Cheapass Games On Being Cheap And Good

Thanks to GameGirlAdvance for pointing to an OgreCave.com interview with James Ernest, the founder of noted low-price, high-fun board/card game makers Cheapass Games. As the interview notes, "With a mantra of 'Games: they cost too much, and they are at some level all the same', Cheapass virtually created the cheap games market, selling the boards and cards for their games packaged in white paper bags. Shortly after taking gamers by storm with Kill Doctor Lucky, Spree, and a number of humorous titles, James and Cheapass were being imitated right and left. What did it take to get where Cheapass is now, and how does the company plan to stay on top of the cheap games heap?" The interview also notes Cheapass' diversification into videogame publishing, putting out Digital Eel's titles, including Dr Blob's Organism.

Comments

Devil Bunny

[BigDork1001]

Devil Bunny Needs a Ham is one of the most fun games I've ever played.

There's nothing like having some friends over, having some beer and playing Devil Bunny. And the best part, it costs $2.50.

Cream of the Crop

[Sparr0]

I own most of the Cheapass titles, and would seriously suggest the following (a * denotes a must have :) ):
Deadwood (with all 4 expansions)
Freeloader
*Kill Doctor Lucky
Spree!

Any X BRAWL decks, X being at least 1 more than the number of gamers in your group
*Change!
*Falling
Any X FightBall deck pairs, X being at least 2
Fight City
*Girl Genius: The Works
Give Me The Brain
Starbase Jeff

*Cube Farm
*Nexus
The Very Clever Pipe Game
Any X Button Men, X being as with BRAWL
*Diceland: Deep White Sea
The other 3 Diceland sets

Assuming X is 3 in all cases, this full list will set you back about $230, plus $25 for the bits pack. If you go for just the *s then for a mere $60 (plus bits) you will have a collection of 7 (or more, Change! is really 3 games) games that will last you through any trip or boring delay, and be more portable than a single Monopoly box.

Zombies and fast food

[wrexsoul]

There is a series of games available at cheap-ass games that explores something everyone can relate to- the drudgery of food service, where the workers are literally zombies. By far my favorite is Give Me the Brain, in which you have to try to finish all of your tasks so you can go home. However, there's only one brain to go around all of the employees, and some tasks (though hardly all) require it to be completed. I'm sure you can get the gist of it from their product description.

Anyway, if you like shouting "Braiiinnnn" a lot, which I always do, this is a great party game. In addition to being fun and having relatively simple rules, this game is hilarious. If you can't make zombies funny, though, you're obviously not trying.