Mac Gerdts

{{Short description|German board game designer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} [[File:Mac Gerdts.jpg|thumb|Mac Gerdts alla convention Play 2012, Modena]]

'''Walther M. Gerdts''', known as '''Mac Gerdts''', is the designer of German-style board games such as ''Imperial'', ''Imperial 2030'', ''Antike'' and ''Hamburgum''. His games introduced the concept of a rondel rather than dice as a mechanism for play.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.timesunion.com/boardgames/2016/08/19/mac-gerdts-for-president/ |title=Mac Gerdts for President |work=Albany Times Union |date=19 August 2016 |accessdate=31 October 2016 |first=Jeremy |last=Olson}}</ref> This is designed to prevent players from repeatedly taking the same action in quick succession without paying a cost.<ref>[http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/game_review_hamburgum/ Boardgame News] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501121739/http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/game_review_hamburgum/ |date=1 May 2008 }}</ref>

Like many German board games, all of Gerdts' games include a mechanism designed to keep game length roughly within the specified time constraint. In Imperial, the game ends when a nation reaches the 25-point on the counting chart. In Hamburgum, the game ends when six churches are constructed.

==Games== * ''Antike Duellum'', released in 2012, is a two-player version of Antike. * ''Antike II'', released in 2014, is the follow-up of Antike, modified to make conquests easier while also allowing players to have possibilities of winning without necessarily attacking other players. * ''Antike'', released in 2005, is about evolution and competition among ancient civilizations. * ''Concordia'', a game released in 2013, about economics during the Roman Empire, is one of Mac's few games that does not employ a rondel. It was nominated for the 2014 Spiel des Jahres prize in the category Kennerspiel des Jahres (Connoisseur-Enthusiast Game of the Year).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.spieldesjahres.de/cms/front_content.php?idcatart=1236&id=875|title = Spiel des Jahres e.V.}}</ref> * ''Hamburgum'', released in 2007, is a game in which the object is to trade goods and make prestigious church donations. The spaces on the rondel are Church, Trade, Cloth, Guildhall, Beer, Dockyard, and Sugar. * ''Imperial 2030'', released in 2009, is a follow-up of Imperial, where USA, Europe, Russia, China, India and Brazil compete for world domination. * ''Imperial'', a 2006 game, has the players take on the roles of international investors in pre-World War I Europe. * ''Navegador'', released in 2010, is a game about the Golden Age of Portuguese Explorations. * ''The Princes of Machu Picchu'', released in 2008 * ''Transatlantic'', a historic/economic game about industry exploration and naval transportation was presented at Essen Spiel 2014 and released in 2017.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{BoardGameGeek designer}} * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512030456/http://www.eggertspiele.de/pub/team/e-mac.htm |title=Walther "Mac" Gerdts at Eggertspiele.de}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerdts, Mac}} Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Board game designers