Summer Games A-Plenty!

Greetings, Cheapass Fans. We are working day and night to bring you the latest games in our catalog (and also the oldest ones). It’s a list so big, even we have no idea what’s in it!

New Game: Jardín

We’re still working on this game, but we figured it was time to share. Jardín is mentioned briefly in Ten Cards Up, without any details. Now James has taken a first crack at the design.

On a 6x6 board, players take turns placing stones around the edges, or moving them into the center. Once a piece is off the edge, it can’t move by itself, but it can be pushed. Players are trying to form a line of pieces called a bridge, which joins their opponent’s home rows.

Jardín shares some DNA with Kaen, a precursor to Tak that was created for the Tak Companion Book, and which can now be found (along with its sister game, Locke) at our Tak page.

Play Jardín today, and let us know what you think!

Pearl Anniversary Updates

We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Cheapass Games by revisiting all six games from the 1996 catalog. Here’s an update on where they stand:

Kill Doctor Lucky: We are still in negotiations to create a new deluxe edition of Kill Doctor Lucky, but in the meantime we have posted the “Tideover Edition” at DriveThruCards: a deck and board that should suffice if you must kill Doctor Lucky right now.

Before I Kill You, Mister Spy: We just updated this game last year, but we’ll take another look at the rules (without changing the deck) this fall. We also have a brand new spy game, Bad Assassin, available now!

Bleeding Sherwood: One of the blackest sheep in the Cheapass family, Bleeding Sherwood is now a thousand percent better thanks to one tiny change to the rules. Intrigued? Our Coconut Crabs are receiving the new edition right now, and we’ll post it for everyone else at DriveThruCards next month.

Get Out, Ben Hvrt, and Spree: We’re fairly confident that these games are good as they are, so we are keeping the rules more or less the same, and updating the graphics over the next few months. The Spree! board is ready for proofing (sneak peek above) and you’ll learn more in the fall!

New Videos

James is about to shoot a bunch of new How to Play videos, but in the meantime we’ve posted three new long-form videos.

Tabletop Oahu Workshop: In this workshop we create a game about school kids trying to distract the teacher, so that she forgets to assign the homework. One kid steals the show and basically writes our game for us.

JoCo Office Hours: The JoCo Cruise blends Jonathan Coulton’s music with games, nerdery, and the allure of the open sea. Sometimes we bring back a vacation video, but this year we did something different, capturing our “Office Hours.” It’s a cozy chat about where Cheapass Games came from, and where we are going.

Iteration in Game Design: The last of James Ernest’s three lectures from Gen Con ‘25, and the one topic he didn’t reprise this year. James talks about the basics of tabletop game development, from workshopping a good idea to getting it ready for sale.

More great videos are coming soon! Subscribe to James Ernest’s YouTube channel and you’ll never miss a drop.

In Other News

Renfield is live at DriveThruCards: A Cheapass classic that needed very little updating, Renfield is a unique trick-taking gambling game, a favorite of the gravediggers from Parts Unknown. We’ve posted rules, a print-and-play version, and a deck at DriveThruCards.

Our Coconut Crabs received Renfield last month, and this month they are getting early copies of Bleeding Sherwood. Want to help support Cheapass Games and Crab Fragment Labs? Join us on Patreon!

James Ernest Writes Off Another Trip to VEGAS: This game isn’t one of our best, and we can’t wait to take a crack at making it better. But its 30th birthday is still a few years away. Meanwhile, we’ve added a PDF of the original VEGAS to our web store, in all its not very glorious glory.

Roll Out the Gun Barrels: This lightweight miniatures wargame system, based on the mechanics of Button Men, now appears on our free games page, the Ready Room. Roll Out the Gun Barrels was designed by Dave Van Domelen, with assistance from Tyrino and J. L. Butler. Join us in welcoming it back!

Deep Breath! Such a stack of news, and so much more in the works.

Thanks for reading, thanks for following us, and thanks for being a part of this grand experiment that is Cheapass Games