Founded 1850, St. Louis

"My great-great-great-grandfather Ernst Schmidt emigrated from Germany and set up shop with just one lathe. Today, we sell virtually everything you could want for a game room, and we make just about any kind of pool table. I have never had another job. This is all I ever wanted to do. You better love the business that you are in if you want to stick around, because like that ill-tempered dog up the street, sometimes it's not so lovable. We have stuck around because no matter how bad things get -- and they have been rotten from time to time -- the passion is still there."

-- Kurt Schmidt, 49, president, fifth generation