Barrel of Monkeys

Barrel of Monkeys is a children's toy game first introduced by Lakeside Toys in 1965, later produced by the Milton Bradley Company and, since 1988, by Hasbro. The game consists of a small plastic barrel containing a dozen or so brightly colored plastic monkey figures, each with specially curved arms designed to hook together. Play begins by dumping the monkeys onto a table or floor, after which a player picks up one monkey by an arm and tries to hook its free arm through the arm of a second monkey, continuing to build a chain link by link for as long as possible. A turn ends the moment a monkey is dropped from the chain, and the barrels and monkeys are traditionally produced in matching sets of colors such as blue, yellow, red, purple, orange, gray and green. Simple enough for young children yet demanding real manual dexterity to extend a long chain, the game has remained a recognizable staple of mass market toy aisles for decades since its introduction.