idea, and in 1995, Ernest quit and started up the company. Creating the games by hand, he initially showed the games at tradeshows and conventions, resulting in sales demand from game stores. The company creates and assembles each game pack by hand, with most games only being made in runs of up to 5,000 copies.

Cheapass Games and James Ernest have won several awards for game design including the 2002 Origins Award for best play-by-mail game