Sun Wukong the Monkey King has decreed to his monkey tribe that to become his disciples, the monkeys of Huaguo (the Mountain of Fruit and Flowers) must turn the wild jungle into a kingdom worthy of Celestial Heaven. To do so they must tame the mountain following Six Principles of Zen; creating streams, ponds and paths through the jungle while collecting and arranging features such as fruit trees, bridges, statues and lanterns to please Sun Wukong. The Monkey King also wants a shrine built on top of the mountain where he was born and it is up to his disciples to collect the necessary resources to do so.
All is not so simple however as there are not enough disciple monkeys to do everything Monkey King asks and further, some wild monkeys not allied with Sun Wukong patrol the mountain wilds, trying to catch unwary disciples and scare them away from their tasks.
Can you navigate the wilds, follow the teachings of Sun Wukong and create the most beautiful landscape around the mountain? Play Zen Monkeys to find out!
Tile laying – puzzle solving – worker placement – resource gathering – set collection
2-4 players
~90 mins
Age group: 8+
Each player commands 3 monkey disciples (workers) that each round can be set as either Collectors (going to the Wilds ‘Main’ board to collect landscape tiles, features and resources) or Builders (stay on Player’s Domain boards to place landscape tiles and/or ‘build’ Enlightenment point scoring features). Join up paths and streams, place special features like lanterns, bridges, fruit trees and statues to King Monkey to score extra points. Alternatively, disciples can make offerings of fruit to King Monkey or help build his shrine to get ahead of the other disciples and gain bonuses for their devotion to Monkey King.
Collecting is risky however because wild guardian monkeys will be attracted to the noise created by busy monkeys and may chase your workers away.
Winning the game requires careful balance of disciple actions, focussing on strategies gaining the most Enlightenment Points, by following Sun Wukong’s teachings and by following six principles of Zen (Unity, Strength, Energy, Journeys, Endurance and Enlightenment).
4 Player game in progress (prototype)
Domain (Player) board in play
