Monkey Palace

• Designer: David Gordon and TAM
• Publisher: LEGO
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3XEz7Vc
• Review copy provided by Asmodee NA

Monkey Palace is a jungle-themed game of light strategy that incorporates both collaborative and competitive elements. Players must strategically work together to construct the Monkey Palace while competing for the highest brick income and points, all under the watchful gaze of the Monkey. The palace gradually takes form thanks to a construction using LEGO elements, and each time the board game is played, the building experience and final construction are unique.

To set up the game, anchor the chosen ground map on the base plate with anchor pieces in the corners.  Each game starts with a single brick and two arches in the white starting area. This initial piece is marked with the Golden Decoration marker.  The bonus cards are shuffled and put into a deck; the Monkey figure is placed on the Monkey Trophy card.  Sort the Monkey cards by type, making columns for cards with matching value on them. 

One takes a player board #1 and the starting pieces shown on the back of the board.  Players clockwise take the next higher board and the pieces on the back of their corresponding board.  All players now flip their board over and put it on the table in front of them.

On a turn, the active player goes through these eight steps:

1] Build One Staircase – using any number of pieces in your personal supply, build a staircase that has continually ascending arches. The entire structure must make a direct path from the Ground Map piece – but you can use as many bricks and columns from your supply to support your arches as needed; all of your pieces must be fully supported.   You are free to use previously built pieces on the map, but you cannot use the center two spots on a previous arch nor can you place one arch directly on top of another arch.  You are free to make as many 90 degree turns in your staircase as needed.

2] Decorate Your Staircase – Depending on which color is on the board around your starting point on the Ground map, place the matching Decoration piece at the top of your staircase (light green tree, dark green tree or gold cylinder).

3] Count Monkey Credits – 1 monkey credit per arch you have placed this turn plus a bonus arch if you have placed the highest decoration piece of your type this turn

4] Take Monkey Cards – spend your credits to get Monkey cards; cost is in the upper left of the card; but you are restricted to taking cards that match the color of the board where your staircase started. You must take the top card of any pile that you take from.  Cards can have one-time delivery pieces and/or recurring delivery pieces.  There is also a Banana (victory) point value in the upper right of the card.

5] Take One-Time Delivery – If your card(s) have pieces next to a lightning bolt, take those pieces from the supply.  Now flip that card over and place it on one of the four spaces on your board.  Any recurring bonuses will be seen on that side as well.  If you already have four, you’ll have to cover one up.

6] Take Recurring Delivery – looking at your board and any cards on it, take all the pieces seen for your Recurring Delivery.

7] Take a Bonus Card – if your staircase this turn is at least 5 levels high, take a Bonus Card worth 4 Banana points.

8] Take Trophy Cards – the base game only uses the Monkey card.  If you placed a Golden Decoration brick this turn, place the Monkey figure on any open end knob of any arch on the board. The monkey stops people from building off that particular space.  You also take the Monkey Trophy card worth 2 points, and you keep it until someone takes it from you.  There are special rules and bonuses for the Butterfly and Frog cards if you choose to play with them.

The game continues until the supply runs out of any type of brick when someone is trying to re-supply.  When this happens, play continues to the end of the current round so that all players get the same number of turns. Players now calculate their scores by revealing all their Monkey cards purchased during the game and adding the Banana points on them.  Players holding the Trophy cards also score those.  The player with the most points wins. Ties broken in favor of the player holding the Monkey Trophy card.

My thoughts on the game

I first got a chance to try this game at the Asmodee press event at Gen Con, and I liked my first bite of the banana (so to speak).  I have always been a fan of LEGO building (though never good at coming up with my own creations – please give me a 100 page book with step-by-step instructions of exactly where to attach the next brick), though never really good at any free-form building – so I was inclined to like a game where you get to build stuff.

It takes a moment to digest the building rules – but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy to do.  There are a number of things to consider when building.  You’ll probably need to look ahead to see what space you want to start from – this might determine how high you can build, which card(s) you can obtain, and what bonuses you might be able to get.  There will definitely be a few turns in the game when you end up just passing, taking your recurring income, and saving up for a huge build on the next turn.  This can pay off given the bonuses for highest decoration and for building at least 5 levels high.  Additionally, the higher value Monkey cards have a higher Banana point payoff as well.

Lucky for me, there isn’t a lot to the building creativity – you just look for places to build staircases and have at it.  (So my innate suckiness at being creating when building LEGOs doesn’t hurt me here…)  There are only three kinds of pieces (1×1 bricks, 1×3 columns, and the 1×4 Arches) – so you just figure out how to jam them on the board in an ever upward direction and score points.

I find the entire structure building to be mesmerizing, and I like watching it grow higher and higher from the green base plate.  As it turns out, there’s not much else to do when it’s not your turn.  There isn’t any interaction between players, and given the dynamic nature of the builds, you really can’t plan much until your turn starts because the structure is ever-changing.  But, getting to see this structure rise from the plain green base plate is still quite entertaining, and each turn doesn’t last long, so the wait time is usually not an issue.

If you’re looking for a deep crunchy strategy game, well this probably isn’t going to give that to you.  But, if you want a fun game where you get to build stuff with LEGO pieces and still flex your gaming chops a bit – this is a good find.  There is a little bit of engine building in the recurring income part, and you’ll have to learn a bit about strategic timing deciding on when to pass and when to build, and a little bit about piece positioning as you learn how to place pieces to obstruct others from building.   Monkey Palace also works well with kids, and I’d bet that kids younger than the recommended minimum of 10 years old would be able to handle it just fine.  Well, if nothing else, they’d be able to build the staircases, and you could help them with the rest.  This is one I’d be happy to play with my cousins and nephews at any time, and I think it will eventually end up in one of their collections.  

The game just released this week, and you can find it via this Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3XEz7Vc

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor