The night started out as a cooperative mission to save some monkeys from the horrible tests and trials they are put through just so people in the world can smell a little better, but it all takes a turn for the worse when you arrive at the local perfume test facility. While silently navigating through the lab to get back to the cages, someone "accidentally" knocks over a beaker of cologne entitled Compete. Due to a current side effect, everyone on your team is now under the impression that it's a competition and whomever frees the most monkeys wins.

In Monkeys Need Love Too, you and your friends battle it out inside the local lab to see who can free the most monkeys. These poor monkeys have been subjected to multiple perfumes and colognes, so some of the side effects they've picked up can either help or hurt you during the game.

During your turn, you draw to populate your hand, storing much needed bananas off to the side so you can feed your monkeys later. Each turn you are able to lay down one monkey card and play one action card. The action cards are primarily used to slow down your opponents as they try to free monkeys for themselves.

After the dust has settled, you are tasked with feeding your monkeys. If you don't have enough bananas stocked up to complete the feeding, the monkeys you can't feed are discarded. You then end your turn by discarding any cards you don't wish to hang on to, usually to help you next turn during your draw if you are running low on bananas.

At some point during the game, someone will acquire a specific action card that triggers the alarm in the lab. Of course, they will only use this card if they believe they have enough monkeys to win the game. If the player succeeds in tripping the alarm, the second and final phase of the game kicks in. But hope is not lost for everyone else. All players now draw one card from a secondary deck to determine their end fate.

You may escape. You may even find a couple extra monkeys on the way out. You could possibly end up losing some of your monkeys as you exit, or even worse, get caught by security and end up in jail. Finally, you could draw the card that resets the alarm so you can continue freeing monkeys. In the end, the player who escapes with the most monkeys is the winner of the game.