Monkeys Need Love Too
Monkeys Need Love Too Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Free as many monkeys as you can without getting caught.
There are two phases to the game; Flinging Poo and To the Trees. Both phases will be explained in greater detail later on. In the first phase (Flinging Poo) you have two objectives:
- Free as many monkeys as possible before the alarm goes off.
- Prevent the other players from freeing monkeys.
The second phase (To the Trees) occurs when the alarms sound and the security guards rush in and storm the place. See if you escape or not!!
The Cards
There are two decks that come with the game. One is for the Flinging Poo phase (dark blue card back). The other for the To the Trees phase (red card back).
While there is only one type of card in the To the Trees deck, there are three types in the Flinging Poo deck, which are explained below:
Monkey card: All monkey cards will have a test perfume/cologne labeled on them along with their feeding cost (shown in bananas in the top right corner).
Action cards: Action cards come in 3 different colors. Cards with a red backdrop are only played during your turn and are usually played on an opponent or their monkey(s). Cards with a pink backdrop can be played at any time during the game and are used to cancel other specific action cards.
Last is the No Coco, No!!! card. It is played during your turn and is used to sound the alarm and end the Flinging Poo phase of the game.
Banana cards: These cards give you bananas to use during the game for feeding monkeys, throwing peels at opponents, etc. The number found in the corners of the banana card lets you know how many bananas it's worth.
Game Setup
Included with the game are 10 banana cards with a light blue card back. Place these face up in a pile in the center of the table to populate the banana discard pile (you'll need this separate discard pile for bananas so you can easily make change during the game). Next, separate the Flinging Poo deck from the To the Trees deck and shuffle each. Place the Flinging Poo deck face down in the center of the table and set the To the Trees deck off to the side (face down) for later. Make sure to leave some room in the center for a second discard pile (for the non-banana cards). Everyone then perform Step 1 of the Flinging Poo phase. Once everyone has 5 cards in their hand, begin the Flinging Poo phase.
Flinging Poo
Play starts with the person who most recently ate a banana (making them most likely to be a monkey) and continues in a clockwise fashion. Each player performs the following 4 steps during their turn (unless they have been knocked unconscious, in which case their monkeys just sit there picking the dandruff out of their hair while play continues on to the next player):
Step 1: Draw until you have 5 cards in your hand. If you draw a banana card, add it to your backpack of bananas and draw again (set the banana card face up on the table next to you).
Step 2: You now may play up to 1 monkey card and 1 action card. Note: You can only free monkeys that are placed down in front of you. Monkey cards in your hand when the Flinging Poo phase is over do not count as freed monkeys.
Step 3: Feed all your monkeys!! Hopefully you remembered to save some bananas for the monkeys. Any monkeys that you do not (or cannot) feed become stubborn and lay down in the middle of the floor (are discarded).
Step 4: You can now discard any cards that you do not wish to keep in your hand. Your turn is now over.
Banana Peels
At any time during the Flinging Poo phase of the game, any conscious player may eat 2 of their bananas and throw the peels at another conscious player. The targeted player must then roll two dice. If they roll doubles, they slip on the banana peels and are knocked unconscious until the end of their next turn.
A player cannot eat more than 12 bananas before their next turn, otherwise they run the risk of passing out from potassium overdose. If a player wishes to eat more than 12 bananas, they must roll a die (before flinging the peels) for each pair of bananas over 12 that they consume and successfully roll a 6. If unsuccessful, that player loses consciousness until the end of their next turn.
When Things Don't 'Peel' Right
When bananas or monkeys do not divide evenly, round down unless there is only 1 left, in which case that 1 is lost.
If a player was in the middle of a turn when they were rendered unconscious, they don't lose consciousness until the end of that turn.
Most action cards require monkeys to be present (either by the person who played the card or by the targeted player) for the action to have a chance of succeeding.
Hey I've Been Knocked Out...No Fair
While normally taking advantage of a person while they're unconscious is frowned upon in the real world, in this game it is encouraged. Due to their inability to play an action card or pick up dice, any card played on that player that requires a success/failure roll is automatically successful. If there is a penalty roll to be made, the worse possible outcome is executed. When the penalty is a choice, the player who laid down the card decides the penalty. Unconscious players get skipped in actions that would possibly benefit them (ex. Roller Skates).
To the Trees
Players must now draw a To the Trees card to determine their fate. Due to the inordinate amount of noise made by their monkeys, the security guards are drawn to the player with the most monkeys first, therefore that player draws first (unless otherwise instructed by some card). Draw then continues down the line with the player with the next highest number of monkeys and so on and so forth. Players who were unconscious when the alarm went off do not wake up and draw until all conscious players have drawn. If more than one player has the same amount of monkeys, use total feeding costs and banana totals to break the tie.
Once all players have drawn their To the Trees cards, the game is over (unless False Alarm was played) and the player who was not caught and has freed the most monkeys wins the game.
In the rare instance where there is a tie and your house doesn't support multiple winners, the total feeding cost and banana counts can be used as tie breakers.
False Alarm
If False Alarm was drawn, then the Flinging Poo phase is restarted with the following guidelines for each player:
Still in the lab: Everyone who hadn't yet drawn a To the Trees card retains all of their bananas, monkeys, and cards. Flinging Poo restarts with the player who drew False Alarm. That player also retains all of their bananas, monkeys, and cards.
Already escaped: Anyone that had already escaped with monkeys can come back inside (if they want) and try to free more monkeys. If they do, they retain their cards and bananas, but their freed monkeys will wander off into the city due to lack of supervision and not wanting to go back inside. No one inside will believe that the player had already freed some monkeys, therefore the monkeys will not count towards their total at the end of the game.
Otherwise the player may remain outside with their monkeys, avoid any random poo flying through the air, and attempt to throw rocks at the lab windows to set off the alarm again. During their turn they will roll 2 dice; once for themselves and once for each monkey they have freed (the monkeys don't like to be left out), except Rick. A roll of doubles will set off the alarm again.
Note: A player who remains outside cannot be the target of (or included in) any action cards played. However, at the start of their turn, they may choose to come back into the lab rather than throw rocks, at which point they abandon their freed monkeys and start Step 1.
Caught while escaping: Anyone caught while trying to escape loses all their cards and monkeys but retains their bananas. To get out of jail and back into the game, they must obtain enough bananas to bribe the jailers into letting them go (who knew). The number of bananas needed to bribe the jailers is equal to 2 times the number of players in the game. If they do not have enough bananas at the restart of the Flinging Poo phase, when their turn comes around, they may only perform Step 1 and Step 4 and may not play any cards out of their hand while still outside. If they obtain the required amount of bananas during Step 1, they may enter the lab and proceed to Step 2 of their turn (after feeding the jailers).
Possible Rule Adjustments
If you wish for a more friendly game, change Step 2 of the Flinging Poo phase to read "1 monkey card or 1 action card" and remove half of the action cards with red backdrops from the game before starting.
If you long for more chaos, enact the Concussion Protocol Rule (any person knocked unconscious 3 times during the game must now leave the game for medical reasons) to inspire more banana peel tossing.