When Marks met Dinhofer at his home in Roslyn, New York, he brought a pile of red, s-shaped hooks made from 1/4" plastic rod. Dinhofer immediately imagined monkeys having arms positioned like his cowboy character's. Marks and Dinhofer agreed to form a partnership that night. It was decided that Dinhofer would design the toy, and Marks would sell it. It took Dinhofer three months to go from sketch to functional monkey. He made a sketch for a face and one for a body, but the biggest challenge was the monkey's balance. Once that was achieved, Dinhofer hired A. Santore of A. S. Plastic Model Company to carve a sample under his supervision. Dinhofer then searched for a beryllium-mold maker which was quite a challenge and very expensive as working with plastic was still relatively new. The initial run of monkeys were in many assorted colors, but their shape was just like those Lakeside released in 1965. (Lakeside would eventually add a little more hair to the bodies and decades later change the designs completely.) Lakeside, the prototype was called Chimp to Chimp. Four of its monkeys were yellow, four were green and four were red. The twelve monkeys allowed three to twelve-year-olds to link them without needing to stand on stools. The Chimp to Chimp prototype came in flat expensive packaging which the Woolworth chain offered to carry in their stores. But Woolworth's stipulated that Marks and Dinhofer would have to provide 13 weeks of television advertising which neither could afford. No other buyers were found, and it seemed the game would never come to market. Then, in 1964, Herman Kesler agreed to join the partnership and pitch Barrel of Monkeys to Lakeside Toys where he had connections.