Bananagrams Word Game

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Bananagrams - the Award Winning Anagram Game

Scrabble on Steroids Bananagrams is a fast, fun and educational game that requires no pencil, paper or board. All you need is a table (or any other flat surface). Your goal is to make the most words, but there is a twist. Everyone is playing at the same time, so letters in your word may be stolen by another player to make a word. Health Warning - Bananagrams is addictive! Features: Great family fun as well as being educational! One hand can be played in as little as 5 minutes! Requires NO pencil, paper or board Great game to bring with you on trips 144 quality tiles Detailed instructions  Includes cloth carry case for play on the go Banangrams consists of 144 letter tiles that come in a fun yellow cloth banana zip bag. All you have to do is select some tiles and form your own collection of connecting and intersecting words (crossword style). A hand can be played in as little as 5 minutes, if you go for it! Bananagrams can be played solitaire (1 player ) or in a "bunch" (2-8 players). It is a great family game where adults and children can play together - ages 7-97! Bananagrams can also be played by younger children, through letter recognition and simple word games. Bananagrams builds vocabulary, spelling and word-recognition skills.  Bananagrams also targets creativity, because the goal is to use every single tile - requiring players to deconstruct existing words to make letters available for other words. Fun to play anytime, anywhere making it a great game for travel, holidays, or when waiting virtually anyplace. At last year's International Toy Fair in New York, Bananagrams was selected as a top ten toy, and has won many other awards. Ages 7+ Strategies for Winning: As simple as the rules of Bananagrams are, there are some strategies that can help a player to win more consistently. The first strategy is to begin to arrange your letters as you flip them over. Rather than racing to get your letters turned up first, take an extra second to begin forming words. Every time you touch a letter or concentrate on it unnecessarily is a moment of advantage you give to the other players. Do NOT dump unless it is absolutely necessary. By the time you have given up hope on a letter, another player will announce, "Peel", and it just may be that the next drawn letter is the one you need to form a word with the letters you already have. The one letter that might appropriately be dumped is "Q". However, note that if you are stuck with a "Q" and have no "U" in front of you there is one easy and legitimate "Q" word (in most dictionaries) that does not require a "U" - "Qat". If your opponents question it, it is a tropical evergreen plant (also known as khat). When placing letters keep in mind those that can easily be cannibalised later, especially letters used to make two-letter words that are connected to longer words. This allows you to remain flexible when you are peeling single letters from the bunch. Don't hesitate to pull letters out of the middle of a word if you need them. The hesitation will cost you more than the time it takes to push two sets of words together. Don't worry too much if another player begins to "peel" and "peel" again. This seldom goes on for long as this usually means that he or she is forming quick two-letter words and the available spots are sure to give out soon. Or they may run into a difficult letter. "K", "C", "J" and "Z" all tend to be "peel"-stoppers. However, keep in mind that there are many common words that contain the letter "Z" even if not many words begin with "Z". Four letter words with consonant-vowel-Z-E can usually be quickly put together. "J" is probably tougher to handle than "Z". Keep your eye out for common 3-letter words that begin with "J" such as "jar", "jam", "jag", "jig", "jib", et al. "C" and "K" often require more creativity. Just don't forget the usual letter combinations that often are needed for a "K", such as "KN", "NK", and "CK". Plus there is always the old standby, most letters (except "J" and "Q") can be easily formed into words with a silent "E" ending. The distribution of vowels and consonants is very well suited to the English language. However, you will occasionally get a fluke hand that is unbalanced with one or the other. Work with what you have BEFORE you decide to dump. Only dump before forming any words if you only have one or the other with no hope of forming ANY words. Any person or hand has the potential for winning. Play fast, play hard, be polite, use good judgement and you will do well. 5 Star Review "How many games out there are fun and educational? This game is so portable and can be played by one or many. Took it on a trip and had people waiting to play. It is a fast moving game and keeps you on your toes. Whoever came up with this game - kudos!!!!"

RULES OF BANANAGRAMS Place all 144 tiles face down on center of table. These tiles are referred to as the "BUNCH". For games of 2-4 people, each player takes 21 letters from the bunch, keeping them face down. For 5-6 players, 15 letters are taken. For 7-8 (or more) players, 11 letters are taken. NOW THE GAME BEGINS!!! Any one player says "SPLIT" whereupon all players turn their own tiles face up and proceed to form their OWN collection of connecting and intersecting words. The words may be horizontal or vertical, reading left to right or top to bottom. Each player may rearrange his/her own words as often as desired. Players DO NOT take turns, but play independently of each other and at the same time. When a player has none of his/her original letters left, that player says "PEEL" and takes a tile from the bunch. At this point ALL OF THE OTHER PLAYERS MUST ALSO TAKE A TILE FROM THE BUNCH and add it to their collection of letters. At any time, and as often as desired during play, any player may return a difficult-to-use letter back to the center of the BUNCH, face down, but MUST TAKE THREE LETTERS IN RETURN. The player must declare this action to the other players by saying "DUMP". This exchange does not affect the other players. Play continues until there are fewer tiles in the BUNCH than there are players. The first player with no remaining letters shouts "BANANAS" and is the winner of that hand. The other players may now inspect the winning hand for misspelled or incorrect words. Proper nouns are not acceptable. Any available dictionary may be used. If all words are acceptable, that player is the WINNER OF THAT HAND. If any word in the "winning" hand is found to be unacceptable, that player becomes the “Rotten Banana” and is OUT OF THAT HAND, and must return his/her letters, face down to the center bunch and the game now resumes for the remaining players. SUGGESTED VARIATIONS FOR PLAYING BANANAGRAMS “BEST OF…” A hand can take as little as 5 minutes, so players, if desired, could play for the “best of five” or “the best of ten”. BANANA SMOOTHIE (For those who want to play a less hectic game) All tiles are placed face down on the table The letters are divided equally among the players, remaining face down. Players then play the regular BANANAGRAMS game, but there is no "peeling" or "dumping". The first player to use all his/her letters shouts "BANANAS" and is the winner of the hand. If the game ends in a stalemate, the player with the fewest remaining letters is the winner. BANANA CAFÉ (Play in restaurants while waiting for service) The BANANAGRAMS pouch is placed on the table.  Each player takes 21 tiles from the pouch.  Players then proceed to play the regular game with “dumping” but NO “peeling”.  The first player to use all his/her letters says “BANANAS!!!” and is the winner. BANANA SOLITAIRE (One player) Place all letters down on center of table.  Take 21 letters and proceed to play the game.  Only peel when needed.  Try to beat your own best time in using all 144 letters, or try making as few words to use all 144 letters.  This can be a relaxing way of honing your Bananagrams skills. BANANA CHALLENGE Play the regular Bananagrams rules but words must be three letters or longer.  NO two letter words. Advanced players could create their own special game by limiting the acceptable words to a specific category such as animals, food & drink, etc.

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Fun With Words Saturday, 24 May 2008  -  Erin

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Bananagrams is a quick, light word game for 2 to 8 players. It is in the same genre as popular word games like Scrabble and Quiddler, but adds an element of speed that these games lack. While many vocabulary games can suffer from long, boring waits while other players struggle to come up with a word, Bananagrams' simultaneous play makes for a rapid pace as players rush to complete their crossword first.

The only game components are a set of bakelite tiles with letters printed on them, much in the same style as Scrabble tiles. These come in a yellow, banana-shaped pouch with a zipper. It also comes with the instructions for the basic game outlined below and for several variants, including a very playable solitaire version.

At the start of the game, each player is dealt a face-down starting hand of tiles. The size of the starting hand depends on the number of players: 21 for up to 4 players, 15 for 5-6 players, or 11 for 7-8. The rest of the tiles are placed face-down in the center of the table; this is called the "bunch." One of the players yells "SPLIT" to start the game.

All the players flip over their own tiles, and begin forming them into a crossword. All the words must intersect another word, and read either left to right or top to bottom. Players can rearrange the tiles at any time. There are no turns; everyone plays on their own crossword at the same time.

Any time that a player has used all his or her tiles, they say "PEEL!" This is a signal for all players to draw an additional tile from the bunch in the middle.

An unwanted tile can be exchanged for three face-down tiles from the bunch at any time. This must be announced by saying "DUMP". This is a very useful mechanic for things like getting rid of q's that you don't have any u's for.

The game continues until there are fewer tiles left in the bunch than there are players. The first player to use all their tiles in a complete crossword after this occurs says "BANANAS!" The other players may then inspect the crossword to make sure that all the words used are valid. If they are all valid, then this player is the winner. If not, that player is declared a "rotten banana." All his or her tiles are returned to the bunch, and he or she is out of the game. The remaining players resume the game.

A game of Bananagrams only takes a few minutes, so it is usually played in a series of hands. For this reason, it makes a good game to play while waiting for something; I've broken it out for a quick play while waiting for another game to finish, and while waiting in line for a movie (though Bananagrams does take up a lot of room; the roped off area for the line was fairly wide). The size of play area needed is really my only complaint about the game; generally at least two square feet per player, plus space for the bunch. That's fine if you're only playing with four or so, but I've yet to encounter a table that has enough room for eight and still allows everyone to easily reach the bunch.

There is not a great deal of interaction between the players, since they're all dealing only with their own crossword. The only way I've found to really affect other players is by returning your difficult-to-place dumped letters to the area of the bunch someone else tends to draw from.

This game is a good one to introduce to non-gamers or casual gamers; the mechanics are easy to explain, and it feels familiar to anyone who's played Scrabble or solved a crossword, and the time commitment is only five minutes or so. It also has the advantage of being extremely portable. The zippered pouch will fit into a purse, backpack, or cargo-pants pocket easily, and the components will not be damaged by squishing, so it's easy to have on hand if an opportunity to play presents itself.

I would recommend Bananagrams as a very fun lightweight game for people who can spell.

Erin Whittey