Happy August, Crabs!

As Crab Fragment Labs begins absorbing the vast library of games that is the Cheapass catalog, we are pleased to introduce the Coconut Crab tier on Patreon.

Patrons at this $32 level will receive some of the Cheapass Games that we upload to DriveThruCards, roughly once every month, starting with that old favorite Before I Kill You, Mister Spy…

To be clear, this pledge level is absolutely not the cheapest way to get these games. It’s just a fun way to show your support, and to get a little bonus on the side. Not every game will be part of the Coconut Crabs program. And every game will be available for purchase, roughly a month after the patrons get theirs.

This offer will be for US addresses only, no PO boxes (DriveThru’s rules). For more details, check out the Cheapass Games page at Crab Fragment Labs. Or come visit us on Patreon!

New Video: Cheapass Returns

We’re all one big happy family again, so James Ernest has dropped a new video explaining it all: Cheapass Games is Back.

In case you’re fuzzy on the timeline, it goes something like this:

• 1996: James Ernest invents Kill Doctor Lucky and starts Cheapass Games with six games laser-printed at his house.

• 1997-2006: The “golden era,” roughly 100 titles including many cult favorites like Button Men, Give Me The Brain, and US Patent #1.

• 2007-2011: James Ernest temporarily shutters Cheapass Games and joins the digital workforce, working for Microsoft (at Carbonated Games) and The Amazing Society.

• 2012-2018: Cheapass returns to publishing via Kickstarter with Unexploded Cow, the first of thirteen deluxe projects including Pairs, Tak, and a new edition of Kill Doctor Lucky.

• 2019-2024: James licenses the Cheapass catalog (and also sells all the inventory) to Greater Than Games, and starts Crab Fragment Labs for his new projects.

• 2025: After hitting the tariff wall, GtG / Flat River Group fold their hands, and generously let the Cheapass rights revert to James Ernest. Hey, that’s now!

Because Crab Fragment Labs has cooked up nearly 50 new games on our own, we are sitting on a veritable mountain of content, and it will take us a while to sort through it. The Coconut Crab project above is a motivating force to help us get some of the best games back into print.

New Video: GenCon 2025

James just returned from GenCon in Indianapolis, and posted this recap video today.

James will shortly be at Dragonflight in Seattle, and then Pacificon in Santa Clara the week after. That’s three conventions in the month of August, and we’re not even counting his afternoon at WorldCon.

Along with this travel video, James also captured (in full) his three design lectures at the Game Design Academy. These videos will be posted at the Lecture Hall in the next few weeks.

With all this travel, it’s amazing that James gets anything done, but there are actually several secret game projects cooking behind the scenes, including some really nice wooden game boards for sale next month, and some new Cheapass-style games that have been waiting patiently to be created.

What’s Next?

Keep watching these pages, and keep sharing our games with your friends. And if there’s an old Cheapass Game you’d like to see back in print, please let us know!

And as always, please share our games (and our links) with your friends, and keep playing!