The Games of James Ernest
James Ernest has been creating original tabletop games for thousands of years. His newest ones are some of the best.
Cheapass Games and Crab Fragment Labs are two sides of the same coin, with Cheapass Games encompassing more than 150 games in thirty years of publishing, and Crab Fragment representing newer and more experimental games, with another fifty titles.
Journey with us now into the magical land of James Ernest’s overactive imagination. Read our latest newsletter here, and visit the schedule page here. Or get started at the Map Room.
Recent News:
August 31, 2026: New Wooden Game Boards: James has just finished a few 6×6 game boards in maple and canary, each with its own unique personality. Check out the shop listing for details, and read about all the other wood goodies at our Workshop.
August 15, 2026: Welcome Renfield! Our newest old game is Renfield, now available for purchase at DriveThruCards. You’re all crafty gravediggers trying to eat the fewest bugs in this nasty little trick-taker from 1999. Not technically part of the Pearl Anniversary collection, but hey. Sometimes we just can’t wait.
August 8, 2026: Welcome back to VEGAS. In celebration of 8/08 (because Bicycle 808s are the gold standard in playing cards), we have sheepishly posted one of the worst games in the Cheapass catalog, James Ernest Writes Off Another Trip to VEGAS. Someday we might update this old clunker, but that’s a project for another time. Meanwhile, please enjoy the game in its original form, preserved in amber from the year 2000.
August 6, 2026: New Game: Jardín. Once in a while, a little game that has been quietly bubbling in the background rises to the surface. One such is Jardín, a little abstract that James has been tinkering with for months. Take a look at the beta version, and help us make it better!
July 27, 2026: New Lecture Video. Just in time for Gen Con, James Ernest has posted the video from the one talk he’s not repeating this year: Practice, Practice, Practice, Iteration in Game Design. Now joining all the great design content at the Lecture Hall.
July 18, 2026: Cheapass Office Hours. Join James Ernest and Carol Monahan aboard the JoCo Cruise (Spring 2026), as they recall random facts about the past, present, and future of Cheapass Games.
July 16, 2026: Preview Too Many Notes! James and co. are working diligently on the next Cheapass Game of 2026. If you’d like a peek behind the curtain, check out the playtest version of Too Many Notes. It’s a game about classical composers trying to make music without going insane.
July 3, 2026: New Video in the Lecture Hall. James Ernest ran a game design workshop at Tabletop Oahu, talking through the basic steps of game inventing with a practical example. This time around, it’s a game about students trying to avoid getting homework. Watch the video here.
June 29, 2026: Rochi is here! After nine years in beta, Rochi has finally landed at Crab Fragment Labs. Our new DriveThru deck has stunning artwork by Mark Ferrari, and includes bonus cards to serve as various tokens and markers. Rochi is a pub game described in Unmoored, by Sonia Lyris. Read all about it!
June 12, 2026: Lejano Game Boards: James Ernest has become obsessed with this new style of 5×5 game board, named Lejano after a small city in Ten Cards Up. These handmade boards are perfect for games like Tak, El Oso, and your favorite classic 5×5 abstract. Check them out!
May 26, 2026: The Return of Starbase Jeff! We have finally figured out how to make cards in different shapes than DriveThru offers, by printing them on full sheets and cutting them at home. Now you can get Starbase Jeff, the original Cheapass space-building game, exclusively from our web store. Check it out!
May 20, 2026: Introducing Bad Assassin: We’re pleased to announce our newest Cheapass Game, Bad Assassin, is available at DriveThruCards. You’ll need an Island Deck, along with some basic spare parts. If you don’t have an Island Deck, or want another one, we’ve created the Spyland Deck specifically for this game.
May 9, 2026: Introducing the Game Cellar. This is a new page at Crab Fragment Labs, aimed specifically at publishers. It’s a list of some of our best new games, all available for licensing. The Game Cellar is really just another way to present the same information again in a different order, but if you’re a publisher, check it out!
March 10, 2026: New Game, Hard Pass. You’re lost in the mountains in the dead of winter, eating your relatives to survive, in this quaint bluffing game for a standard poker deck. Hard Pass is the newest game at the Ready Room, and you can play it with our new Kill Doctor Lucky poker deck, which we just added on DriveThruCards.
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We have a Patreon page, as you might expect, and you can help us immeasurably by joining our cadre of Hermit Crabs, or our vanguard of Coconut Crabs. If you love what we do, and you want to support us, please become a patron today!
