Michael Schacht (born 1964 in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

) is a German

game designer Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

, graphician and owner of the small publishing company ''Spiele aus Timbuktu''.

Life and work

Schacht studied graphic design at the FH Darmstadt. About 15 years he worked as Art Director in different advertising agencies. 2005 he quit the branch and became one of the few full-time board game designer in Germany. He is married and lives presently (2010) in Frankfurt/Main. Developing started for him with a boardgame designing contest. His first publication was in 1992 the game ''Taxi'' in the magazine ''Spielerei''. His biggest success so far was in 2007 his game Zooloretto that received

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, 'Game of the Year') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence an ...

(game of the year) in Germany.

Games (selection)

* 1999: ''

Kontor A ''kontor'' (also Kontor; ) was a major foreign trading post of the Hanseatic League. Kontors were legal entities established in a foreign city (i.e. a city that did not belong to the Hanseatic League), with a degree of legal autonomy. Most kon ...

'' ( Goldsieber) * 1999: '' Tohuwabohu'' ( Goldsieber, Familygame of the Year in Denmark 1999) * 2000: '' Kardinal & König'' ( ''Web of Power'',

Rio Grande Games Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Placitas, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games. History In 1995, Jay Tummelson began working for Mayfair Games. At that time, ...

, Goldsieber) * 2001: '' Isis & Osiris'' ( Goldsieber, Nominee Toy of the Year Netherlands 2001) * 2002: '' Dschunke'' (

Queen Games Queen Games is a German publisher of tabletop games, based in Troisdorf and founded in 1992 by head Rajive Gupta, which specialises primarily in German-style, family-level games but has also published smaller numbers of both simpler, children's g ...

, 3rd place Deutscher Spiele Preis 2002) * 2002: '' Potzblitz'' (a.k.a. ''Grab Bag'', HABA) * 2003: ''

Coloretto ''Coloretto'' is a card game designed by Michael Schacht, originally published in 2003. The game cards depict chameleons, showing that "a player may change his color many times during the game".''Coloretto'' game box description Rules are prov ...

'' (

, Abacusspiele, Best Card Game in Germany 2003) * 2003: '' Industria'' (

, Gamers Choice Awards: Multiplayer Nominees 2004) * 2003: ''

Magna Grecia Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were extensively settled by Greeks beginning in the 8th century ...

'' (

Clementoni Clementoni S.p.A. is an Italian company which deals with the production of educational toys. It is based in Recanati, Italy. History The company was founded in 1963 by Mario Clementoni (1925 in Potenza Picena –2012 in Recanati) who, after ...

, Nominee International Gamers Award 2004) * 2003: ''

Paris Paris ''Paris Paris'' is an unreleased Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Ramesh Aravind and produced by Manu Kumaran. A remake of the 2013 Hindi film ''Queen'' by Vikas Bahl, the film features Kajal Aggarwal alongside Elli Avram, ...

'' ( Abacusspiele) * 2003: ''

Richelieu und die Königin! Richelieu (, ; ) may refer to: People * Cardinal Richelieu (Armand-Jean du Plessis, 1585–1642), Louis XIII's chief minister * Alphonse-Louis du Plessis de Richelieu (1582–1653), French Carthusian bishop and Cardinal * Louis François Armand ...

'' (

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game, puzzle and toy company, publishing house, and market leader in the jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...

) * 2004: '' Hansa'' (

Überplay Überplay Entertainment was a board game publishing company located in St. George, Utah, and was founded by Jeremy Young and Matt Molen in 2003. As of April 2008, it had ceased operations. The company held three separate brands: Überplay prov ...

, Abacusspiele) * 2004: ''

Socken zocken Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken originally served ...

'' (a.k.a. ''Lucky Sock Dip'', HABA, Spiel gut 2005) * 2005: ''

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

'' (

, Abacusspiele), Rerelease of ''Kardinal & König / Web of Power'' with new theme * 2006: ''

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

'' (

, Abacusspiele) * 2007: '' Zooloretto'' (

, Abacusspiele), Winner Game of the Year in Germany 2007) * 2007: '' Patrizier'' (a.k.a. ''Patrician'',

Mayfair Games Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board game, board, card game, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed German-style board game, Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language pub ...

Amigo Amigo(s) (Portuguese and Spanish for ''male friend'') may refer to: People * Carlos Amigo Vallejo (1934–2022), Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop emeritus of Seville Places Facilities * Amigos School, a bilingual primary school in Cambridge, M ...

, Spiel gut 2008) * 2008: '' Aquaretto'' (

, Abacusspiele) * 2008: '' Shanghaien'' ( Abacusspiele) * 2009: '' Bürger, Baumeister & Co.'' ( Abacusspiele, for the 150 years celebration of ''Saalbau Frankfurt'') * 2009: '' Valdora'' ( Abacusspiele, 6th place Deutscher Spiele Preis 2009) * 2009: ''

Die Goldene Stadt ''The Golden City'' (), is a 1942 German color film directed by Veit Harlan, starring Kristina Söderbaum, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. Plot Anna, a young, innocent country girl (a Sudeten German), whose mother drowned in the swamp, ...

'' (a.k.a. ''The Golden City'', Kosmos,

Z-Man Games Z-Man Games is an American board game company, incorporated in 1999. It was named after its founder, Zev Shlasinger. The company is known for their ''Pandemic'' series of board games, as well as being the sole publisher for the English editions o ...

) * 2011: '' Mondo'' (Pegasus) * 2012: ''

Mondo Sapiens Mondo (Italian language, Italian, Ido language, Ido, and Esperanto for ''world''), may refer to: People *Michael Mondo, Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer *Mondo Guerra, American fashion designer *Armand Duplantis, Armand ”Mondo” Duplan ...

'' (Pegasus) * 2017: Smile (Z-Man Games) * 2019: Iwari (ThunderGryph Games)

External links

*
Spiele aus Timbuktu
Small publishing company of the designer * (includes complete list of games) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schacht, Michael 1964 births Living people Board game designers 20th-century German designers 21st-century German designers Businesspeople from Frankfurt German publishers (people)