LEGO Monkey Palace Strategy Game Overview
Our lives and technology are completely entangled moreso than ever before. When asked to vocalize my daughters’ phone numbers, I respond without confidence. The convenience of having it at my fingertips has made it too easy to avoid memorizing such information. Those same handheld computers are filled with options to stream movies and TV shows, play digital games and simply exist in a self-confined space. Add traditional computers and gaming consoles to the conversation and people of all ages can be fully engaged in entertainment without needing to actually engage with anyone. Scott and I recognized the subtle (and not so subtle) changes coming when our daughters were very young. We made a point of finding ideas for family bonding which built the framework for great relationships with our now-adult children. For some families, it’s more of a challenge and it requires meeting their kids on familiar ground.
When Asmodee North America asked to sponsor a post talking about Monkey Palace, we didn’t hesitate. Not only do we see value in introducing you to things that encourage kids to play games, but the designers (David Gordon and TAM) are friends of ours. This collaboration was meant to be. Published under Asmodee’s new Dotted Games studio, we know it would be a game changer for many families.
You’re probably curious what makes us think this way about Monkey Palace. It’s simple. The four-letter word that children (and adults) love to hear: LEGO. Monkey Palace isn’t simply a strategy game, it’s one that is literally built with the famous bricks. The goal is to build the best staircases in the palace and earn banana points. Set up the game by sorting the building bricks into the tray then placing the four corner bricks on the base plate. Select a map, add it to the base and fill in the white marked areas with one brick and two arches. While many game rulebooks can be daunting to read, Monkey Palace uses the standard LEGO style of directions to teach the rules. Continue working your way through the setup steps as noted in the easy-to-follow instructions to place cards, monkeys, player boards and starting bricks.
On your turn, you’ll follow a series of eight steps then all other players will do the same in turn order. Begin by placing a staircase then decorating it with a color matching the ground. It isn’t as simple as adding a brick and calling it a day. There are rules to how things can be assembled. Here are a few of the guidelines: Staircases much touch the ground and must attach to one already on the map. While placement can start with any type of brick, it must end with an arch. You must fully support your staircase (no floating pieces) but may not add arches atop of one another.
If you’ve placed a golden brick on the top, you earn the privilege of moving where the monkey is sitting. It’s one of the few opportunities you have to block opponents. There are a couple additional pieces (butterfly and frog) that can be added to the game once you get the hang of it.
After decorating your staircase, count the number of arches and calculate monkey credit. Spend your credits to take cards. There are restrictions on which cards you can select based on what you built. And while you don’t have to spend all your credits, you might as well… they don’t carry over to the next round! Those cards trigger delivery of bricks, arches and columns which is the next step in your turn.
After the initial delivery, flip the cards over and take any recurring delivery actions shown. These are the prime way you’ll get additional building materials for future staircase construction! If you’re a fan of engine-building games, you’ll appreciate this part of the game! Finish out your turn by taking bonus and trophy cards.
Players take turns until there are not enough building bricks of a single kind for a player to collect at the end of their turn. Finish out the round so all players have been given an equal number of opportunities to build. Players reveal all their monkey cards and count the related Banana Points. the one with the most is the winner.
Monkey Palace is a strategy game with several steps each turn. You can expect that it will take a few turns for players to find their rhythm. If it helps, have parents and kids play as teams the first few times so the kids can learn the basics. We all know that once they figure out how LEGO projects work, they do just fine. Given the opportunity, Monkey Palace will be the same way. The best part is that the use of LEGO bricks (instead of other type of game components) offers familiarity to kids who aren’t used to playing strategy games. It also helps bring new gamers to the table and that’s always a good thing. If you have a LEGO family in your midst, stop by your local game store or Target to check availability of this new title. If you prefer to purchase online, you can find Monkey Palace at Target.com and Amazon.
Does the LEGO brand increase your interest in trying this game?
