The Board Room
Crab Fragment Board Games
The Board Room is a collection of games with boards, and/or games without cards, and/or whatever else we decided would be easiest to locate here. (Sorting is hard.)
Most of the games on this page are thematic, meaning they include some story elements, words on the cards, and so on. For more abstract games, you should also check out The Pub. And for older games in every category, please check our the Game Preserve.
Newest Additions
Our newest entry at the Board Room is Cold Comfort, an area-control game about hoteliers in the Yukon Gold Rush. You should also check out the new and improved full-color edition of the Cheapass Games classic, Bitin’ Off Hedz.
Some of our board games (and many of our card games) are available from DriveThruCards. For your convenience we have built a page with links to all of our DriveThru products. Check it out!
After the Fog
After the Fog is a sprawling area-control game set in the Dew Point universe, with engine-building, airships, and politics.
Players represent different competing cities, exploring and conquering territories that were once buried under a cover of deep fog. We’re still working on this game, but we hope you’ll check out its current form!
Bitin’ Off Hedz
You’re a dinosaur, and you’re bored. So you’ve decided to race your friends around Skull Island and into the raging volcano, to go extinct in the most dramatic fashion. Just don’t get your hed bit off along the way.
Bitin’ Off Hedz is a madcap dinosaur racing game, upgraded and beautified for a new 2023 edition.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
Cold Comfort
Life is harsh in the Klondike, where you and your colleagues are simple hoteliers offering accommodations to all who can afford them.
Cold Comfort is a city-building game about enterprising souls and their customers. Players build a map of Dawson City, and fill it with hotels of various sizes and quality, scoring points by entertaining guests.
Copper Creek
Build a town in the Old West! Copper Creek is a city-building game, in which players compete for money and points as they build a boom town one block at a time.
Copper Creek is a simple game of give-and-take with plenty of luck and strategy and just a little bit of politics.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
Gloria Mundi
You’re a Roman aristocrat trying to make the most out of the fall of Rome. Build on your cities, farms, and legions, and then watch the rampaging Visigoth destroy everything you have made.
We have been working on this game for more than twenty years now (albeit sloely), and honestly we still have a ways to go. Try this version and let us know what you think!
Littlebeard
Littlebeard is a set of rules for tabletop pirate adventures, focusing on realistic sailing and quick, easy play. The game has been in development for many years, and was formerly known as Cagway Bay.
You can play Littlebeard with any set of model ships, scaling the components to your fleet. This game is still in development, but we have several ship designs and two preliminary scenarios.
Shipwrights of Marino
Shipwrights of Marino is an economic game about building airships, set in the Dew Point universe.
Players take turns buying resources and completing ship contracts, collecting gold along with special powers that make the next contracts cheaper and easier. Earn the most profit and declare yourself master of the shipyard!
Tomb of the Ancients
Tomb of the Ancients is a lightweight puzzle game of adventure archaeology. Players search for ancient artifacts by finding patterns in the shifting sands.
This game iss still in beta testing, but we do like the mechanics so far, and we think you will too!
Witch Trial
In a time when witchcraft is rampant and American criminal law is in its infancy, no avocation could be more rewarding than that of a trial lawyer.
Witch Trial is a colorful update of a Cheapass Games classic. You and your opponents are lawyers, struggling to persuade an unpredictable jury of the innocence and guilt of various vagrants, miscreants, and vegetarians.
Young Jacob Marley
You’re a fresh-faced clerk in the service of up-and-coming financier Jacob Marley. Lend Marley’s money wisely, and you just might earn some money yourself, along with his undying friendship.
Young Jacob Marley is a brilliant game of cutthroat Dickensian finance, easily the best banking game you’ll play this year.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
Looking for More?
You’ll find a wealth of board and card games at our Wild Game Preserve, Cheapassic Park. Some of these games are available for sale from our partners at Greater Than Games.
Some of our board games are double-entered at both this page and The Pub, and a few more are listed at the Ready Room, a page for games that require no specialized components.
And if there’s a James Ernest or Cheapass Game you can’t seem to find anywhere, we might just not have thought about it in a while. Please send us a note and let us know what you’re looking for.
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