Michael Schacht (born 1964 in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

) is a German

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

, 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 ''Zooloretto'' is a board game designed by Michael Schacht, published in 2007 by Abacus Spiele and in English by Rio Grande Games. The premise of the game is that each player is the owner of a zoo, and must collect animals in order to attract ...

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 ...

(game of the year) in Germany.

Games (selection)

* 1999: ''

Kontor A ''kontor'' () was a foreign trading post of the Hanseatic League. In addition to the major ''kontore'' in London (the Steelyard), Bruges, Bergen (Bryggen), and Novgorod (Peterhof), some ports had a representative merchant and a warehouse. E ...

'' ( 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, May ...

, 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 ga ...

, 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 provi ...

'' (

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

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

Magna Grecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...

'' (

Clementoni Clementoni SpA is an Italian company which deals with the production of educational toys, based in Recanati. History The company was founded in 1963 by Mario Clementoni (Potenza Picena, 1925 - Recanati, 2012) who, after an experience in the w ...

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

Paris Paris ''Paris Paris'' is an upcoming Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Ramesh Aravind and produced by Manu Kumaran. A remake of the 2014 Hindi film ''Queen'' by Vikas Bahl, the film features Kajal Aggarwal alongside Elli Avram, Var ...

'' ( Abacusspiele) * 2003: '' Richelieu und die Königin!'' (

Ravensburger Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European 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'' (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. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

'' (

, 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, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

'' (

, Abacusspiele) * 2007: ''

'' (

, 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, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to ''The Settlers of Catan'' ser ...

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

, 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 ''Die goldene Stadt'' ( en, 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 ...

'' (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 of ...

) * 2011: '' Mondo'' (Pegasus) * 2012: '' Mondo Sapiens'' (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 German designers Businesspeople from Frankfurt German publishers (people)