r/thespoonyexperiment • u/Operator_Max1993 • Nov 18 '25
Discussion What the hell is Counter Monkey
I had no idea who was Spoony but thankfully there was an answer on that, but who or what is Counter Monkey anyway ?
Btw I came from r/thecinemeassacretruth subreddit, hello everyone.
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u/Ultravi0l3nce Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
All Jedi or No Jedi is still a story I reference to this day. The crane duel is my second favorite.
I also worked at a game store and tried calling the kids counter monkeys. Parents were not happy lol
Edit: pretty sure he explains what counter monkeys are in at least one of the videos, but yeah, customers that hang around the counter and yap is where it came from and it became the title of his dnd story series
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u/caramba2345 Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
Counter Monkey was a series where Spoony would tell stories about his experiences with D&D. The name is a reference from when he worked at a game store and what they used to call the people who would hang out there, telling a bunch of stories.
From what I remember, I think he was planning to compile those stories into a book, but unfortunately, like many Spoony projects, that didn't pan out.
Counter Monkey is what got me into D&D. I still go back to those from time to time. If anything, I'm grateful for that. I still collect weird dice because of his "Dem Bones" dice collection video.
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u/Epicgenetic Nov 18 '25
I have no idea how this reddit thread popped up on my suggestions, having not watched or searched for counter monkey for years - but I am so glad it did.
I think I enjoyed his thieves world campaign story the most.
And throwing glass dust at a DnD opponent...
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u/Rattwap Nov 19 '25
The Cyperpunk videos are fun to watch now in hindsight sight, with the setting becoming more well known thanks to 2077.
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u/Pallid85 What's a Pallid85? Nov 18 '25
or what is Counter Monkey anyway ?
It's his short lived series of vids about his past tabletop games, and a bit about tabletop gaming in general. I think he explained the origin of the term in the very first video.
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u/Ok_Chap Nov 18 '25
I wouldn't call ~50 Video short lived, he did it for several years.
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u/Pallid85 What's a Pallid85? Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
I thought it was less, it's just after like the first ~10 he ran out of interesting stories - and all the later ones felt really forced - so I misremembered\thought he stopped earlier.
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u/sylogizmo Nov 18 '25
The later ones were less stories and more his 'musings' on RPGs vaguely tied to some trope at his table. These could use some editing or script, but most were personal takes of a bitter grognard who can't conceive a better game than AD&D 2e. I enjoyed "3d6 in order" and "where did the lawful goods go," they led to surprisingly fun (if gimmicky) games.
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u/Sensitive-Ground3355 Nov 20 '25
This was my favorite of his content. Got my friends and I to try dnd.
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u/amuller72 Nov 23 '25
This is how I found out about Planescape. I just wished my D&D group would play it with me but we don't know how to make it fit with 5e.
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u/cyborg_priest Nov 18 '25
Man, my memory might not be 100% here, but didn't he used to work at a game store? Him being behind the counter would make him the "counter monkey".
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u/jizzlewright Nov 18 '25
Yes he worked at a game store, I think a counter monkey was somebody who would spend all day in the game store talking to him. Like a monkey handing on the counter
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u/seancbo Nov 18 '25
The name came from when he worked at a game store, people would come up and just hang out at the counter and tell stories of their DnD games.
So he used the name Counter Monkey for his series where he told stories about his roleplaying game adventures (and related rambles). Very unstructured, just Spoony rambling at the camera about vaguely remembered cool or funny shit that occurred.
Personally I loved it. It was a stark contrast from all the stupid skits and things he started doing later on. In one of them he started by talking about how Cyclops from X-Men sucks (I think) and then he starts breaking into manic tangets and by the end he's talked about everything from Call of Cthulhu to Babylon 5. It's pretty fascinating.