This page is a collection of articles and videos about building your own Cheapass Games, how to play Cheapass Games, game design in general, and so on. Basic "how to" hints for building the components for our free games are contained in those games' rules.

If you have a good article, video, or interpretive dance describing your experiences with Cheapass Games, send it to us and it just might make it all the way here!

And if there was stuff on the old site that you want to see again (there was a lot) please let us know. We plan to move a lot of that stuff forward to the new site, but there's no telling when we will get to it. Your enthusiasm gives us strength!

Videos:

James Ernest has a YouTube channel and you should go check it out. We currently have two "How to Build" video, for Tile Cards and Double-Sided Counters, and two "How to Play" videos, for Deadwood and Unexploded Cow. There are other Cheapass videos there also, but not really in the "how to" category. More, surely, is to come.

   Video 4: How to Play Deadwood

   Video 3: How to Build Double-Sided Counters

   Video 2: How to Play Unexploded Cow

   Video 1: How to Build Tile Cards

Articles:

If you like to read about how games are made, here are a few articles (some are even new) from James Ernest. There's a rumor that he's working on a completely new game design textbook, based on his tabletop games class at DigiPen. But until he puts the pages online, it's just a rumor. If there's anything you'd like to see here, just ask! 

   Article 7: Which Comes First? (Back Story and Game Mechanics)

   Article 6: Volatility in Game Design (Notes from Gen Con 2012)

   Article 5: Designing "Panic": a game invention diary

   Article 4: The Big Idea (Semideluxe Edition Rules)

   Article 3: Keeping it Simple: Efficiency in Game Design

   Article 2: Cleaning Up Deadwood: A Post-Mortem

   Article 1: How to Play Dead Money (Correctly)