Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.
Kill Doctor Lucky is a humorous board game designed by James Ernest and released in 1996 by Cheapass Games. In 1998, Kill Doctor Lucky won the Origins Award for Best Abstract Board Game of 1997.
Cheapass Games is a game company founded and run by game designer James Ernest, based in Seattle, Washington.
Give Me the Brain is a discard-style card game designed by James Ernest and released in 1996 by Cheapass Games. In the game, players assume the role of zombies attempting to complete their tasks for the day at Friedey's, "the fast food restaurant of the damned", yet they only have one brain to share between them. The game inspired several sequels, all set at Friedey's.
Button Men is a dice game for two players invented by James Ernest of Cheapass Games and first released in 1999.
Brawl is a real-time card game designed by James Ernest and released in 1999 by Cheapass Games.
Freeloader is a game published by Cheapass Games. The object of the game is to mooch as much free stuff as possible off of your friends and neighbours.
Deadwood is a board game for 3-8 players produced by Cheapass Games. In it, players assume the roles of bit actors working for a B-Movie Studio who try to make as much money as possible. This is done by taking on roles such as "man on fire," "woman in black dress," and "falls off roof." Players are represented by dice, which denote what "level" actor each player is. The original version of the game was available through various game outlets. The rules, boards, and cards for a revised edition are now available for free download from the company's website, and are being developed into a deluxe edition via Kickstarter.
James Ernest is an American game designer and juggler, best known as the owner and lead designer of Cheapass Games.
Mike Selinker is an American game designer, puzzle maker, and the founder and president of Lone Shark Games.
Fightball is a real-time card game designed by James Ernest and Mike Selinker and published by Cheapass Games in 2002. Fightball is the third real-time card game published by Cheapass Games, following the success of Falling and Brawl.
Falling is a real-time card game from James Ernest in which all players are falling from the sky for no apparent reason. The object of the game is to hit the ground last. As the box copy says, "It's not much of a goal, but it's all you could think of on the way down."
Lord of the Fries is a card game created by James Ernest and published by Cheapass Games and Steve Jackson Games. In 2008 Steve Jackson Games released a new edition with revised game components. In 2015, Cheapass Games released a fourth edition and four expansion decks. Lord of the Fries takes place at Friedey's: The Fast Food Restaurant of the Damned. Other games that take place there include Give Me the Brain and Change!.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel, later released in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters International is a Game Boy Advance game based on the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game and TV series that has the player set during the Battle City arc, dueling popular characters from the anime and manga. The main objective of the game is to build a strong deck from cards won after duels from the main cast from the English second season anime.
Girl Genius: The Works is a card game announced in March 2001 as scheduled for an April 2001 release, and was out by summer as it was reviewed in July 2001. It is played with a specially designed deck of 108 cards. The game, designed by Phil Foglio and James Ernest, takes its theme from the "gaslamp fantasy" of the Girl Genius comic book series. The goal is to be the first player to reach 100 points by "popping" cards out of a two-dimensional layout.
Diceland is a tabletop game played with collectible sets of dice designed by Toivo Rovainen and James Ernest and released in 2002 by Cheapass Games. Players roll paper cut-out octahedral dice into a combat arena. The dice are then used in the same way as miniatures - they can be moved around the arena and attack other dice.
One False Step for Mankind is a board game designed by James Ernest and published by Cheapass Games in 2003. Players play the role of town mayors, seeking to become governor of California in 1849. According to the game rules "It's one false step for Mankind, one giant leap for you." This is a clear play on astronaut Neil Armstrong's first spoken words on the surface of the moon in 1969.
U.S. Patent No. 1 is a board game designed by Falko Goettsch & James Ernest, and published by Cheapass Games in 2001.
Exploding Kittens is a card game designed by Elan Lee, Matthew Inman from the comics site The Oatmeal, and Shane Small. Originally proposed as a Kickstarter project seeking US$10,000 in crowdfunding, it exceeded the goal in eight minutes and on January 27, 2015, seven days after opening, it passed 103,000 backers setting the record for the most backers in Kickstarter history. At completion on February 19, 2015, it had US$8,782,571 in pledges by 219,382 backers. The campaign ended as the fourth most funded campaign on the crowdfunding site. The first play test of Exploding Kittens was recorded on YouTube by Smosh Games, who had the first deck. The backers started receiving delivery in late July 2015; all backers received the game by September 2015. Exploding Kittens is described as a “strategic card game about cats and destruction”.
Tak is a two-player abstract strategy game designed by James Ernest and Patrick Rothfuss and published by Cheapass Games in 2016.
