Pyramid: Pyramid Review: Dead Money

Pyramid Review

Dead Money

Published by Cheapass Games

Designed by James Ernest

Illustrated by Brian Snoddy

112-Card Deck, Small Rules Sheet; $14.95

Dead Money is a game of hands, hands, and brains. Hands of cards, hands to hold the brains, and the brains needed to play some of those cards. Designed by James Ernest, this card game brings together his love of poker with a theme common to several other titles from Cheapass Games: Zombies. "Dead Money" is also a derogatory term in Poker.

So after having served fast food in Give Me the Brain and Lord of the Fries and run for the brains on the train in The Great Brain Robbery, we are back at Friedey's, but not the restaurant staffed by members of the corpse cortege. Rather in Dead Money, we are at Friedey's, the Saloon and Gambling Hall of the Damned. With poker being the latest fad, Friedey's is running regular tournaments and to make up the numbers, it is using the staff. The problem is that employees are not allowed to win, and zombies have great poker faces. So with zombies being the last ones in the tournament, the aim is not to win, and the best way of doing that is by a zombie losing money. This is done by getting rid of all the cards in a zombie's hand, and the first to do so wins the game. This being a Cheapass game, one more item needs to be supplied by the players, in this case, a six-sided die.

Designed for three to six players, Dead Money consists of 112 cards divided between eight Brain cards and . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.

Article publication date: March 30, 2007

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