| Recommended Age: | 7+ |
| Players: | 2-4 |
| Cost: | $35.95 |
| Play Time: | 30 minutes |
| Company Site: | maydaygames.com |
| Our Recommended Age: | 3+ (with supervision and caution of small parts) |
| Contents: | 10 Yellow Cups, 4 Red Cups, 4 Monkey Launchers, 4 Player Boards, 12 Magic Cards, 36 Coconuts |
Coconuts is one of those crazy games that looks like it is for little kids but really it’s fun for the whole family. I mean you get to launch little coconut balls at cups! Your goal is to collect six cups and stack them in front of you in a pyramid. Do this by getting a coconut into a cup without it bouncing out. Sounds easy enough, but this is one of those easy to play hard to master type games. The coconuts never go where you want them to which makes this game hilarious and super fun!
Coconuts is one of my kids favorites and I have to admit I am sort of addicted to trying to get the coconut in the cups from various angles and things…yeah don’t judge me. It says recommended for ages 7+ but I’d say kids as young as 3 could play at least a sort of impatient giggle fest version of it. My 3 year old nephew did just that!
You do have to watch kids though as the coconuts CAN go in their mouths and be swallowed. They also will fly everywhere so maybe have an area where such things can’t get lost as easily when you play…if that’s possible of course. The Gentleman and the Diva both really love playing this game but neither seem to be concerned with winning so much as flicking coconuts everywhere…and at each other sometimes, so you might watch for that as well.
The cups are good quality plastic, the player boards and the cards are equally well made and have super cute art on them as well. Who doesn’t love monkeys! The coconuts are rubber and about the size of a dime and the monkeys are adorable!
They are made of good quality plastic as well can withstand kids of various ages from 3 – adult flicking coconuts at various strengths. Some even get knocked over but none have broken. I love that in a game.
I will say that the Monkey launchers work great and can hold up to wear and tear pretty well. Usually with these types of games the launchers break easily or don’t work how they are supposed to but here these work out great.
The coconuts are perfect well. The rubber gives them just enough bounce to make it a challenge but not so much that it makes it impossible. Lot of thought went into this one.
The box is not the greatest and we have yet to put the game away and still close the lid. We are switching to a plastic bin to store the game but we don’t mind and the box has nothing really to do with the quality of the game so there is that. Now, let’s see how to play this crazy monkey game!
Objective:
Be the first to collect 6 cups and stack them in front of you in a pyramid. If you are playing with younger kids you might want to just collect 3 cups or first to a red cup or something like that if it is going to take a long time for them to get cups.
Setup:
Every player gets a Player Board, a Monkey, 2 cards and 8 Coconuts. When playing with younger kids you should leave out the cards until they get the hang of the rest of the game.
All the cups now need to be laid out but in a specific way. Well you can really lay them out how you want to but let’s say you are playing with 4 people. In this case set up the 5 Red Cups in a pattern similar to that on a die. One in the center and one in each corner.
Then put a Yellow Cup in each of those and one Yellow Cup in the empty spaces to create a 3 x 3 grid pattern. Check the instructions to see how to set up for a 3 player game. Youngest player goes first and continues clockwise. Now let’s play!
Play:
On your turn you will wait a couple seconds to give the other players a chance to play any magic cards that they wish to on you. There are images and what each card does in the instructions so make sure everyone knows what the cards do.
The only time you can play your cards is before the current player launches a coconut. So pay attention.
Once someone has or has been give an opportunity to play cards or not launch one coconut. Make sure you Monkey is in front of that Red Line on your Player Board. Basically just have it NOT on the Player Board and you are good.
If you get it in a cup, and it stays in you get the cup, put it on one of your spots on your Player Board. If you get a Red Cup you get another turn but not for a Yellow Cup. Once you have cups in the 3 spaces on your Player Board you have to start stacking them like a pyramid! Which makes launching coconuts even more fun!
You do not get to refill the magic cards, you only get two so play them wisely. That is if you are playing with them. The game works great without them as well. If a player runs out of Coconuts simply collect them from around the area. We usually just get back the one we used that missed so we can keep track of them.
However, if you do run out completely you can order more on the MayDay Games website. They are great about offering the purchase of pieces through their site.
Winning:
The game ends when one player stacks 6 cups in a pyramid first. Actually the game can also end if all the coconuts are inside cups even if there is no pyramid! If this happens then the winner is the player with the most coconuts. In the event of a tie the winner is the player who shot last (out of those who tied of course).
If you want to play with younger kids simply adjust the rules a bit, leave out the cards and prepare for lots and lots of giggles……and coconuts flying everywhere. This might also happen when playing with pretty much anyone so be prepared to track down coconuts!
My nephew, I call him Tato-Tot, LOVES this game so much. He is only 3 so when he plays he only has to get 3 cups to win and color doesn’t matter. He does know to leave the coconuts in the cup though but we don’t use the cards either just yet. For 3 he sure can launch coconuts pretty well. Sometimes he launches then super far and sometimes he knows to go softer and gets them in the cups!
Coconuts is a super fun game for the whole family. We get a lot of laughs out of it and is a fun way to start or end a Family Game Night!
Show us your Monkey face! @MyGeeklings #Coconuts @MayDayGames
