Pyramid Pick
Spank the Monkey
Published by Gigantoskop
Designed by Peter Hansson
Illustrated by Peter Svärd
120-cards, six-page rules sheet; $26
Just when you thought that nobody else could come up with another dodgy title for a game following on from Roll Call 3: Country Matters, along comes one more contender for the "Least Tastefully Titled Game of 2004" award. Yet you have to admire the chutzpa, if not the gall of Swedish publisher, Gigantoskop. After all, they took their first game, checked with English speakers for the veracity of its title, and still decided to call it Spank the Monkey. Fortunately, the title is the only dubious thing about this game.
Designed for two to six players, the idea behind the game is very simple. A mischievous monkey has gotten loose in the junkyard where you work. With it currently scampering from one junk pile to the next, your boss is none too happy, and directs all of his employees to go capture the pernicious primate. To do that, you need to go grab whatever items of scrap you can find and build them up in a tower in order to reach the same level as the monkey, where you can give it a good spanking! And with the reward of every recyclable can in the yard and free time with the garbage compacter at stake, the race is on to deliver to get on up and deliver that stinging slap. If that means taking out the towers built by your rival employees, then so be it! Of course, it helps that their towers of trash are potentially as unstable as your own . . . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: October 8, 2004
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