Come In From The Cold

Happy New Year, friends of the Crab. We’ve been so very busy over the holidays, and there are far too many new things to cram into one newsletter. But the biggest news is that after a long summer on hiatus, Cold Comfort is finally back on the table!

Introduced last winter, Cold Comfort is a tile-based board game about hospitality in the Yukon. You are hoteliers serving prospectors in Dawson City, and your customers are dice.

Cold Comfort has been through some dramatic changes in recent weeks, but the basics are still the same: You build hotels, invite customers, and collect their money, scoring points for keeping your hotels full. The game appears in some of our latest videos, and now the updated beta is available for print-and-play. Check it out!

In Other News

New Game: Farmer’s Market. Hot off the drawing board (and absolutely not finished) is a new auction game for the Vines Deck, Farmer’s Market. If you have a Vines or Postas deck (or can fake one), then you can try this game right now.

New Online Games: Hermit Crab Greg Whitehead has been working overtime to bring some of our best abstract games to the Web. You can now play several Crab Fragment Games, including Prudh, Pennywise, Linos, Hens and Chicks, and The Fractured Flat, at his page Down the Rathole. A big thanks to Greg for these great automated players, and for helping us fine-tune the rules for these games!

New Videos: James Ernest has posted a cavalcade of new videos this month, with even more in the hopper! If you’re not already a subscriber, please head over to YouTube, leave a like, leave a comment, because the algorithm needs your support. Since last we blasted, we’ve posted no fewer than five new videos, including:

• GobbleCon: Building a new card game

• Cold Comfort: Building New Components

• PAX Unplugged: Huge gaming con in Philly

• A Day at the Faire: James Ernest at the Las Vegas Renfair

• Bulldog (A New Beginning): Changes to the first round of Bulldog.

New Rules: Speaking of Bulldog, the newest rules for that game are now posted on the Island Deck page. Bulldog uses the Blossom Deck, which is a version of the Island Deck (nine ranks in six suits). It’s a quick little game that plays the role of poker in the Dew Point universe. And if you’d like a Blossom Deck of your own, you can now order one…

New at DriveThru

Some of our best games are available as print-on-demand decks at DriveThruCards. They take a while to ship, but decks from DriveThru are high-quality and worth the wait. We’re pleased to tell you about two new games at DriveThru this month:

The Blossom Deck: A variation of the Island Deck, the Blossom Deck is tailor-made for our new games Bulldog and Cowards. It’s a simple pips-only design in the traditional style, and is now available from DriveThruCards.

TimeLine: A Cheapass / Hip Pocket Games classic, TimeLine is a card-based board game about navigating the time stream to make money. It’s a fairly realistic time travel mechanic, if such a thing can be said. This version has updated art on the cards, though we’ve been lazy so far and simply posted the 2013 rulebook. Find it now on DriveThruCards.

Take a look at our complete listing of games from DriveThruCards. We have quite a few, more than two dozen games, and that’s not counting the variant decks.

What’s Next?

James Ernest continues to travel the world in search of playtesters and publishers for his ever-growing catalog of Crab Fragment Games. We just passed the 50-game mark, and that’s just counting the new games (The Cheapass archive has over a hundred more).

If you’d like to catch up with James Ernest on one of his many adventures, look for him at DunDraCon in Santa Clara next month, or check the schedule page for more events throughout the year.

And, if you like what we’re doing here, please consider supporting us with a purchase from DriveThruCards, or a subscription on Patreon. Nearly all of our games are free, for those who can afford it, but your additional support (even a click on YouTube) helps keep our lights on.

Most importantly, please share our games with your family and friends. Have a safe and bountiful new year, and we’ll see you in Santa Clara!