Schmidt Spiele was founded by Josef Friedrich Schmidt in Munich, Germany in 1905. The first game published was Mensch ärgere Dich nicht, a variant of Pachisi or Parcheesi, with a simplified rule set still popular today in Europe.
The logo of the publisher used to be the initials of the founder plus the letter M representing the location of the company, Munich: J.F.S.M.
His son Franz Schmidt later on ran a publishing company in Nuremberg, Germany, under the logo F.S.N. (Franz Schmidt Nuremberg). The company moved to Munich using F.S.M. (Franz Schmidt Munich) and using the graphical logo with the double towers of the Marienkirche, the cathedral of Munich.
After Josef Friedrich Schmidt died, the company in Munich continued using J.S.F.M. managed by his wife and daughter.
In 1970 both companies merged and Schmidt Spiele moved to Eching (near Münich), Germany. In 1997 the Schmidt Spiele went bankrupt and company name and logo were bought by an investor and its name and logo is still used and located in Berlin, Germany.
One piece solid wood VWs painted red or blue. They were used as game pieces (8) in the AUTORENN- SPIEL board game NÜRBURG-RING. The box art is very colorful showing two race cars, yellow #17 and red #21, racing thru the German village (Nürburg) countryside. The Nürburgring is a motorsports complex around the village of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Game board shows a colorful map of the Nürburg area with spaces to move the VW game piece from start to finish with the throw of the dice.