Who are we?

Cheapass Games is a gaseous blob composed of the forgotten thoughts of daydreaming film executives.

Their corporeal representatives are James Ernest and his cardboard monkey Prince.

James Ernest began his gaming career in 1993 as a technical writer for Wizards of the Coast. He has written the rules for Magic: The Gathering a grand total of four times. Unfortunately, none of these was the lucrative first time.

Burdened with an abundance of unpublished games and alarmed by first-hand exposure to the tribulations of traditional game publishing, he launched Cheapass Games in 1996 with the flagship title Kill Doctor Lucky. The slow start of Cheapass Games in 1996 is exemplified by the fact that Kill Doctor Lucky won the Origins Award for Best Abstract Board game of 1997.

For ten years, Cheapass Games released about twelve games per year, winning several awards and bringing light and joy to the hearts of dozens of hobby gamers. However, James Ernest was not able to pay his rent with light and joy. Thus, with a heavy heart and an empty bank account, James Ernest shuttered Cheapass Games, firing all of his staff, and retired into a dark cave in the computer games industry, from which he withdrew a massive paycheck and decent benefits.

Now, after more than four years in his cave, James Ernest has re-emerged Willy Wonka-style, producing new free versions of his old games. Instead of Oompa-Loompas, he has you. And instead of saving you from the vermicious knids of Loompaland, he is saving you from the high prices of mass-produced games. Or so he says.

Of note in James Ernest's blisteringly bright game design career are the following titles:

As Cheapass Games:

• Kill Doctor Lucky and Save Doctor Lucky (Now available through Paizo Publishing)
• Lord of the Fries and Give Me the Brain (Now available through Steve Jackson Games)
• Button Men
• BRAWL
• Diceland

As Lone Shark Games (with Mike Selinker)

• Lords of Vegas (Mayfair Games)
• Pirates of the Spanish Main (Wizkids)
• Gloria Mundi (Rio Grande Games)

With Microsoft (Carbonated Games / Xbox)

• Fable II Pub Games
• Hexic II
• Hop It
• Flowerz

Other Works:

• Brian and John (Web comic with Brian Murphy)
• Dealer's Choice (Poker book: with Mike Selinker and Phil Foglio)
• Contact Juggling (Instructional book)

James Ernest is also the world's tallest man, at a height of over nine feet. He likes hunting, breakdancing, and beating people up.