The Pub at Crab Fragment Labs
Classic-Style Abstract Games
The Pub is a collection of original tabletop games in a traditional style, timeless games inspired by various fantasy worlds. Note that some pub-like card games (notably Pairs, “A New Classic Pub Game”) are found in the Card Room instead.
What is a “Pub Game”?
Pub games are fast, simple, and require very little reading or specialized parts. They usually have a light mix of strategy and luck, leaving your mind free to eat, drink, and be merry. You can imagine our pub games in a boisterous medieval tavern.
More Simple Games:
Asmentioned above, you should also check out the Card Room for card games that might as well live here. And for a list of even more games, specifically those you can play with pieces you already own, please check out the Ready Room.
The Fractured Flat
The Fractured Flat is an area-control game played on what appears to be a shattered piece of stained glass. Players take turns placing or moving stones, trying to score points by occupying cities, and by being close to their opponent’s spaces.
Read all about it here, and watch the Video Here.
Linos: The Game of Twelve Stones
Linos is a compact abstract game with twelve stacking pieces.
Players take turns rolling for a random piece, light or dark, then adding it to the stack. You score points for touching the floor, and for touching pieces of the opposite color. And you multiply the score by the height of the piece.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
Mapple
Mapple is a cute little area control game, a pure abstract that you can play with pocket change. There are several different maps, designs that were originally used as ads and free games for Cheapass Games.
El Oso - Solitaire Game
El Oso is a solitaire game played with 24 stacking pieces (a checkers set) on a 5x5 board.
Your goal is simply to move your pieces across the board, without being hit by “the Bear.” Your moves are strategic, and the Bear moves randomly, with its strength based on the number of pieces you moved.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
Paradise Road
Paradise Road is a lighweight dice racing game, played on a map of South Carolina. We’re not quite sure if it belongs here or in the Board Room, but it’s simple enought that we decided it should live in The Pub.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video
Prudh “The Gentlemen’s Game”
A simple pure strategy game, Prudh uses 36 identical pieces on a 6x6 board.
Players take turns moving and consolidating their stacks of pieces. Your goal is to capture as many pieces as you can, without running out of moves.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
Rochi
Created for The Stranger, by Sonia Lyris, Rochi is a gambling game like no other.
Players wager on which suit will “cut,” meaning the first suit where half of the cards are exposed. This choice is challenging, because each player as a limited amount of information, and each suit has a different number of cards!
Tablero di Berona
Tablero is a simple board game for two players using 24 stacking chips (a checkers set) and a simple 18-space board.
Players take turns rolling dice and moving chips to capture spaces along the center row. When one player runs out of moves, the other player gets one more, and then the game is done!
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
Tak: A Beautiful Game
Tak is a fantastic abstract game created by James Ernest and Patrick Rothfuss, based on the game in Patrick’s The Wise Man’s Fear. The object is to build a road between opposite sides.
Tak is currently out of print, but this page contains rules and basic information while we look for a new publishing partner.
Read all about it here, and watch the How to Play Video.
The Verdigris Pawn
This page includes two games from The Verdigris Pawn by Alysa Wishingrad.
Fist is an abstract strategy game featuring asymmetric forces, and a powerful piece (The Pawn) that can be controlled by either player.
Hens and Chicks is a simpler game set in the same universe, the “checkers” to this world’s “chess.”
Read all about them here, and watch the Fist 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 still available for sale from our partners at Greater Than Games.
Some of our card games also call themselves Pub Games, but we listed them on a separate page.
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.
About El Cámbaro Rojo, the Pub at Crab Fragment Cay
Established 1949 as part of the Old Town Market, El Cámbaro was originally a small dive featuring fresh-caught seafood and other locally sourced entrees. In 1975, they added a distillery and brew pub, and they now make one of Crab Fragment Cay’s most popular dark ales “La Sombra.”
Alex Johanssen, grandson of founder Brunhard Johanssen, added “Rojo” to the name in 2011 when the building annexed a neighboring coffee shop and adopted its distinctive red-orange color for the entire building.
El Cámbaro has also become a favorite late-night gathering spot, where patrons enjoy several of the games you will find here.
We love Pub Games.
James Ernest has a long and storied history with pub games. He has long been fascinated by the quick, simple games at the easiest end of the spectrum, making waves with Cheapass Games like Button Men, Pennywise, Flip, Take Back Toe, Queensland, and dozens of others.
Games in this category are challenging to create and even harder to sell. They must somehow be engaging and replayable with the bare minimum of rules. And they are require so few components that there really isn’t much of anything to put in a box and sell.
In 2008, as game design manager at Microsoft’s Carbonated Games, James was the lead designer for the Fable II Pub Games. This suite included three casino-like games Keystone, Fortune’s Tower, and Spinner Box, occupying the niches of craps, blackjack, and slots.
In 2018, Ernest received a patent for the casino game Ricochet Poker, and subsequently sold that game to Galaxy Gaming. They have placed it in several casinos across the US, including in Ernest’s home state of Washington.
Pub Games are squirreled away in all kinds of places across Crab Fragment Labs, not just on this page. Look for more examples in the Game Preserve, the Ready Room, and the Card Room. We’ll make a thorough list of them here one day!
Thanks for playing with us, and thanks for supporting Crab Fragment Labs!
Please Support Us on Patreon
We have a Patreon page, as you might expect, and you can help us immeasurably by joining our cadre of Hermit Crabs. If you love what we do, and you want to support our huge catalog of free content, please become a Hermit Crab today!