich nicht and other Pachisi spin-offs. These games include: Hexentanz, das VIP Game, Tock, its spin-off, Sorry!, Dog and DOG, as well as Huckepack.[5]

Additionally, this board game established itself in tournament form.[6] On February 11, 2010, the Deutsche Post issued a 55 cent coin with a special stamp to celebrate the game's 100th anniversary.[7] In January 2014, Schmidt Spiele released a card game with the title Mensch ärgere Dich nicht: Das Kartenspiel.[8] Schmidt's hometown Amberg set the world record for simultaneous gameplay of Mensch ärgere Dich nicht with 1692 people on 375 game-boards in July 2017.[9]

There is another version of the game called Verliere nicht den Kopf (Don't lose your head) based on the same game mechanism as the original one. There are, however, two defining differences: whenever the player proceeds to any of the corner squares, they can take a diagonal shortcut for their next move to save half the trip. This way, every player can use two spots for shortcuts. However, to get to the finish line, all of the squares need to be reached by rolling the dice to get the exact number (first piece placed on the last square, second one on the second to the last etc). The original version allows the player to move the tokens within the finish area, if the roll is low enough. As a result, the piece remains in the game longer before it reaches the finish line, which increases the risk of being kicked out.