Button Men: Freaks
Release Date: April, 2000
Set Size: 4 Buttons
Publisher: Cheapass Games
Designers: James Ernest, Joe Kisenwether
Artist: Rob Schwartz
New Rules: Queer Dice
Details: Like the package says, this expansion was designed for those times when the real game starts to bug you. Button Men: Freaks is a bizarre amalgamation of characters using six previously published die types, including Swing, Shadow, Poison, Speed, Turbo, and Twin Dice, as well as one new die, the Queer Die. They are recommended for serious players, but not for serious play.
Rares: None.
Design Notes: The Freaks were a by-product of the ButtonLords expansion, which consisted of only eight characters. Cheapass Games produced ButtonLords on behalf of Green Knight Publishing, and the production system ideally produces buttons in sets of 6 or 12. The result was four extra buttons and two extra rulebooks, which became the Freaks.
Before introducing a new "easy set" with Button Men:Fantasy, Cheapass Games wanted to push the limits of the game by shuffling together all the non-proprietary die types it had invented so far. The result is nearly unplayable, but highly entertaining. Max, for example, turns the game into one where neither player wants to capture much of anything, and the object is to end up with the higher negative score.
To clarify the chart below, dice in parenthesis are Twin Dice. "p" means Poison, "q" means Queer, "s" means Shadow, "z" means Speed, and "!" means Turbo. Yes, Werner has a Poison Speed Shadow Turbo V.
| Name | Die 1 | Die 2 | Die 3 | Die 4 | Die 5 | Die 6 | Die 7 | Die 8 |
| Max | p12 | p12 | p20 | p20 | p30 | p30 | pX | pX |
| Mister Peach | 6 | (z8,z8) | (ps12,ps12) | (V!,V!) | ||||
| Simon | q4 | q6 | q12 | q20 | qX | |||
| Werner | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | pzsV! |
Beat People Up, the Button Men and BRAWL Home Page, is (c) 2002 James Ernest and Cheapass Games.
