James Ernest is an American

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

and

juggler Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object ...

, best known as the owner and lead designer of Cheapass Games.

Career

Prior to founding Cheapass Games, Ernest worked as a juggler at various venues, including

Camlann Medieval Village Camlann Medieval Village is a living history museum which recreates rural life in England in 1376, located in Carnation, Washington; it is run by the Camlann Medieval Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1981. Bor ...

, and as a freelancer with

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

. He also worked for

Carbonated Games Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

. He has also created games for other publishers including

Rio Grande Games Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Placitas, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games. History In 1995, Jay Tummelson began working for Mayfair Games. At that time, ...

and WizKids. In 2005,

Paizo Publishing Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived ...

created

Titanic Games Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game '' Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived from the Greek word ''paiz� ...

with Ernest and

Mike Selinker Mike Selinker is an American game designer, puzzle maker, and the founder and president of Lone Shark Games. Credits Selinker's design credits include ''Pirates of the Spanish Main'' and ''Fightball'' with James Ernest, ''Axis & Allies Revised E ...

. Ernest's games include ''

Unexploded Cow ''Unexploded Cow'' is a card game by Cheapass Games in which the objective is to blow up unexploded bombs in France with mad cows Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia ...

'', ''

Kill Doctor Lucky ''Kill Doctor Lucky'' is a humorous board game designed by James Ernest and released in 1996 by Cheapass Games. In 1998, ''Kill Doctor Lucky'' won the Origins Award for ''Best Abstract Board Game of 1997''. ''Kill Doctor Lucky'' is, in conce ...

'', ''The Big Idea'' and the game originally known as ''

Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond ''Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond'' is a card game designed by James Ernest and published by Cheapass Games. Players take the roles of supervillains in a spy movie, capturing superspies (including " Mr. Bond") and taunting them. Other players can ...

'' (that game was eventually renamed after complaints from the owners of the Bond franchise). He has had success with

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

, successfully crowdfunding games like a new version of ''

'' and ''Get Lucky'' (which takes the concept and core mechanics of ''

'' and adapts it as a card game), among others. Ernest wrote, produced, directed, edited, and created music for the short film ''The Man Between'' (2003) and wrote the book ''Dealer's Choice: The Complete Handbook of Saturday Night Poker''. His first publication was the book ''Contact Juggling'' in 1990. In 2014 James began collaborating with

Patrick Rothfuss Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his duology ''The Kingkiller Chronicle'', which has won him several awards, including the 2007 Quill Award for his debut novel, ''The Name of the Wind''. Its ...

to create an abstract strategy game called '' Tak'', based on a game described in Rothfuss's 2011 book ''

The Wise Man's Fear ''The Wise Man's Fear'' is a fantasy novel written by American author Patrick Rothfuss and the second volume in ''The Kingkiller Chronicle''. It was published on March 1, 2011, by DAW Books. It is the sequel to 2007's ''The Name of the Wind''. ...

''. In April 2016 they launched a

campaign to bring the game to actual publication. The campaign ended on May 20 to great success, with 12,187 backers pledging $1,351,142.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernest, James American game designers Living people Jugglers American technology company founders American film directors Year of birth missing (living people) Board game designers