Kinderspiel des Jahres-winning publisher Schmidt Spiele sees 2025 sales rise almost 8%, to €61.5m

Last year’s Kinderspiel des Jahres-winning publisher Schmidt Spiele saw its sales rise nearly 8% to €61.5m in 2025, citing children’s and family games as a key driver of its growth.

The veteran board game maker, which has a history stretching back to 1907, said its “core area” of children’s and family games grew 6% last year, with Wolfgang Warsch-designed 2025 Kinderspiel winner Topp Die Torte highlighted for achieving “encouraging sales figures”.

Schmidt Spiele said its classic board game brands Mensch ärgere Dich nicht and Yahtzee – known as Kniffel in Germany – were key contributors to that result, as were popular titles from its Klein & Fein series of small-box dice games, which includes the Warsch-designed Ganz Schön Clever! (That’s Pretty Clever!) range.

The publisher, which also makes puzzles, plushies and toys, is best known in hobby board games for critical and commercial successes Quacks of Quedlinburg and Daybreak – winners of the Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel respectively – and Ganz Schön Clever, a Kennerspiel des Jahres nominee in 2018.

Schmidt Spiele previously scored sales of about €57.5m in 2024, a total it said was almost identical to the previous year, despite a tricky 2024 domestically amid the closure or shrinkage of two major retailers stocking its games and puzzles.

The company said during the unveiling of its 2023 results that sales for its family and children-focused division had remained flat, albeit at a level it said has been on a high since 2020.

Schmidt Spiele managing director Axel Kaldenhoven said of the 2025 results, “The growth across all product ranges confirms both our strategic direction and the strength of our brands and products.

“Classic games, strong licensed themes, and innovative new products complement each other perfectly and form the basis of our success.”

Schmidt added that a key component of its ongoing success was its commitment to attending trade fairs including Spielwarenmesse, Spiel Essen, SPIEL DOCH! Dortmund, Brettspiel Con Berlin, Hobbymesse Leipzig and SPIELidee Rostock, which allowed it to cultivated exchanges with partners and game designers and continuously expanded its network, in addition to making sales to consumers.

The company’s 2026 releases are set to include Reiner Knizia-designed Kniffel: Das Duell, a tenth-anniversary re-design of Inka and Markus Brand’s Encore! (Noch Mal!), titled Noch X-Mal!, and magical ingredients tile placement game Morty Sorty Magic Shop from Challengers co-designer Markus Slawitscheck.