The short playing time I find very positive, because the game sometimes just can play in between, when not much time. However, it comes at us often that it'll usually is so much fun that we play a game after the other and forget about it all the time!
The rules are easy to understand, so I think it is for younger children already suitable. The children can also sometimes play alone, because it is not - as is unfortunately in many other games - a bunch of complicated rules and rule violations are that need to be supervised by an adult players absolutely to avoid quarrels. In my opinion, it can be even more than four players play. We have recently played there six of us, which has works fine.
Now for the educational value: Definitely there are educationally valuable games, clearly. But it is always a good exercise for tact and when the game is over, the children practice counting automatically when they need to count their monkeys to find out who won. And what I find most important: It is a real family game, that it can be a real player in size from small to everybody. And it's a great opportunity for stressed parents to spend some time wisely with their children. The quarter of an hour, which lasts no more than the game, it has almost always left behind and you have the good feeling of having done despite tight schedule something beautiful with his children.
