The best games from James Ernest 🇺🇸👨 2023

Looking for a really good game from game designer James Ernest 👨? Then we have just the thing: the list with the best James Ernest games 2023.

Who is James Ernest anyway?

James Ernest has been designing dice, card & board games since 1993. The game designer hails from the USA🇺🇸 and currently lives in Seattle, Washington, USA 🇺🇸. He is also known as the owner and lead designer of Cheapass Games.

Ernest's first game "Kill Doctor Lucky" he developed in 1993 at the age of 1993 - so he has been designing games for over 30 years. Famous Ernest games are for example Kill Doctor Lucky, Lords of Vegas oder Pirates of the Spanish Main.

From juggler to game developer

Before founding Cheapass Games, Ernest worked as a juggler at various places, including Camlann Medieval Village, and as a freelancer at Wizards of the Coast. He also worked for Carbonated Games. Ernest has also developed games for other publishers, including Rio Grande Games and WizKids. In 2005, Paizo Publishing co-founded Titanic Games with Ernest and Mike Selinker.

Kickstarter experience

He has had success with Kickstarter, where he has successfully crowdfunded games including a new version of Unexploded Cow and Get Lucky (which takes the concept and core mechanics of Kill Doctor Lucky and adapts it as a card game).

In 2014, James began collaborating with Patrick Rothfuss to create an abstract strategy game called Tak, based on a game described in Rothfuss' 2011 book The Wise Man's Fear. In April 2016, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring the game to actual release. The campaign ended on May 20, 2016 with great success and 12,187 backers donating $1,351,142.

How good are "James Ernest" games?

There are 2 games by James Ernest in our Top1000 games list, making Ernest the #147 best game author out of a total of 708 authors in our database.

More information about Ernest

More information about Ernest can be found on:

List of best games by James Ernest 2023

In this list we have listed the best board games that James Ernest either designed himself - or was involved in designing.

Unfortunately, not all of James Ernest's games are currently available. In the following list you can find all dice, board & card games by James Ernest that you can buy 2023:

This list was last updated on July 10, 2023. We compared 146 board games for this list and selected the top 30. There's also a print version for this list.
  1. Lords of Vegas

    All details for the board game Lords of Vegas and similar games

    Nominated for 2 awards.

    More details for Lords of Vegas
    • 2 - 4 Players
    • 60 - 90 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn

    Video reviews for Lords of Vegas

    • YouTube Review for the game "Lords of Vegas" by Shut Up & Sit Down
      Video is in English
  2. 12 Days

    All details for the board game 12 Days and similar games
    • 3 - 5 Players
    • 15 Minutes
    • 8+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  3. Pairs

    All details for the board game Pairs and similar games

    Nominated for 1 award.

    More details for Pairs
    • 2 - 8 Players
    • 15 Minutes
    • Immediately playable
  4. Tak

    All details for the board game Tak and similar games

    Nominated for 4 awards.

    More details for Tak
    • 2 Players
    • 20 - 60 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn

    Video reviews for Tak

    • YouTube Review for the game "Tak" by BoardGameGeek
      Video is in English
  5. Unspeakable Words: Deluxe Edition

    All details for the board game Unspeakable Words: Deluxe Edition and similar games
    • 2 - 8 Players
    • 30 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  6. Stellar Conflict

    All details for the board game Stellar Conflict and similar games
    • 2 - 4 Players
    • 10 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  7. The Big Idea

    All details for the board game The Big Idea and similar games
    • 3 - 6 Players
    • 25 Minutes
    • 8+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  8. Brawl

    All details for the board game Brawl and similar games

    Nominated for 2 awards and won 1.

    More details for Brawl
    • 2 - 7 Players
    • 15 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  9. Stuff and Nonsense

    All details for the board game Stuff and Nonsense and similar games
    • 2 - 6 Players
    • 60 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  10. Fish Cook

    All details for the board game Fish Cook and similar games

    Nominated for 1 award.

    More details for Fish Cook
    • 2 - 6 Players
    • 45 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  11. Button Men: Beat People Up

    All details for the board game Button Men: Beat People Up and similar games
    • 2 Players
    • 10 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  12. Button Men

    All details for the board game Button Men and similar games

    Nominated for 2 awards and won 2.

    More details for Button Men
    • 2 Players
    • 5 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  13. Unexploded Cow

    All details for the board game Unexploded Cow and similar games
    • 2 - 6 Players
    • 25 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  14. Lord of the Fries

    All details for the board game Lord of the Fries and similar games
    • 3 - 8 Players
    • 45 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  15. Sailor Moon Crystal: Dice Challenge

    All details for the board game Sailor Moon Crystal: Dice Challenge and similar games
    • 2 - 8 Players
    • 5 - 60 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable

    Video reviews for Sailor Moon Crystal: Dice Challenge

    • YouTube Review for the game "Sailor Moon Crystal: Dice Challenge" by BoardGameGeek
      Video is in English
  16. Kill Doctor Lucky

    All details for the board game Kill Doctor Lucky and similar games

    Nominated for 1 award and won 1.

    More details for Kill Doctor Lucky
    • 3 - 8 Players
    • 45 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  17. Give Me the Brain!

    All details for the board game Give Me the Brain! and similar games

    Nominated for 1 award and won 1.

    More details for Give Me the Brain!
    • 3 - 8 Players
    • 15 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  18. Save Doctor Lucky

    All details for the board game Save Doctor Lucky and similar games
    • 3 - 7 Players
    • 30 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  19. Get Lucky

    All details for the board game Get Lucky and similar games
    • 2 - 6 Players
    • 20 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  20. The Island of Doctor Lucky

    All details for the board game The Island of Doctor Lucky and similar games
    • 2 - 8 Players
    • 40 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn

    Video reviews for The Island of Doctor Lucky

    • YouTube Review for the game "The Island of Doctor Lucky" by BoardGameGeek
      Video is in English
  21. Pirates of the Spanish Main

    All details for the board game Pirates of the Spanish Main and similar games

    Nominated for 2 awards and won 2.

    More details for Pirates of the Spanish Main
    • 2 - 10 Players
    • 30 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  22. The Great Brain Robbery

    All details for the board game The Great Brain Robbery and similar games

    Nominated for 1 award and won 1.

    More details for The Great Brain Robbery
    • 3 - 7 Players
    • 60 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  23. Veritas

    All details for the board game Veritas and similar games
    • 3 - 6 Players
    • 60 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  24. Pirates: Quest for Davy Jones' Gold

    All details for the board game Pirates: Quest for Davy Jones' Gold and similar games
    • 2 - 4 Players
    • 30 - 60 Minutes
    • 8+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  25. Cowpoker

    All details for the board game Cowpoker and similar games
    • 2 - 4 Players
    • 30 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  26. Ben Hurt

    All details for the board game Ben Hurt and similar games
    • 4 - 8 Players
    • 60 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  27. Simpsons Trading Card Game

    All details for the board game Simpsons Trading Card Game and similar games
    • 2 - 5 Players
    • 20 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  28. Dungeonville

    All details for the board game Dungeonville and similar games
    • 2 - 5 Players
    • 60 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Immediately playable
  29. Fightball

    All details for the board game Fightball and similar games
    • 2 Players
    • 20 Minutes
    • 12+ years old
    • Easy to learn
  30. Gloria Mundi

    All details for the board game Gloria Mundi and similar games
    • 2 - 6 Players
    • 60 Minutes
    • 10+ years old
    • Medium difficulty

Didn't find the game you were looking for?

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