Time for Some Monkey Business in Dexterity Game Coconuts

Prepare your monkey, load your coconut, and then ready, aim, fire!

Currently published by Underdog Games, Coconuts is a fast-paced dexterity game for 2-4 players that plays in 20 minutes, and only has a few rules to learn.

Gameplay

You place the yellow and red cups in the center of the table, double-stacking them in the order listed in the game’s setup. Each player then takes a player mat, one monkey, and eight coconuts. You set your player mat along one edge of the cups.

On your turn, you place the monkey at the other end of your player mat and use it to flick a coconut, trying to land the coconut into a cup. If the coconut lands and stays inside a cup, you take the cup and place it on your player mat. Once you have three cups in a row, you start stacking new cups on top to form a pyramid. When placing a cup on your player mat, you do not remove the coconut from inside it.

If your coconut wins you a red cup, then you get to take another turn. If your coconut lands in a cup on another player’s mat, you get to steal that cup from them. If you run out of coconuts, you can take one that was shot but did not end up in a cup.

The game ends once a player has completed a six-cup pyramid and wins the game, or all coconuts are inside cups, in which case the player with the most coconuts inside their cups wins.

Review

Coconuts is a fun, unpredictable dexterity game. The coconuts are unevenly shaped, which leads to unpredictable shots, bounces, and surprises. The rules are short and sweet, making the game family-friendly and accessible to a wide range of groups of varying levels of gaming experience.

Turns are fast, and the game length hits just the right note. The red cups and the ability to steal cups from an opponent are clever additions to give you something special to aim for. It’s quite satisfying when you land just the shot you were aiming for, and it’s always enjoyable when a shot surprises you, whether for good or bad.

As with most dexterity games where things fly, you need to keep an eye out for a good location to play the game. The coconuts are pretty soft, but they’re easy to lose, and could still knock something over.

Earlier editions of the game came with special ability cards. These have been replaced here with the Monkey Magic Variant in which once per game you can simply choose to use one of the abilities listed in the rulebook (these abilities include things such as forcing an opponent to make a shot with his eyes closed, or making them take a shot from a farther distance away). We didn’t find the abilities were necessary for the game, but if you enjoy them you’re going to miss the cards.

Coconuts has excellent component quality, the monkeys flick very well, and the game is just a lot of pure silly fun to play. If you enjoy dexterity games, be sure to check this one out.

Pros: Great component quality, unpredictable coconut bouncing, quick play

Cons: Ability variant lacks cards in the new edition, need to be careful about the area in which you choose to play

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.