Monkeys on the Moon
Monkeys on the Moon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setting Up the Game
Place the Tribe Stones next to the Tribe Track, near the Start space.
Shuffle the Monkey Cards and place several of them face-up to form a Monkey Pool. The size of the pool should be one greater than the number of players. Nearby, put the remaining Monkey Cards face-down as a draw deck.
Lay out the Tribe Cards randomly in a circle, face-up. This is the Alliance Circle. Tribes that are adjacent to each other are allies while those opposite each other are rivals. Each tribe has 2 allies and 1 rival.
Shuffle the Civilization Cards. In a 4-player game, put the top 4 Civilization Cards back in the box without looking at them. In a 3-player game, discard the top 9. For 2 players, discard 12.
Each player gets 2 Civilization Cards and holds them privately in their hand. Put the rest of the deck face-down inside the Alliance Circle. Leave room for a discard pile next to it.
Each player gets 1 Favor Coin from each tribe color. Then, place 3 coins of each color onto their matching Tribe Cards. If you have less than 4 players, place the leftover coins back into the game box.
Shuffle the Ship Card deck. Place one ship face-up in front of each player. Lay another 2 ships face-up on the table to form a Ship Pool. Put the other Ship Cards face-down as a draw deck.
Put the Scorn Cards in the middle of the table within reach of the players. Keep the Rules Reminder cards handy as needed.
You're ready to begin! The player with the longest hair is the Starting Player and takes the glass moonstone.
Beginning with the Starting Player and proceeding to the left, each player takes a Civilization Turn. Then, again beginning with the Starting Player and proceeding left, each player takes a Bid Turn. Once everyone has completed a Bid Turn, wrap up the round, and pass the moonstone to the left to indicate the next Starting Player. Repeat this sequence until the game ends.
Civilization Turn: Playing Cards and Picking Tribes
Play a Civilization Card from your hand onto the discard pile. Announce which tribe you wish to move ahead. The tribe you advance must be either the tribe named on the Civilization Card or one of its two allies.
Adjusting Your Favor
The tribe you choose to advance will be appreciative! Take 2 Favor Coins from that tribe's coin supply on its Tribe Card. If there is only one available, take it. If there are no coins available, you get nothing.
The rival of the tribe you advanced will be angry with you. You must pay 1 Favor Coin of your own to the rival tribe's supply.
Favor Coins you hold may be kept hidden from other players. They have no value at game end.
Example: You choose to advance the Blue Tribe, so you take 2 Blue Coins. Blue's rival is the Green Tribe, so you return 1 Green Coin of your own to the Green supply.
Running Out of Favor Coins: Monkey Scorn!
If you ever need to pay a Favor Coin to a tribe but do not have one, you must take the Scorn Card for that tribe. If the Scorn Card is already held by someone else, take it from that player.
If you already hold the Scorn Card, just keep it — but you suffer an additional penalty for angering this tribe again. You must pay 1 Favor Coin to either ally of the tribe. If you cannot pay either ally, you must take the Scorn Card of either tribe (your choice). If you can pay one ally but not the other, it's up to you whether to pay one tribe or incur the scorn of the other.
Scorn effects are summarized on the cards for easy reference. If you choose to advance a tribe whose scorn you hold, you get only 1 Favor Coin from the tribe instead of the usual 2. You do not get a Favor Bonus for launching ships admired by that tribe. Further, you are penalized Victory Points at game end if you hold any Scorn Cards.
There are three ways to rid yourself of Scorn, and they are summarized on the cards as well. If you hold the Green Scorn Card, for example, you can return it to the center of the table if you advance the Green Tribe, board a Green Monkey, or launch a Green Ship.
Scorn Cards you hold should be in plain view of other players.
Example: You choose to advance the Blue Tribe, so you take 2 Blue Coins. Blue's rival is Green… but you have no Green Coins to give! You must take the Green Scorn Card, even if another player is holding it.
Later, you choose to advance the Blue Tribe again. You take 2 Blue Coins and must pay the Green Tribe. But you still have no Green coins, and you already have the Green Scorn Card. You must pay 1 coin to either of Green's allies, which are Red and Purple. You hold 1 Red Coin and no Purple Coins. You must either make the Red payment, or take the Purple Scorn Card.
Still later, you decide to make amends and choose to advance the Green Tribe. You receive only 1 Green Coin for doing so, but you get to return the Green Scorn to the center of the table. You then pay 1 Blue Coin since Blue is the rival of the Green Tribe.
Moving the Tribe Stone along the Tribe Track
When you advance a tribe, move its Tribe Stone the number of spaces shown on the Civilization Card.
If the move takes the stone to or beyond the last space on the Tribe Track, put it in the appropriate Finish Circle. The first tribe to reach the last space is placed in the "1st" circle, and so on. If you choose to advance a tribe whose stone is already in a Finish Circle, do not move the stone at all — although you still adjust your Favor.
If you advance a tribe whose scorn you hold, return the Scorn Card to the center of the table.
Bid Turn: Selecting a Monkey from the Monkey Pool
Each card in the Monkey Pool shows a monkey longing for the simple life back on Earth. The monkey's tribe is indicated by the background color of the card. The number on the card (3, 4 or 5) reflects the status of the monkey within its tribe. Monkeys with more Status Points are more valuable to you. Select a monkey by name and announce that it is up for bidding.
Bidding
Players bid for the chosen monkey using Favor Coins. Coins that match the tribe of the monkey are worth 3 bid points. Coins that match an ally of the monkey are worth 2 bid points. Therefore, for every monkey up for bid, there are three coin colors that may be used — its own color, and those of its two allies.
On your Bid Turn, you make the first bid. (You may pass if you wish, but the other players still get to bid.) Announce your total bid and show the coins you are bidding. Going around the table to the left, everyone has the option of either passing or making a higher bid. Keep going until one player's bid stands up as the highest. The player who makes the highest bid gets the monkey, and returns the coins he bid to the tribal supplies. Other notes about bidding:
- The minimum bid is 2 points.
- If you pass on a monkey, you may not rejoin the bidding for that monkey later.
- If no one bids on a monkey, it is discarded.
- If you win a monkey from a tribe whose scorn you hold, return the Scorn Card to the table.
Example: Joshua selects a Purple monkey for bidding. He shows a Purple Coin and opens the bidding at 3 points. Logan bids 5; he shows a Purple Coin (3 points) as well as a Brown Coin, which is worth 2 points since Brown is an ally of the Purple Tribe. Mitchell decides to pass, and therefore drops out of the bidding completely.
It's now down to two players. Joshua produces a second Purple Coin and ups the bid to 6 points. Logan then passes. Joshua takes the monkey and puts his 2 Purple Coins back in the Purple supply.
Boarding Monkeys and Launching Ships
As you win monkeys, board them by putting them alongside your face-up Ship Card.
Ship Cards state how many Monkey Cards they can hold. (The status of the monkeys does not matter.) When your ship reaches capacity, it launches immediately. Put the monkeys you launched in your face-down score pile. Put the ship in the score pile too, because ships are worth Victory Points if they are launched full. Larger ships are harder to fill and get you more Victory Points.
The border color of the Ship Card indicates which tribe is particularly impressed by the style and shininess of its design as it soars across the sky. When it launches, whether it is full or not, take one free Favor Coin for this tribe if there is one available. If you hold the Scorn Card for this tribe, you do not get this free Favor, but you may return the Scorn Card to the table.
Once your ship launches, pick a new one from the Ship Pool. Replenish the pool to 2 cards.
Beware of early launchings — monkeys from rival tribes will not share living space! If you win a monkey that is a rival of another monkey already on board your ship, the ship takes off early, leaving the new monkey behind. Put the launched monkeys into your score pile, but return the ship to the bottom of the Ship Card deck since it did not launch full. Take a free Favor Coin that matches the ship color. Then pick a new Ship Card, as above, and put your new monkey on board the new ship.
Wrapping Up
After everyone has completed a Bid Turn, restore the Monkey Pool to its original size. Deal another Civilization Card to each player. (On the last 2 turns of the game, the Civilization Deck will be empty, so skip this step.) Pass the moonstone to the left.
Ending the Game
After the last Civilization Card is played, everyone gets a Bid Turn and then the game ends. Launch all unfilled ships. Add the launched monkeys to your score piles. Discard the unfilled ships. Return all Favor Coins to the table.
Examine the Tribe Track to determine which tribes have the most advanced civilizations. Place the Tribe Stones into the Finish Circles based on their ranking on the track. If multiple Tribe Stones end the game on the same space, randomly determine who gets the superior Finish Circle. Tribe Stones that never made it onto the board are still assigned to Finish Circles.
Assigning Victory Points (VPs)
Check your Score Pile and see how many Status Points you have for each tribe. For example, if you have launched three Red monkeys of status 5, 4, and 3, you have 12 Status Points for the Red Tribe.
Starting with the 1st-place tribe, determine which players have the most Status Points for each tribe. The player with the most Status Points for a tribe wins the title of Supreme Leader. The player with the second-most Status Points for each tribe is entitled Undersecretary of Tribal Operations.
Titled players win VPs based on where the tribe in question ranked at the end of the game. The awards are listed on the Tribe Track. Use the coins to track these VP awards (you may need to use them all — just ignore their color).
Players receive bonus VPs from any full ships they have launched, as shown on the Ship Cards. They are also penalized 2 VPs for each Scorn Card they have at game end. The player with most total Victory Points is the winner!
In case of a Victory Point tie, the winner is the tied player who has launched the most monkeys. If it's still a tie, the winner is the tied player with the most total Status Points. If it's still a tie after that, you've got a remarkably close game on your hands. We suggest awarding victory to the player with the longer hair.
Tying For Supreme Leader: Split the total number of VPs the tribe would give to its Leader and Undersecretary among the tied players. Fractional VPs do not get awarded. There is no Undersecretary.
Tying for Undersecretary: Split the VPs the tribe would give to its Undersecretary among the tied players. Fractional VPs do not get awarded.
Note that it's possible, though uncommon, to have zero Status Points for a tribe and still be tied for a title.
Example: Two players have nine Status Points for the 1st place tribe and are tied for Supreme Leader. They split 11 VPs (7+4). Each player gets 5 VPs. The leftover 1 point is unawarded. Scoring for this tribe is complete.
Example: One player wins Supreme Leader of the 1st place tribe and takes its 7 VPs. The other three players all have four Status Points for that tribe, so they are tied for Undersecretary. They split 4 VPs. Each gets 1 VP, with 1 point unawarded.
Two-Player Scoring
Only the Supreme Leader gets VPs. If both players tie for Supreme Leader, no VPs are awarded.
Advanced Variant: Maximum Scorn!
If you end the game with a Scorn Card, discard all monkeys from your score pile belonging to that tribe.
Advanced Variant: Monkey Treachery!
Sometimes the most evolved monkeys are envied for their position, and alliances shift. This rule causes the Alliance Circle to change once mid-game so that players must adjust their strategies.
The first time a Tribe Stone reaches the white dot space on the Tribe Track, immediately swap its Tribe Card in the Alliance Circle with its clockwise ally. If any ship has rival monkeys on it because of this alliance shift, that ship must launch and leave one rival tribe behind (player's choice). Resume play normally.