Bananagrams have been around for many years and is enjoyed by millions! It is a simple, fast and frantic word game that drives you bananas! It is suitable for ages 7 and onwards and for one to eight players. This small portable banana-shaped storage bag comes with instructions and 144 letter tiles inside a plastic zip lock bag.
This game does not require a pen, paper or board. You do need a sturdy flat surface to play with the letter tiles. The letter tiles are very well made with smooth corners. The letters are printed in black colour hence it is a good contrast to see the letters. My daughter has a visual impairment and is able to read it. I roughly estimate the font size is size 40.
To play this game, you need to place all 144 tiles face down in the centre of the table. These form the ‘bunch’. Each player will take their starting tiles from the ‘bunch’ depending on the number of players playing in the game. For example, if there are two to four players, their starting tiles are 21. If there are five to six players, their starting tiles are 15. If there are seven to eight players, their starting tiles are 11. To win the game, be the first player to use all your letters.
To start the game, any player calls out ‘Split’ and races to arrange their word grids. Whenever a player places their last face-up letter in their grid, that person calls out ‘Peel’. Every player including the one saying ‘Peel’ takes another tile from the bunch. Any player who wants to swap their tiles could call ‘Dump’ and put one of their letter tiles back, face down in the bunch and take three more tiles in exchange.
When the bunch is depleted to fewer tiles than the number of players, the first person to use all their letters in a connected word grid and call out ‘Bananas’ wins that hand. If the winner’s word grids contain a misspelt word, proper noun, abbreviation or other unacceptable word, the other players call out ‘Rotten Banana’. Their tiles have to be returned back to the bunch and the player is kicked out. Now the game resumes until one of them calls out ‘Bananas’.
It is a challenging game that should ‘a-peel’ to everyone. It is available to buy from Argos and Amazon.
Disclosure: I received this board game through ComeRoundUK (March 2024) for free. However, they have not paid me for this review, and they do not exercise any editorial control over my review or anything else on this site. All thoughts and opinions remain our own. We have included an Amazon affiliate link to the product. If you click on this and buy, we may earn a small commission but at no additional cost to you. #ad #CommissionsEarned