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BRAWL

Are you ready for BRAWL?

History: In 1999, James Ernest refined his notion of Real Time card games. Building on his first real time card game, FALLING, which was multi-player with a dealer, he created BRAWL, a two-player card game with no dealer.

Summary: BRAWL is a lightning-fast combat game where two players burn through their 35-card decks in about 35 seconds. Each deck contains a unique mix of cards, and each deck requires a slightly different playing style to win. 

Mechanics: Each player takes one deck, sets a "Base" card on the table, and begins to play. Players play their cards (Hit, Block, Clear, etc.) as fast as they like, trying to win each Base by playing more Hits on their own side. At the bottom of both decks are three Freeze cards. When every base is Frozen, the game is over. 

Awards: The original BRAWL was nominated for two Origins Awards: Best Traditional Card Game, and Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game in 1999. BRAWL: Club Foglio won two Origins Awards the following year, for Card Game Expansion and for Graphic Design. The competition was tough in 2001, because Brawl: Catfight was only nominated for Best Card Game Expansion (but we think the graphics are the best!)

BRAWL: Catfight

What's Next: BRAWL is coming soon to the iPad and iPod from Cheapass Games and Brode Games, and we're beginning to release some free supplemental materials online, in anticipation of a possible new expansion (yes, printed on real cards and everything). The original six decks are out of print, but you can still buy the expansions Club Foglio and Catfight, as well as the hard-to-find Ting Ting deck, from our friends at Paizo.com.

Here is a PDF of the BRAWL rulebook, updated in the new Cheapass Games free format. 

Here are links to individual print-and-play PDF files for each of the original six BRAWL characters. Each file contains the card backs (page 1) and the card fronts (Pages 2-5). Instructions for turning these files into playable decks are given on the last page of the rulebook, above.

Six BRAWL Decks

Here are links to projects at Artscow. This is a print-on-demand manufacturer in Hong Kong that makes pretty decent poker-sized decks. Because these decks have 54 cards, and we aren't able to mix back designs, we decided to make "extended" versions of all six characters. These decks contain a 52-card BRAWL deck, plus a recipe card that tells you what's in each deck, and how to strip the deck back down to its original 35-card size. 

Note that we aren't associated with Artscow in any way, and we don't see a penny of the money you pay to them. So if you print decks there, please be kind and donate to cheapass games as well. 

BRAWL