Monkey Mart: the supermarket game where standing still is the whole job
TinyDobbins released Monkey Mart on Poki in 2022 and it spread through school Chromebooks the same way Retro Bowl did: a game you can leave running in a tab, check between lessons, and never lose. The premise is a monkey who inherits a patch of sand and turns it into a supermarket. There is no menu, no tutorial screen and no failure state; a green arrow shows you the next thing to build and a price, and the store grows from bananas on a single shelf to machines making chocolate and ice cream.
What makes it different from a clicker is that everything is spatial. Bananas are picked by standing under the trees, shelves are stocked by walking up to them with a stack on your head, and money only exists once you stand at the register and serve the queue. Upgrades buy a faster monkey, a taller stack, a cashier and workers who take over the walking, and the moment the store can run without you the game hands you a new location and starts the loop again with more expensive shelves.
Controls & mechanics
| Action | Control | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Arrow keys or WASD (drag a finger on touch screens) | The only input; the monkey walks in the direction held and stops when released |
| Pick a crop | Stand under the trees or next to the planter | Bananas, corn and the rest are picked automatically and stack on the monkey's head |
| Stock a shelf | Walk up to the shelf with a stack | The items unload by themselves; the shelf holds a limited number |
| Serve customers | Stand behind the checkout counter | Each customer in the queue pays; cash piles on the counter and is picked up by walking over it |
| Build or upgrade | Stand on a green arrow | Cash drains into the purchase while you stand there; leave and come back to finish paying later |
| Menus | Monkey icon and hat icon, top right | Monkey upgrades (Boots of Speed, stack size) and the staff menu (cashier, workers, manager) |
| Feed the machines | Carry the raw crop to the machine | Peanuts, coffee beans, wheat, milk and cocoa go in; the product comes out on a tray for the shelf |
How to make the store run itself
- Counter, shelf, trees — in that order: The first arrow is the checkout counter at 100, the second is the banana shelf at 200. Customers who cannot pay leave, so the register comes before anything that fills the store with shoppers.
- Let go of the keys: Picking, stocking and serving only happen while the monkey stands still. Tapping a key to hurry a harvest cancels it. Walk, stop, wait for the stack to fill, walk again.
- Hire the cashier before the second crop: Standing at the register is the only job that cannot be skipped. A cashier frees every minute of your time for picking and building, and the queue never empties the store.
- One product line at a time: A new crop without its shelf earns nothing and a shelf without its crop earns nothing. Buy the planter, then its shelf, then stock it, then look at the next arrow.
- Boots first, stack second: Every task is walking. The Boots of Speed in the monkey menu pay back faster than any shelf until the store is fully staffed; stack capacity matters once machines make each trip worth more.
- Machines beat raw crops: Peanut butter outsells peanuts, bread outsells flour, ice cream outsells milk. As soon as a machine is affordable, build it and route the crop through it.
- Spend gems on staff, not on rushing: Gems finish an arrow instantly or upgrade a worker's speed and load. Cash comes back every minute; a faster worker is permanent.
Key features
- One input, no menus in the way: Movement is the only control. Every action is a place you walk to, so the game works on a trackpad, a keyboard or a thumb.
- A real product chain: Bananas, corn, eggs, peanuts, coffee, wheat, milk and cocoa each unlock a planter or animal, a shelf and eventually a machine: peanut butter, coffee, flour and bread, yogurt, ice cream, chocolate.
- Staff who keep working: A cashier at the register, a worker per crop and a manager who runs the store while you are away; each has its own speed and capacity upgrades.
- New stores: When the first location is fully built the game opens the next one with new produce and bigger prices; progress carries over.
- Saves in the browser: The store is saved on this site in your browser's storage; come back on the same computer and it is where you left it.
- Self-hosted build: The Defold web build is served from monkey-mart.io itself, so it loads without third-party redirects or portal frames.
Game info
- Title: Monkey Mart
- Developer: TinyDobbins
- Category: Shops & Tycoons
- Platform: Web browser (HTML5)
- Developer: TinyDobbins · 2022 · single player · Defold web build, ~8 MB
Pro tip: Stand on an arrow you cannot yet afford: the cash you have drains in and the progress is kept, so every register trip can top it up on the way past instead of saving up in one lump.
