The FMJD was founded in 1947 by four federations, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Its main purpose was to regulate the competition on the world championship. Though from 1897 onwards world champions had been proclaimed, between France and the Netherlands, the growth of the number of countries and the desire to have a more regular competition gave rise to this international organization. From this early start, the FMJD grew to 74 participating national federations it has at present.

The FMJD is a member of Sportaccord, the umbrella organization for both Olympic and non-Olympic international sports federations. As such, the FMJD membership (and that of the FIDE and WBF) is part of a more general movement towards integration of mind sports in the regular sports arenas, a development that in the vision of the FMJD is to be lauded.