Monkey Around Tutorial

Monkey Around is a puzzle game where you try to find monkeys that are hiding in a jungle. The jungle hides the monkeys so that you can't see exactly where they are. A large banana throwing machine surrounds the jungle and you can use the machine to figure out where the monkeys are hiding. Depending on where the monkeys are, and where the bananas exit the jungle (or don't), you should be able to figure out where the monkeys are hiding.

Rules to remember

To throw a banana, click on one of the stations labeled with a letter or number on the outside of the jungle. The banana will be thrown in a straight line, and move through the jungle according to the following rules. One of several things can happen:

1) The banana will continue going in a straight line, and exit the jungle on the opposite side.

If this happens, there were no monkeys in that row or column.

2) A banana is thrown directly to a monkey.

If this happens, the monkey catches and eats the banana, and the banana never leaves the jungle.

3) If there is a monkey sitting on the very edge of the jungle right next to one of the banana throwing stations and a banana is thrown on either side of the monkey, it will try and reach the banana.

Since the banana didn't come directly to the monkey, it tries to reach it, but instead bats it away, going back in the direction it came. You'll see that the banana exits the jungle are the same point it went in.

4) If a banana comes within one square diagonally of a monkey, the monkey will try and reach it. Unfortunately for the monkey, all they can do is bat it away, knocking it away at a 90 degree angle but it continues to travel through the jungle where it can continue to be reached by other monkeys.

Either another monkey will catch the banana, or it will eventually exit the jungle.

Example game

Here is an example game so you can get a better idea of how all this works.

We're trying to find where three monkeys are hiding.

This is the start of the basic game. The basic game counts the number of moves you make. You can see the number of moves in the lower left hand corner.
Move 1: The "L" station is clicked, and the banana comes out at "A". The banana is marked as "L" so you know where it came from. What happened: A monkey had to be trying to reach the banana, and it was deflected. In order for this to happen, it's pretty likely that the monkey was within a square of where the banana was traveling.
Move 2: We mark it by clicking on the square where we think the monkey is hiding. If a banana was thrown from location "L", a monkey sitting at the location marked with a question mark would deflect it 90 degrees and the banana would move upward, according to rule number 4 above.
Move 3: One way of making sure that a monkey is where you think it is hiding, is to throw another banana from a station where you think you can predict what will happen. We throw a banana from location "N". What happened: We see that this banana is also deflected 90 degrees, this time downward. At this point, we're fairly confident that there is a monkey hiding where we marked it with a question mark, so we'll move on to another banana throwing station.
Move 4: Next we press on station "D" to throw a banana, and the banana exits straight through the jungle at station "1". What happened: Since the banana moved straight through the jungle, it is likely there is no monkey in the "D" column.
Move 5: We press on station "E" to throw a banana, and the banana is deflected coming out at location "I". What happened: Since the banana was deflected, it's likely that it came within one square diagonally to a monkey.
Move 6: We mark where we think the monkey is.
Move 7: Next we press station "T" to throw a banana, we hear a monkey sound, and the banana doesn't come out anywhere. What happened: Since we heard a monkey sound and the banana didn't exit the jungle, a monkey caught the banana. We don't know exactly where it is, so we have to keep making moves.
Move 8: We press on station "U" and the banana comes right back out again. What happened: After the monkey caught the banana when we pressed station "T", and it was thrown back toward us when we pressed station "U", it's pretty likely that rule #3 happened: A monkey sitting on the edge of the jungle will try to grab a banana coming near it on either side, and deflect it back from where it came.
Move 9: Just to be sure that a monkey really is hiding next to station "T", we test our theory from move #8, and thrown a banana from station "S". What happened: The banana thrown from station "S" is also deflected back, just like what happened when we pressed station "U". At this point we're pretty sure the monkey is hiding next to station "T".
Move 10: We mark where we think the monkey is hiding, next to station "T".
Since we've marked where we think all three monkeys are located, we can press "Solve" in the lower right hand corner. Success! We've found all three monkeys!

TIPS TO REMEMBER

* When you're starting off, start with three monkeys until you get the idea of what's happening in the game.

* If you think you know where a monkey is, but aren't quite sure, throw a banana from another station to see if it reacts the way you expect it too.

* More than one monkey can interact with a banana.

* The greater the number of hidden monkeys, the more likely it is the banana will move in unexpected ways as it travels through the jungle.

* Monkeys that are right next to each other are especially tricky; remember that if a banana is coming right to a monkey, one that is next to it will deflect it away before the banana has a chance to be caught.