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Cheapass Games announces new "More of the Same"
program.
Cheapass Games, Seattle WA
January 10, 2003
Cheapass Games is pleased to announce its new "More
of the Same" program for 2003. Re-cloaking their old
standard formats in a new "Year in Space" theme
isn't fooling anyone. A clever little card game? A clever
little board game? An expansion for their collectible paper-dice
game? Come on, Cheapasses, we've seen it all before.
Leading off the new releases for 2003 will be two games in
the "Hip Pocket" series, Light Speed and Steam Tunnel.
Even expert help from game designer Tom Jolly can't get Cheapass
out of its rut of clever and original games: Light Speed is
a real-time space combat game for 2-4 players, featuring a
play round that takes less time than a real space fight (about
60 seconds). Steam Tunnel, a themeless abstract card game
inexplicably set in space, is another typical James Ernest
creation: simple, strategic, and replayable. Cheapass Games
is obviously taking the easy road with this one.
In March 2003 look for Diceland: Infinite Space. Two expansions
for Diceland featuring spaceships from the computer game Strange
Adventures in Infinite Space, Cheapass' award-nominated
computer game. Nearly 50 new dice in 2 new boxes can't conceal
the fact that this is, like the original Diceland:
Deep White Sea, just another innovative tabletop combat
game featuring unique rules and colorful paper dice.
As if repeating themselves wasn't enough, Cheapass Games
are also repeating themselves: Following up the release of
the full-color edition of Lord
of the Fries in October 2002, Cheapass is predictably
releasing the sister game, Give Me The Brain, in full color
at the end of January 2003. This is, pardon the pun, a no-brainer
for Cheapass Games, considering that Give Me The Brain won
the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game of 1997.
Doubling the number of cards and adding startlingly funny
new art by Brian Snoddy doesn't conceal the fact that this
product is virtually engineered to repeat the former successes
of this creativity-starved enterprise.
Other releases not yet announced include a full-color "remix"
of strategy card game Starbase Jeff (in Hip Pocket format);
a board game called "One False Step for Mankind"
about Gold Rush towns that are racing to the Moon; a "Space
Girls" expansion for Button Men available only at buttonmen.com;
and Fight Planet, a space-based re-hash of the Fight
City Mechanic, complete with rules for intermixing the
two.
All in all, Cheapass Games seems locked in the rut of producing
original, clever, and groundbreaking games. We've got five
unoriginal words of advice for James Ernest and company: "Don't
quit your day jobs."
Cheapass Games is a small game company in Seattle specializing
in clever and original games between $4 and $15. Cheapass
Games has been nominated for 23 Origins Awards, winning 7,
and release roughly 6 original games every year. Look for
them on the web at www.cheapass.com.
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