Monkeyhole Rules

~

For New Years Eve I was hanging with some friends, and we sort of invented a new game, which is a cross between Monkey in the Middle and Cornhole. I'm calling it Monkeyhole because it sounds good and makes sense. It's pretty intense, and if you play it right there can be some strategy to it! I promised I'd make a write-up of some rules, including how you win (because we hadn't figured that out yet), so here they are, albeit a bit late.

The game requires either 3 people, or two teams and a third person, but the amount of players must be odd. I'm going to assume 3 people to start, and then I'll explain how it can be modified for teams.

There are two teams: Red and Blue (or whatever bean bags you're using), and three players. The goal of the game is to be on the winning team and not in the middle, when a number of points are reached (or you could do it via time as well). I'll refer to the people throwing the bean bags as the throwers, and the monkey as the monkey.

The game begins with the two throwers standing on either side of the first board. The monkey is in the middle of course. The throwers take turns attempting to throw the bags onto the opposite board, just like normal Cornhole. The monkey attempts to block and/or catch the bags as they go by. If the monkey catches a bag, the monkey switches places with whoever threw it. The caught bag is left on the floor. This is how you can switch teams during this game, and it's where some of the strategy comes in. Maybe you decide to try and catch only the red bean bags, hoping that you can score some points for that team and that you'll be throwing when the game ends.

Scoring is like normal Cornhole: When the throwers run out of bags, the amount of points on the board is added up and the difference is added to the total for whichever team: A bean bag on the board is 1 point, and one in the hole is 3. Gently lift up the board if there are any bean bags that are partially on. If they stay on, they count. For example: Red has 2 bean bags on the board (2 points), Blue has one in the hole for 3 points. 3-2 = 1, so Blue gets 1 point.

The game is over when either team reaches 11 points (or whatever you feel like, as long as it's odd), or when a predetermined time runs out. The thrower on the winning team wins!

To play with more than 3 people, one person is the monkey and people on each team rotate every throw or every round (when someone runs out of bags), depending on how many people and how patient they are. This should be decided prior to play of course.

Published on Monday January 1, 2018