A new strategy board game that combines LEGO bricks with competitive play has gone on sale in Israel, marking the first time the Danish toy giant has produced a board game in collaboration with French publisher Asmodee.
The game, Monkey Palace, has already launched successfully in France and the United States and is now being distributed exclusively in Israel by the company Hakubia Games, owned by Shoshana and Alan Teller. The game retails locally for 199 shekels, though stores are selling it for between 150 and 228 shekels. Online, the price is lower: about 134 shekels on Amazon and 116 shekels in some European outlets.
The Monkey Palace strategy board game
(Video: Hakubia Games)
The release is the first step in what the companies say will be a broader partnership. A group party game is expected soon, followed by other titles that mix LEGO construction with strategic play. For now, Monkey Palace is available at toy, book and game shops across Israel, though not at LEGO-branded stores.
Complex rules and competitive play
Designed by David Gordon and Tin Ong Myin (known as TAM), Monkey Palace is built for two to four players ages 10 and up. Each player receives a personal board, along with shared building maps, scoring cards and a set of LEGO bricks in various shapes and colors. The aim is to rebuild a monkey’s palace that has collapsed, earning “banana points” through clever construction and strategy.
Players take turns placing bricks to form staircases, arches and decorated structures, gradually raising the palace. Taller builds are worth more points. Arches award “monkey cards,” valued between one and three points, while certain achievements unlock bonus cards, trophies and even opportunities to block other players’ progress. The game ends once all 231 LEGO pieces are used, and the player with the most banana points wins.
The rules are intricate, with restrictions on how bricks and arches can be placed, and the mix of point systems can be difficult to grasp at first. A QR code inside the box links to a detailed video tutorial, which will soon be available with Hebrew subtitles.
Importing a global hit
Alan Teller, whose company also imports blockbuster titles such as Dixit, Ticket to Ride, Splendor, Catan and Codenames, said he discovered Monkey Palace at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 2023.
“I was very excited by it,” he said. “The game launched abroad about a year and a half ago, and it’s been very successful. It took us some time to bring it here. The parts are manufactured in Denmark and assembled in Poland before we import them.”
Teller acknowledged the rules are not simple, but said the challenge is part of the appeal. “There are several layers you have to absorb, and it’s not easy to learn everything at once. But once people start playing, they get into it very quickly. It’s a game with a lot of possibilities and strategies, which makes players come back to it again and again.”