Cheapass Games
Cheaptown, FL USA
Cheapass Games, a game publisher started by game designer James Ernest, is a small game company in Seattle WA. From 1996 to 2006, they produced roughly 100 tabletop games, mostly in very cheap packages without the generic components like dice and paper money.
From 2007 to 2011, they hibernated. Some of their games found new publishers in the game industry, and some of their games wound up out of print. A number of their old games are posted as free downloads at cheapass.com.
Adapting to the changing nature of game printing, Cheapass Games produced free games, cheap games, and crowd-funded games, all with the quirky sense of humor that is the hallmark of a Cheapass game.
In 2019, Cheapass Games was purchased by Greater Than Games, who in 2021 were bought out by Flat River Group. Since then, GTG has shut down the Cheapass site (it now re-directs to GTG Games' site), with a promise to reinstate it once their deal with Flat River is finalized. The only Cheapass game that GTG has re-printed to date is KILL DOCTOR LUCKY in a "24 3/4 Anniversary Edition", differing from the 19.5th Edition only by having separate Dog and Cat pawns and a different printer handling the interior materials.
paraphrased from http://www.cheapass.com
In 2022, James Ernest brought the Cheapass catalog to his new publisher, Crab Fragment labs. A significant number of Cheapass titles are now available at https://crabfragmentlabs.com/shop.
Read the book:
https://store.greaterthangames.com/cheapass-games-in-black-and-white-pdf.html
Watch game play through videos (41):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBZBled0v3sJWH7nqoUmWgChzhRZE8QQf
Or Listen to the album:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nUQKGhC_wBor3aeTyq69aIIz89rRcIrpE
Notable Games
Pairs
Kill Doctor Lucky
The Big Idea
Diceland: Deep White Sea
The Very Clever Pipe Game
Brawl
Button Men
Microbadge:
- Cheapass Games fan