How to play TUMBLIN’ MONKEYS
Set up
Players
Tumblin’ Monkeys is a game for 2 to 4 players, from 5 years old.
What you need to play
Tumblin’ Monkeys is a commercial game. It is easy to find it in stores specialized in board games, in department stores and in any ecommerce.
The set includes 30 monkeys, 30 sticks, a colored die —orange, green and pink— and a plastic tree that is actually the game board.
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Assembling the palm tree
The game is set in a palm tree that you first have to put together. The two pieces of the trunk are easily assembled together. Then the trunk is placed on the base and finally the branches are added on top.
Place the chopsticks
Place two sticks of each color in each of the levels of the palm tree. There will then be 6 sticks per level.
Dropping the monkeys
Let the monkeys drop through the hole at the top of the tree. If one of them falls to the base of the palm tree, pick it up and throw it again until all the monkeys are hanging from a stick.
With that, we are ready to start playing!
Turns
Tumblin’ Monkeys is played in turns clockwise, passing the turn to the player on the left.
Who’s first?
Let the youngest player kick things off!
Goal of the game
What do you need to do to win?
The goal of the game is to remove the sticks carefully trying not to let the monkeys that were hanging from the stick fall to the base of the palm tree.
Tumblin’ Monkeys rules: playing a game
This is how a shift is played
The player whose turn it is performs these actions:
- Roll the three-color die.
- Remove a stick from the highest level where there are sticks and of the color obtained in the die. If there is no stick of that color on that level then you do nothing and pass the turn.
- If any monkey falls, you must pick it up and keep it.
As the turns go by, some monkeys will fall to the ground and others will move from one level to a lower level. This makes the game trickier and a lot more fun!
From top to bottom
We insist on this basic and key rule for the game: no sticks can be taken from a lower level if there are still sticks above it. You start by removing the sticks from the top level and when there are none left you move down to the next level, and so on.
Game over – And the winner is…
Game over
The game ends when there is no monkey left in the palm tree.
And the winner is…
The player with the fewest monkeys wins.
Tips for playing Tumblin’ Monkeys
Choosing the right toothpick
Tumblin’ Monkeys is not only a skill and pulse game, it is also a strategy game. Choosing the right toothpick can be the difference between winning and losing.
First look for toothpicks that don’t have any monkeys on them. If there are, you know what to do. But usually you’re not so lucky.
Next, look for sticks where just below the position where you think the monkeys will hang down, there are many sticks on the lower level. And logically the fewer monkeys you have the better.
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