Crab Fragment LLC

28/08/2026

It took nearly 15 years, researchers around the world and enough computing power to search through a universe of possibilities to answer one question: Who goes first?

27/07/2026

James Ernest (Cheapass Games / Crab Fragment Labs) explains the pro...

29/06/2026

These boards are beautiful! Suitable for playing James Ernest's original game, El Oso, as well as tavern-style Tak.

Crab Fragment Labs offers many of its fine games as free PDFs

29/04/2026

We are thrilled to annouce that the Tideover Edition of Kill Doctor Lucky is now available at DriveThru!

The board and cards are sold separately, and you’ll also need the rules (download then from our site, see below) and some pawns, in true Cheapass fashion.

01/04/2026

Happy April, from James and Carol! Enjoy (and share!) the press release. 😁

For Immediate Release, April 1 2026

**Cheapass Games breaks ground on Cretaceous-era dinosaur theme park**

Thanks to profits from their latest card game Meat on Swords, and various other side-projects, James Ernest and Carol Monahan of Cheapass Games are pleased to announce the opening of Cheapassic Park, the Caribbean’s newest dinosaur-themed adventure park.

Sparing no expense, the two entrepreneurs admit to having only a basic understanding of science and ethics. But thanks to recent advances in not caring, the two feel confident that their trillion-dollar theme park will be the first truly safe place to cavort with live dinosaurs.

“We have never been more sure of anything,” says adventure biologist Carol Monahan, “Except possibly the value offered by Cheapass Games.”

Since 1996, Cheapass Games has crafted some of the world's most entertaining and affordable tabletop games, with many of their current offerings available completely for free.

“I like dinosaurs,” says James Ernest, founder and lead designer of Cheapass Games. “They are big and scary.”

Cavort with dinosaurs yourself in Bitin’ Off Hedz, just one of the two hundred games available from Cheapass Games and Crab Fragment Labs.

“Cheapass Games. We make the Rules.”

* As always, please share this post, or no one will get to see it!
😅 🦀

19/03/2026

Available for pre-order, a new game by James Ernest:
🦀😊🦀

The story Taking care of cute pets sounds fun… until the pet is Gloomy Bear.Wild creatures make terrible pets, and now you and your friends are stuck passing around the worst possible gift: a dangerous, unpredictable, slightly murderous bear. Try to get rid of the problem before it comes back to b...

17/03/2026

Time to check your spam filters! We've been getting reports that Google is getting overzealous - we need everyone to help convince them we're a real business, with a real newsletter! 🙏🏻 🦀 🙏🏻

We’re thrilled to announce that Lord of the Fries is now available at DriveThruCards. We have six restaurant decks, as well as a menu pack that includes nine different menus and the full game rules.

18/02/2026

New design video from James Ernest: The Aesthetics of Chance, or how (and why) to use randomness in your game design

James Ernest (Cheapass Games / Crab Fragment Labs) explains the ways and reasons that randomness adds value to games in this talk from Gen Con 2025. James Er...