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In 1907-1908, a German man called Josef Friedrich Scmidt created a very simple board game, one he titled after it's fustrating game mechanics: "Don't Get Angry, Man!". This simple game with four players was sent to German hospitals over the duration of First World War, as a escape from boredom for the wounded men.
Roughly 3,000 copies where sent out by 1918 for this cause. Men could relax and destress, socialising and talking over such a mindless and simplistic game with very few rules.
And it was a hit. Soon, this game exploded in popularity... By 1920, 1 million copies where sold in Germany alone.
The game is said to still be one of the most popular board games to this day- even receiving it's own postage stamp in Germany in 2010. Along with it's inspiration/English parent game, Ludo, (gaining similar proportions of popularity), this game is one of the most iconic in the world.
By Vitavia - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56332654
This is something I came across whilst reaserching for my book that really facinated me!
Sometimes, it's the most trivial of WW1 facts that really gets me excited... I hope you found this as interesting as I did.
Citation: Wikipedia
