In the first part of 2002, our Founding Monkey Jock Murphy had an idea for a site providing turn-based games -- and other entertainment services -- to desktop and mobile users. It happened that he had some free time for a project, and in October 2002 Pocket-Monkey opened to the public. Later that year, Jock's long-time friend and fellow software engineer T.J. Crowder pitched in here and there, doing things like writing the Backgammon game and making small improvements to the site, so it was natural that early in 2003, he officially joined the site team as the First Primate. In March 2004, after nearly two years as Chief Monkey in Charge, Jock decided to focus his free time on his photography and writing (Jock and T.J. both have "real" jobs), so T.J. took over as the chief (although he likes his "First Primate" title, and so still uses it). Pocket-Monkey evolved quite slowly for a while, then got a look and feel refresh with themes, followed by a new tournaments feature.

In 2014, work demands meant that T.J. had to step back from doing any work on Pocket-Monkey and the site became ad-free and unsupported.

A couple of years ago, T.J. and Wendy announced they were working on a modern replacement for Pocket-Monkey using up-to-date technologies. In 2024 Wendy completed the primary design and T.J. is working on the infrastructure and game play. Watch this space.

Our special thanks go to the following people for their support, advice, patience, and help: Wendy Crowder, Leilani Baker, Petr 'PePa' Pavel, Josette Thompson, and Halstead York.