Stats:
No. of players: 2-8
Amount of time to play: 45 min
Age requirements: 13+
Set-up time: 5-10 minutes

In Spin Monkeys you are a monkey driving a bumper car and must collect more fruit than the other players.

Spin Monkeys Rules Description:

Spin Monkeys starts with a board full of fruit. There are apples, oranges and bananas. As you drive over these fruits you collect them and once there is only one kind of fruit on the board the game ends.

You begin with a hand of five cards and on your turn you play one. Each card has a degree of clockwise rotation. This is the amount you need to rotate your bumper car before you move. Any card you play stays in front of you and the number of space you move equals the number of cards in front of you.

Each fruit you run over you run over you take. If you run over a banana, you place a banana peel on the space. When someone runs over a banana peel they reveal the top card from the deck. This is the amount they need to spin their car before continuing movement. Then the banana peel is removed from the board.

If you hit a wall you lose one card in speed and rotate clockwise 45degrees for each space of movement they have left until you can move again. However if you hit another player you lose a card, randomly steal one of their fruits. Then the player that was hit reveals the top card from the deck rotates their car and is pushed away the number of spaces the original car had left to move.

Play starts with the player with the most cards in front of them. The tie breaker is the player playing the highest rotation.

After five turns players will be out of cards and need to draw another five. Play continues until just one type of fruit is left on the board. Bananas are worth 5 points, oranges, 2 points and apples just 1 point. The player with the most points wins.

Quick Review of Spin Monkeys:

Spin Monkeys is a chaotic race to grab as much fruit as you can. As you might expect chaos ensues especially with more monkeys. This game is easy to teach and play. Younger kids might struggle with the rotation angles but it actually might help some kids learn their angles.

The components for this game are high quality. The rules are well written and contain some good examples. The art is fun and light and is fine for this type of family game.

I really like how number of cards you’ve played equals your speed. It is a fun mechanic and results in some players flying around the board. Eventually though they hit a wall or another player who they send flying across the board.

Spin Monkeys is a fun family game and can even work as a party game since it plays up to eight. If you are looking for a board game to enjoy with your family and friends, check this game out. This can also be good for larger game groups that might want something lighter that plays a lot of people.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 3 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6