Lunch Money (game)

Lunch Money is an elimination style card game designed by C.E. Wiedman and released in May 1996 by the American publisher Atlas Games. The complete boxed set contains one hundred ten cards depicting a schoolyard fight between children, illustrated with stylized black and white photography that gives the game a deliberately dark, almost gothic visual tone despite its playground setting and often darkly comic card text. Each player represents a combatant trying to be the last one left standing, attacking opponents, defending against incoming attacks and using special action cards to change the course of a fight that is resolved entirely through the cards rather than dice or a separate board. Lunch Money's unusual visual style, drawing on real photographs rather than illustrated artwork, made it stand out among card games of the period, and it won the Origins Award for Best Card Game of 1996, sharing the honor that year. It was later singled out by Pyramid magazine as one of the best card games of the preceding millennium, a recognition that helped cement its reputation as an early example of a small press card game built around dark humor and a distinctive visual identity.