Dotted Games Monkey Palace: A Lego Board Game - Build Your Way to Victory Brick by Brick! Fun Family Brick-Building Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 10+, 2-4 Players, 45 Minute Playtime

My family loves Lego - even my wife has a near full collection of their flowers - and board games. When this game was announced, I knew it would be a perfect fit for us if the gameplay was solid. I'm happy to say that for us it is.The Good:This game is fully backed by Lego, so you know the quality of the bricks. The rest of the components are good as well. The cards are fine, especially because there is limited shuffling, the iconography on them is easy to understand, and the cardboard player boards are heavy & sufficient. I thought the instructions were going to be overkill at first glance, but once I got through them I can say they are nicely done. They only looked overwhelming because they go to great length - with pictures - to make everything clear. My son is 10 and had no problems jumping right in. Setup will be quick after your first playthrough (more on that below), it looks great on the table assuming you're a fan of Lego, and the gameplay moves quick enough not to overstay its welcome. Scoring is super simple; you count bananas on cards at the end of the game. There are also a couple of "mini-expansions" in the box (which are each literally a single Lego piece & new rule), which show how easily you could create your own expansions with a little creativity.The Bad:Every player's turn is the same... every turn. While the tower will be constructed differently each time, offering different paths, the basic game will be the same every time. While we have yet to tire of it, I fear some may get bored with it after repeat plays. The game is also very dependent on the colors on the cards and playing board - light green, dark green, and tan. I fear that for some with color blindness the greens may be difficult to differentiate. While the coloring makes sense thematically, it is a slight nitpick. The instructions, while clear and easy enough to follow, are printed are pretty thin paper & not even stapled together. Perhaps that's a cost-saving measure, but they look pretty bad compared to the rest of the presentation.The Indifferent:There is no component organization in the box, other than 3 trays for the various "stairway" components. The first time you setup the game, you have to sort/separate all of the various Lego pieces. While tedious, as long as you separate all of the components into Ziploc baggies when you put it away, subsequent setups will be very quick. If you store your games upright, baggies will be a necessity anyway if you don't want a jumbled mess the next time you open the box. Thematically, you're rebuilding a lost palace for monkeys... or something... I'm here for the gameplay, not the theme! To be clear, this isn't Chutes & Ladders or Candy Land. There are rules, quite a few of them actually, for how you can and cannot build the tower. It's going to take some reading - or watching a How-To Play video on YouTube - before you can jump in and play. For anyone familiar with modern board games this won't be a problem. If you're looking for something to set in front of kids and let them have at it, I think you'll be disappointed.Overall I feel this game is fantastic as a family game, and fantastic as a lighter-weight intro to modern board games. I do feel like it will eventually get to feel very "samey" if played a lot, but if rotated with other games I don't think that will be an issue. I also think this is the perfect game for creating new house rules with your own Lego you may have laying around!

Monkey Palace is great fun! I bought it for my adult step-son who loves Legos. He does complicated builds and I wasn't sure what he would think of this game. Turns out we both liked it a lot! Building the palace involves making arches, each higher than the last. It is simple but requires strategy to best use your pieces to create the optimal move.I liked playing it so much with him that I purchased an additional copy for me. I think my 84 year old brother will enjoy it as well.Don't dismiss this as just a child's game. It's actually quite fun for adults. Everyone loves building things!

This game is fun and challenging. We are a major board game family and love Lego; however, this game was too difficult for my kids. My husband and I enjoyed it and will save it for my kids when they are older.

When you open the box the instructions seem like it would be a little much for a 10 year old. The game seems complicated, but there are just several steps for each turn. Once you understand the steps once the game not difficult, and it really is fun.My biggest complaint is, unless there are only 2 players, there are not enough Lego pieces for the game to go on for more than a few rounds. We have a bunch of pieces upstairs in my sons room that we could supplement the game with, but the game really should come with more.

This is truly an excellent game and it’s the best Lego game made so far. I hope they make expansions. If you like board games and Lego this is a must buy!

My son loves this game (he is 8y.o), and even teenagers and adults have been receptive to the game play. The rule book is a little confusing regarding some of the nuance rules, but a YouTube tutorial helped to clarify our questions. All pieces were included, and the game play is not overly complicated once you get started. Overall game play isn’t too long, either. This game supports problem solving and dexterity without being too taxing on the kiddos.

My kids and I love playing this game. We're huge into board games and this is a favorite. Easy to learn, you get a ton of legos for the price, the gameplay is not hard to pick up.