The Workshop of James Ernest
Crab Fragment Labs is a harmless byproduct of designer James Ernest, who struggles against his better nature to create an implausible profusion of original tabletop games.
Welcome!
Congratulations! You have stumbled into Crab Fragment Labs, a tropical paradise filled with the exploits of James Ernest.
Read our latest newsletter here.
You’ll want to start at the Games Page or the Map Room. We have a lot of stuff here, and the list is growing all the time.
We have games, game-related pages, design and travel blogs, and more. You’ll find dozens of print-and-play games, still in development, and a Shop with PDF versions of historic Cheapass Games.
If you’d like to know where James Ernest is headed next, please check out the Schedule page. And for news sent directly to your electronic mailbox, please subscribe to our newsletter, with the link below.
Recent News
April 23, 2024: One of the oldest games in the Cheapass catalog is the free game Pennywise, also known as Fight. You can learn the rules to Pennywise at the Ready Room, or in Chief Herman’s Holiday Fun Pack, or you can watch today’s newest How to Play video.
April 17, 2024: James just returned from Intergalactic ConQuest in Sacramento, and here’s a blog post with all the details.
April 9, 2024: James has been traveling so much he hasn’t had time to write about it, but that will be fixed in the next week or so. Meanwhile, check out the video from his recent trip to Portland, for GameStorm 2024.
March 7 2024: How to Play Pirate’s Bluff. We’ve finally posted a how-to-play for one of the earliest Crab Fragment Games. Pirate’s Bluff is liar’s dice with cards, a fast-playing bluffing game without turns. Shout our your bids as fast as you want, or call the standing bid to close the round and win the pot.
February 29, 2024: To celebrate Leap Day we’ve added one more game to our listings at DriveThruCards. This time it’s The Harvest, a highly strategic, compact little card game that really is clever enough to come around only once in four years. Check out the beautiful full-color version of this game and order your copy today!
February 27, 2024: We’re pleased to announce two more print-on-demand products at DriveThru. We now have a lovely one-page board for Tablero di Berona, in case you don’t want to wait for a wooden one, and we also have the deck and board for Shipwrights of Marino. See all of our DriveThru products in one massive list at the new DriveThru Links page.
February 20, 2024: We have settled on what we think is a pretty good set of rules for Prudh, after a weekend of testing (and computer simulations). The web player is yet to be updated, but please check out the new rules at the Prudh page.
February 15, 2024: Our friends at Abstract Play have now implemented five of our abstract games online: Fightopia, Hens and Chicks, Queensland, Tablero di Berona, and Take-Back-Toe. Those games that aren’t linked above can be found at the Ready Room. Join Abstract Play and give them a try!
February 5, 2024: One of James Ernest’s favorite Pairs games is Deadfall, and it shows in this new explanation / play-through video. Deadfall is just one of dozens of great games for the Pairs deck.
February 2, 2024: James Ernest tugged on a loose thread, and now we’ve started rebuilding all the major pages. We have added a Ready Room to contain all the free games that require no custom components, and a DriveThruCards page, listing all the games you can order there.
Please Support Us on Patreon
We have a Patreon page, as you might expect, and you can help us immeasurably by joining our cadre of Hermit Crabs. If you love what we do, and you want to support our huge catalog of free content, please become a Hermit Crab today!
