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I had the opportunity to play the game Bananagrams over the holiday weekend. All I can say is – Fun!

Bananagrams is a Scrabble-like word game in which each player uses his or her letter tiles to create words. It differs from Scrabble in that it’s not “turn-based” – instead, all players work to create words using his or her tiles at the same time. The game is so Scrabble-like that you can play without even purchasing the game – just use the tiles from a standard Scrabble set.

Basic game play goes something like this-

  • Place all tiles face-down in the middle of the table. This grouping of face-down tiles is called the “Bunch.”
  • Each player takes 21 tiles.
  • All players turn their tiles over at the same time and begin forming words. Words should connect and intersect in a manner similar to the game Scrabble. Note that no board is used, and that tiles may be rearranged at any time.
  • When a player uses up all of his letter tiles, he calls out the word “Peel” and ALL PLAYERS take another letter from the Bunch. The player then rearranges his letters to accommodate the newly drawn tile.
  • Caveat – if a player becomes “stuck,” he may choose to return a letter to the Bunch and take another. This is called a “Dump.” The penalty for doing so is that the player must take 2 additional tiles as well. (That is, he returns one and takes three.) Note that only the player exchanging a tile should take tiles on a Dump.
  • Game play continues in this way, with players calling out “Peel” and taking additional tiles, or “Dump” and exchanging tiles, until the tile Bunch is exhausted. The bunch is deemed exhausted when there are fewer tiles remaining in the bunch than there are players in the game. (That is, if you are playing with 4 players, the Bunch is exhausted when there are three or fewer tiles remaining.
  • Winning: When the bunch is exhausted and a player has used all of his tiles, game play stops so that all players can inspect the winning board. If all of the words are deemed legal, that player wins the game. However, if that player has an illegal word on the board, the player is declared a “rotten banana” and his tiles are returned to the bunch. Game play resumes, but the player is disqualified.

The game is truly an “all-ages” game, and a lot of fun for the whole family. It’s addicting, fast-paced, and best of all, educational. Also, since the object of the game is to simply use all of one’s tiles, and not to build large/complex/obscure words, each player with knowledge of the English language has a somewhat even playing field.

That said, there are certain strategies one can use to improve his game play. Many are the same strategies employed by seasoned Scrabble players, including learning the 101 legal 2-letter words.

The game is also flexible in that the rules can be easily modified. When my family plays, for instance, we don’t allow the “Dumping” of tiles for two reasons. First, we feel that the extra 2 tile “penalty” is often an advantage, not a disability. Second, we think it’s better to force yourself to use all of the tiles that you’ve drawn. Sure, it may be hard to work in a Q, Z or X, but if you weren’t forced to do so, how would you ever learn that “ZA,” “QI,” and “XI” are all legal scrabble words?

Strategies for improving game play.

Variations to the game.

Purchasing Bananagrams: