Mensch ärgere Dich nicht

Mensch ärgere Dich nicht (English: Man, Don't Get

Mensch ärgere Dich nicht
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 and it is played
in many European countries.[1]

The name derives from the fact that a peg is sent back
to the "out" field when another peg lands on it, similar
to the later game Sorry! It is a cross and circle game
with the circle collapsed onto the cross, similar to the
Indian game Pachisi, the Colombian game Parqués, the
American games Parcheesi, Aggravation, and Trouble,
the French game Jeu des petits chevaux, and the Designers Josef Friedrich Schmidt
English game Ludo. Publishers Schmidt Spiele
Publication 1914
Genres Board game
Overview
Languages German
The most played variant of the game can be played by Players 2 to 4 (2 to 6 on reverse side)
two, three or four players – one player per board side. Setup time 1 minute
The special one has a pattern for six players. Each
Playing time c. 30 minutes
player has four game pieces, which are in the "out"
area when the game starts, and which must be brought Chance High (dice rolling)

into the player's "home" row. Age range 6+

Skills Counting, probability
The rows are arranged in a cross position. They are
surrounded and connected with a circle of fields, over
which the game pieces move in a clockwise direction. There are
three fields on each side of the board. At the beginning of the
game, the players' pieces are placed in the four fields marked "B"
on the far left side, the "out" section. The coloured field just left of
centre, marked "A", is each player's "start" field. The white field
just to the right of the start field leads to the "home" row, marked
"a", "b", "c", "d". Each game piece enters the circle at the "start"
Mens erger je niet, Dutch version for
field ("A"), moves (clockwise) over the board and finally enters
6 players
the "home" row. The first player with all of their pieces in their
"home" row wins the game.

The players throw game dice in turn and can advance any of their pieces in the game by the thrown
number of dots on the die.[2]
Throwing a six means bringing a piece into the game (by placing one from the "out" ("B") area onto the
"start" or "A" field) and throwing the die again. If a piece is on the "A" field and there are still pieces in
the "out" area, it must be moved as soon as possible. If a piece cannot be brought into the game then any
other piece in the game must be moved by the thrown number, if that is possible. A commonly played
variation allows a player who has no pieces in the circle of fields to have three tries to throw a six.[2]

Pieces can jump over other pieces and throw out pieces from other players (into that player's "out" area) if
they land on them. A player cannot throw out his own pieces and cannot advance further than the last
field in the "home" row. A player cannot be thrown out if he is on his "start" field. Two pegs cannot reside
on the same circle. Once inside of the "home" area, pegs cannot jump over other pegs and an exact roll of
the dice is required to move inside of the home area. Your peg can only move into the home of the same
color. (i.e. You cannot go into somebody else's home and kick their pegs out.) A worst case scenario for
entering home is depicted in the image here:

It would require the person to roll 4 consecutive 1's to get all of

the pieces in home before another player could kick the one peg
waiting outside of home.

History

Beginnings in the early 20th century

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 Worst case scenario entering home
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 eliminated.[3][4]

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.[5] 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.

Developments and copies after World War II

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.[6] Different
counterfeits appeared in other countries, such as "Das Spiel", an Austrian version of the game by the
Viennese publisher Werner Schneider Jr.[6] 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.[6] The original board game consisted of painted wooden pegs, but sometime after the
1960's, the wooden pegs were replaced with plastic colored pegs.

Further developments in the 21st century

Additionally, this board game established itself in tournament form.[7] On 11 February 2010 the Deutsche
Post issued a special 55 cent stamp to celebrate the game's 100th anniversary.[8] In January 2014, Schmidt
Spiele released a card game with the title Mensch ärgere Dich nicht: Das Kartenspiel.[9] 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.[10]

See also
List of cross and circle games

References
1. Uncle John's 24-Karat Gold Bathroom Reader (https://books.google.com/books?id=JClZDw
AAQBAJ&pg=PT387). Portable Press. 2012. p. 387. ISBN 978-1-60710-655-5.
2. Spielanleitung (rules of the game) (https://www.schmidtspiele.de/media/files/51204_Mensch
_aergere_Dich_nicht_DE.pdf), schmidtspiele.de (in German)
3. "Am Anfang war nichts als Ärger..." (https://web.archive.org/web/20161025094626/http://ww
w.schmidtspiele.de/de/ueber-uns/schmidt-spiele-geschichte/) Schmidtspiele.de. Archived
from the original (http://www.schmidtspiele.de/de/ueber-uns/schmidt-spiele-geschichte/) on
2016-10-25. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
4. Erwin Glonnegger (1988), Das Spiele-Buch. Brett- und Legespiele aus aller Welt. Herkunft,
Regeln und Geschichte (in German), Ravensburger Buchverlag Otto Maier, p. 16, ISBN 3-
9806792-0-9
5. Dorothea Heß. "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht!" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110108074635/
http://www.spielbox-online.de/indxtemp.html?/spielarchiv/dbh/ymadn.htm). spielbox.de. W.
Nostheide Verlag. Archived from the original (http://www.spielbox-online.de/indxtemp.html?/
spielarchiv/dbh/ymadn.htm) on 2011-01-08. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
6. Andreas Mutschke: "Wie man ein Spiel klont am Beispiel Mensch ärgere dich nicht!"
spielbox 3/1991, June/July; pp. 38–40.
7. "Mensch-ärgere-Dich-nicht-Turniere" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180901020905/http://w
ww.das-turnier.com/). Das Turnier. Archived from the original (http://www.das-turnier.com/)
on 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
8. "Jetzt zum Aufkleben: Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140201182
504/http://www.spielbox.de/php/aktuell.php4?anz_id=2218). spielbox.de. W. Nostheide
Verlag. 2010-02-02. Archived from the original (http://www.spielbox.de/php/aktuell.php4?anz
_id=2218) on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
 9. "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht – Das Kartenspiel" (https://schmidtspiele.de/details/produkt/mens
ch-aergere-dich-nicht-das-kartenspiel.html), schmidtspiele.de
10. "Weltrekord im M.ä.D.n.-Spielen 2017 in Amberg" (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/ober
pfalz-amberger-spielen-sich-gelassen-zum-weltrekord-1.3609032)

External links
Media related to Mensch ärgere Dich nicht at Wikimedia Commons
"Mensch ärgere Dich nicht: Geschichte eines Spieleklassikers" (http://www.museen.nuernbe
rg.de/fileadmin/mdsn/pdf/Spielzeugmuseum/Presseinfos/2004/spm_presse04_maedn.pdf)
("Story of a Classic Game"), Nuremberg Toy Museum (in German)

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