Spank the Monkey

About this board game

Spank the Monkey is a fast-paced, humorous card game for 2–6 players that takes about 30 minutes to play. Everyone works in a junk yard, building a tower of discarded objects in an attempt to climb up to a teasing monkey and spank it.

Players use junk cards to form their board. Objects such as a totem pole, surfboard, or garden gnome have their own height and strength, and many include a special ability. The combined height of your junk determines whether you have reached the monkey, while each card also belongs to one or more of the game’s seven categories.

Some junk is fragile, but reinforcement cards can make it stronger. Duct tape, ivy, and a hired security guard may help protect your growing pile. At the same time, you can attack opponents to destroy their junk or reduce the height of their tower.

• Throwing attacks can target any junk card, using cards such as a bowling ball, flock of seagulls, or dynamite.
• Hand attacks target cards at the same height as your own, including the chainsaw, blind, and crowbar.
• Sneak attacks bring special abilities through cards such as the lawyer, wasp’s nest, and ball cannon.

Attacks are resolved with a die roll, adding the attack card’s value and comparing it with the targeted card’s strength and reinforcements. Defenders can respond with cards that lower the roll, stop the attack, or redirect it. If a card is destroyed, anything above it may fall, triggering a collision roll that can cause further destruction.

Special cards add even more chaos, from extra turns and earthquakes to police raids. With its mix of stacking, tactical attacks, defenses, and surprising effects, Spank the Monkey turns a race upward into a lively contest of sabotage. The game was released in 2003 and is expanded by Monkey Business.