Crab Fragment Games
Welcome to the Games Page. This is your stepping-off point into many worlds of adventure. On this page you will find new games in development, lost games from the distant past, and wild guesses about what’s coming next.
Crab Fragment Labs is always developing new tabletop games: some out in the open, and some in secret. We’re also refurbishing the bottomless Cheapass Games catalog, so the offerings on these pages change all the time. Check for the newest news on our front page, or browse the offerings by category below.
Games Pages:
The Board Room: Grand thematic board games like Cold Comfort, Tomb of the Ancients and Shipwrights of Marino
The Card Room: Stand-alone card games such as Letter Boxing, Bread Basket and The Harvest
The Pub: A mix of light and abstract games, including Whispers, Linos, and Tablero di Berona.
Cheapass Games: Another entire catalog of games, slowly being rebuilt for the modern age.
The Ready Room: Simple free games that require only the rules, and components you already have.
The Shop: A listing of our ready-for-primetime games, with PDFs you can buy or download for free.
Please dig through all of these pages for delighful surprises. If you’re looking for a specific game, you can visit the alphabetical lists in the Map Room and Cheapassic Park.
Many of our games are available print-on-demand from DriveThruCards. This includes many card games, and a few boards for those games that need them. For your convenience we have built a single page with links to all of our DriveThru products. Check it out!
Making Your Own
Nearly all of the games at Crab Fragment Labs include a version that you can print and play for free. Here are some hints for printing your own games, and links to helpful resources for some of the components you might need.
Making Components: If you’re new to making games, here are our videos about making your own cards, boards, and more:
How to Make Game Boards Video
How to Make Cards Video
How to Build Tile Cards Video
Printing Our Cards: Most of our card games include some printable version, though it it not always the version that we post on DriveThruCards. Some of our decks are too dark or oversaturated for home printing, so we have made lighter ones especially for that job. Also, most of our free games don’t include the card back design, but we do have some generic cardbacks that you can use for any standard-sized deck:
Making Wooden Components: Most of the wooden components in the photos and videos at Crab Fragment come from James Ernest’s Workshop. A very small number of these things are available for sale, depending on what James is making right now. For crafting hints, we recommend seeking out the many talented woodworkers on YouTube.
Where to Buy Components: If you’re looking for generic game components, here are some links and suggestions.
Thrift Stores: Check out your local thrift store for used games. This is absolutely the cheapest and most environmentally friendly way to pick up stuff like extra dice, tokens, play money, and game boxes.
Your House: If you need boxes, flat cardboard for game boards or tile cards, or objects to serve as pawns, you can probably find them in your house. Or start saving “good boxes” like your grandpa did.
Your Local Game Shop: Many game stores and educational stores carry an assortment of generic components like dice and tokens. If you have a local retail shop, please throw them some business.
Discount Poker Shop: Discount Poker Shop still has our favorite micro poker chips, which you will see in many of our photos and videos. They also carry normal-sized poker chips, and a few other gaming bits.
Koplow Games: Koplow make just about every game component imaginable: dice, pawns, tokens, sand timers, spinners, you name it. They don’t have a retail website, but you can search for their products at your local game shop, or via your favorite online retail conglomerate.
Chessex: Chessex specializes in high-end dice and dice accessories, and they do have a retail website, and their newsletter is called “The Scoop.”
The Game Crafter: We don’t host any products at The Game Crafter, but they are the foremost print-on-demand board game maker, and they carry a huge variety of components.
Do you have a suggestion or a query about building your own games? Help us grow this list, and make our free offerings even better.
Of course, “free” isn’t really free. Game designers need to eat. So if you like Crab Fragment Labs and you want to contribute to James Ernest’s next meal, please consider buying our free PDFs in the Shop, buying something from the Workshop, ordering our games from DriveThruCards, or becoming a backer on Patreon. But to be honest, the most valuable support you can give us is to tell your friends about us!
Please Support Us on Patreon
We have a Patreon page, as you might expect, and you can help us immeasurably by joining our cadre of Hermit Crabs. If you love what we do, and you want to support our huge catalog of free content, please become a Hermit Crab today!