Game: Bananagrams

Thread: Re: OK, but $15?

ackmondual — 2008-10-01T21:56:23+00:00

cferejohn wrote:
Scrabble meets Galaxy Trucker. ugh You can use a marker to draw in circuits on the tiles and when spelling out words, they'd also have to connect in addition to spell valid english words.

Or, you could go with a "logical layout". Words like "crew" have to be next to be words like "cabin" and "laser" would have to be at top.

Thread: Re: OK, but $15?

cferejohn — 2008-10-01T20:23:08+00:00

Scrabble meets Galaxy Trucker.

Thread: Re: OK, but $15?

ackmondual — 2008-10-01T16:40:03+00:00

dagibbs wrote:
I call it simultaneous speed scrabble.

I don't like Scrabble and don't generally play word games much, but I really like Bananagrams and play it a lot.

Essentially all players take the same number of letters from the pool, and try to build a scrabble/crossword grid of legal words with all their letters at the same time. First done says 'peel' and then everyone takes another letter. And so on until there aren't enough letters for everyone to take one, in which case the first person done with legal words wins. You can, also, dump an unwanted letter for 3 letters.

It is quick, but fun. You'll want to agree on a dictionary (or word valuation rule) as you would for Scrabble.

It's a great filler. Also something I'll tend to play at a restaurant while waiting for food and other similar times.
other points to reiterate about this vs Scrabble:
In this, everyone is grabbing face down letters from a shared, common pool, but everyone is creating their own "board" or layout of tiles

The game is in real time, so there's certainly no down time here. Whoever finishes first, the game ends there.

Thread: Re: OK, but $15?

dagibbs — 2008-10-01T16:12:59+00:00

I call it simultaneous speed scrabble.

I don't like Scrabble and don't generally play word games much, but I really like Bananagrams and play it a lot.

Essentially all players take the same number of letters from the pool, and try to build a scrabble/crossword grid of legal words with all their letters at the same time. First done says 'peel' and then everyone takes another letter. And so on until there aren't enough letters for everyone to take one, in which case the first person done with legal words wins. You can, also, dump an unwanted letter for 3 letters.

It is quick, but fun. You'll want to agree on a dictionary (or word valuation rule) as you would for Scrabble.

It's a great filler. Also something I'll tend to play at a restaurant while waiting for food and other similar times.

Thread: Re: OK, but $15?

Geosphere — 2008-10-01T13:03:45+00:00

What is this game?

I saw it in a store (far less than $15) and was wondering.

Besides components, what do you think of the game?

Thread: Re: OK, but $15?

ackmondual — 2008-10-01T06:37:37+00:00

I agree, if you doN'T already have Scrabble, this for $15 ain't too bad. It's about the same price as Scrabble anyways. If you DO arleady have Scrabble, you may be saving $$ by just using THAT for Bananagrams, but then the tile distribution would be off

Thread: Re: OK, but $15?

dyfrgi — 2008-10-01T05:14:50+00:00

Not owning Scrabble, I found the $15 totally worth it. Besides, the carrying case is cute. Haven't had any staining yet.

Thread: OK, but $15?

megavoltaire — 2008-10-01T03:12:13+00:00

I picked this up at a game store, looking for a small, fast game that would appeal to my colleagues, for a 15-20 min lunch break play.

1/ The rules. Actually, these are very good, and worth the whole $15.
How to take the Scrabble ideas and letter distribution and turn it into a fast game, appealing to a broader audience.

2/ The pouch is ....very lightweight, and too tight for the contents, if you do not remove the original ziploc for the letters inside (they can spread through the banana better without the ziploc). Very, very, cheaply made. It's just the cheapest basic cotton kind, and will pick up any stains from lunchrooms and restaurant tables.

I will probably need to replace the pouch with either a free cosmetic bag given during the specials at department stores (several times sturdier than the bananagram pouch!) or any airline business class pouch (same comment) that I can put my hands on.

3/ The letters are in plastic, good enough quality. No complaints there.
There are 144 letters, no blanks. Scrabble has 100, if you exclude the blanks.
I separated them. Basically, the proportions are the same as Scrabble (English language), rounded up. For ex, you get 2 Q. How about that.
The letter tiles do not have points by difficulty, but you can exchange a letter, by picking up three instead.

...I think this is the case where for two players, a bag of letters from Scrabble, a ziploc or other pouch, the game rules are enough to replicate the $15. If the players like letter words, that is.
However, the concept of the banana is a great marketing idea, suddenly making the idea of playing a letter game "cool" and appealing.

Thread: Re: Getting a small jump on the competition.....

Holmes! — 2008-09-08T16:33:11+00:00

Yeah, I can dig where you're coming from. I guess I'm thinking of games played with folks of varying hand sizes. Doesn't seem fair to my wife or some little kid to have to compete with my ginormous paws.

But one thing I like about the game is the dearth of rules, and the organic nature of house rules this engenders. So mass flip on!

Thread: Re: Getting a small jump on the competition.....

ackmondual — 2008-09-07T23:29:15+00:00

Holmes! wrote:
If you're gonna invest time in perfecting a technique for this, why not just play by the rules and get really fast at flipping tiles one-by-one? It's the little finger dexterity game to get your brain movin' for the word-makin' monkey races!AFAIK, there isn't anything in the rules prohibiting mass tile flipping. If it works, why not do it? These are things that can be applied towards games of some dexterity and speed

Thread: Re: Getting a small jump on the competition.....

Holmes! — 2008-09-06T22:20:51+00:00

If you're gonna invest time in perfecting a technique for this, why not just play by the rules and get really fast at flipping tiles one-by-one? It's the little finger dexterity game to get your brain movin' for the word-makin' monkey races!

Thread: Re: Bananagrams is fast, engaging filler

Holmes! — 2008-09-06T22:03:00+00:00

darker wrote:
If the game were called "Word Assembly" and packaged in a drab beige box, it'd be far more accurate to the facts of the game, but misleading as to the feel.
This is so true, and this is why I'll definitely use the "silly" words when playing, rather than "go" and "draw" and "done". I can understand why some folks focus on the cerebral Scrabble aspect, but I'd rather have a goofy word riot. Great insight!

Thread: Bananagrams is fast, engaging filler

darker — 2008-08-22T21:06:11+00:00

Bananagrams is a fast-paced word game without turns or downtime. It can be played with 2-8 players, though the feel / pacing changes notably depending on the number: two- and three-player games are longer (perhaps 10 minutes) and involve more planning, while 6+ player games are mad scrambles to the finish which can complete in 2-3 minutes.

Quick rules synopsis: Each player has a set of lettered tiles drawn randomly from a common pool. Simultaneously, everyone builds crossword/scrabble-style intersecting words out of their tiles. Whenever a player's used all their letters, everyone draws one additional tile from the pool. When the pool of extra tiles is depleted, the first player to use all their letters wins. (If you want more detail on the rules, see these fine reviews.)

The word which springs to mind to describe Banagrams is convenient:
* It's insanely easy to explain. Anyone who's familiar with either Scrabble or crossword puzzles will get the basic concept immediately. The nuances (such as they are) take perhaps 30 seconds to go over.
* It accomodates a wide range of number-of-players.
* It accomodates a wide range of skill levels. You don't need to be a word genius to play enjoyably, but if you are a word genius you can have fun putting together ANTIQUARIAN or TRANSMOGRIFICATION or whatever other huge, amazing word you can come up with. (And doing so is likely to give you an advantage, but will not win you the game.)
* It seems to be reasonably pleasing to both "word games are OK" folks and more die-hard fans.
* It travels well - the tiles are sturdy, and it's packed very efficiently into a zip-up fabric banana. No worries about tiles spilling, a crushed box, or pieces getting wet.
* It's engaging the whole way through - from the moment the game starts until the end, you constantly have something to do.
* The game can be friendly to the lightly spelling-challenged without requiring lots of ponderous dictionary referencing; posing sanity-check questions like "is there an 'E' on the end of 'potato'?" or "is M-E-A-K a word?" doesn't really slow down the game unless done continuously.
* It doesn't last long at all - I think the longest I've seen was a 15-minute two-player match? - making it great for short breaks or while you're waiting for other people to arrive.

Plus, the game is inexpensive - around $15 or so.

The one notably inconvenient thing is the required playing surface - you need an open, flat space with enough room for people to build their crossing words, so while you might manage to play it in the airport or train station, there's no way you'll be able to play it on the airplane or train.

Like in many make-a-word games, there's the potential for one player to draw unworkable letters, most often via having radically skewed vowel distribution or way too many of the same letter. Bananagrams has a "pitch 1 to take 3" mechanic which works admirably to mitigate this, since most of the time the problem is as much about what you haven't got as what you have. It'll still be a problem on occasion, but has been much less so than any other make-a-word game I've played.

Who won't like it: There are four things I can think of which might turn people off to this game:
1. Not liking word games. (Obviously.)
2. Not liking time pressure. (If this is a mild thing, you could try playing with fewer people - the more players there are, the more time pressure there tends to be.)
3. Not liking games where you can't get in another player's way. (Although there is very much a sense of pacing / tempo / initiative - being the one to call for new letters puts the pressure on the other players.)
4. Not liking drab games. It's a functional game, not a pretty one. (OK, yes, the banana's jaunty.

Strategy
While the game is lighter than many, no question, it's not fluff - there's strategy above and beyond "make a word from these letters" skill, due to the way in which new letters come in and the way the winner's decided: being able to use single incoming letters quickly is very useful. This leads to certain things being more valuable:
* Words which have lots of near-anagrams, so you can add/remove letters easily;
* Long words (which are easy to hang quick 2-3 letter words off of)
* Open arrangements, leaving room for expansion

There's also strategy in choosing when to pitch and take more letters as a 'penalty' (which sometimes can be a blessing, really), and, in fewer-player games, in planning: thinking ahead of time what you'll do if you happen to draw a [Q, Z, X, K, J, etc], since you've got a reasonable chance of seeing each of those sometime during the game. (Even moreso if the other players aren't planning ahead, since they'll be more likely to pitch the harder letters!)

The Theme
The whole "banana" thing is just an attention-grabbing gimmick - bananas don't factor into the gameplay in any meaningful way.

That being said, it's a plausibly useful gimmick? It advertises "this game is light, fun, and slightly silly", which is about right, and it tends to draw interest and curiosity. (If the game were called "Word Assembly" and packaged in a drab beige box, it'd be far more accurate to the facts of the game, but misleading as to the feel. And probably wouldn't sell nearly as well.

Overall
I tend to like games with interesting / interlocking / well-balanced mechanics which I can really sink my brain into. I tend to like positional games, resource-management games, engine-building games, trading games, hand-management games, shifting-rules games, and light wargames. I appreciate pretty components, with artistry/beauty.

Bananagrams is absolutely none of these things, yet I do enjoy it. It's a great bit of light filler that lets a bunch of people share a fun time - perhaps, as in my case, while waiting for other folks to arrive and start in on the games I love most. It'll never be at (or even near) the top of my to-play list, but it excels at what it is.

[ETA paragraph on unworkable letters]

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swuyau — 2008-05-27T09:21:11+00:00

game

Thread: Re: Lettercount

nichos — 2008-05-03T20:33:11+00:00

singingdragon wrote:
I am a geek.
I have counted them for you.

Lol... at least you waited until someone asked... I just bought the game, played it once, counted everything, and was logging on to input it. At least I don't have to type it out...

And, incidentally, my count matches yours.

Thread: Re: Competitive Adult Play and team play!

sevoman — 2008-04-17T13:35:20+00:00

It would seem intuitive - however, most of our gaming group seem to prefer the original peel one tile (as per the original rules) - it is more likely to allow you to maintain your crossword structure. Taking multiple letters often results in a higher frequency of tearing down existing crosswords, rebuilding then sometimes finding you're one or two letters short.

Personally I like the concept of a multiple tile peel - it works really well in team play as the game seems to progress really quickly anyway with the multiple minds working on what you have.

The short answer is that multiple peels probably deviates from the original game so much that it then becomes more random and your game becomes more dependent on what you drew rather than benifitting from a nice long word you created at the beginning or what we call "flexible" words (words which can be easily mutated into something else).

The progression I think lends more of a sense of accomplishment at the end of a round rather than a totally mixed concoction of words bolstered by a lucky draw.

I like the 3 or 4 tile draw to finish the last hand because nothing's more fun than catching another team with their "pants down" - having dismantled everything to either score longest word or fit in all their tiles!javascript:emoticon(document.MESSAGEFORM.body,'')

Thread: Re: Competitive Adult Play and team play!

karlhanf — 2008-04-17T04:53:29+00:00

The rules sound great! Thank you.

One thing sounds odd to me: If, on a 'peel', each player draws only 1 letter, then there will be about 51, 27, 15, 15, 9, 9, 7 peels in a round for 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 players respectively, according to my calculations. So maybe in a 2-player game, each should draw 3 letters on a 'peel'; and in a 3-player game, each should draw 2 letters on a 'peel'. (I haven't actually bought the game yet, so let me know if I'm mistaken somehow!)

Karl

Thread: Mbaqanga and Qat - an exercise in vocabulary dexterity

sevoman — 2008-04-12T00:55:03+00:00

Who would've thought there were that many words beginning with Q and not requiring U!! (My personal favourite is QAIMAQAM (you utilise 2 "Q"s without needing a "U") - but I digress.....

Bananagrams has been a fantastic addition to our group's gaming collection, filling a word game niche that we had forgotten was there (think Boggle/Scrabble).

The game rules while pleasant are pleasant and probably more targeted towards children/teens. Our group consists of somewhat "A" type personalities (mostly medical specialists) and just have a need to compete.

Which brings me to our modified rules - we have not really contemplated the original rules. The modifications allow - competition over several rounds, keeping track of and finally providing a winner who can gloat/cheer/celebrate in quiet humility or whatever. This system not only rewards speed, but more often a good vocabulary and especially the ability to spot the LONGEST word possible given the letters available (shades of Scrabble/Boggle).

The scoring system also provides an endpoint - in our experience a game typically lasts 20-40mins (longer for just 2 players), is lively and does exercise the brain.

What elevates this game over say just pulling out your old scrabble set and going for it are the quality of the components and distribution of letters which just seem to keep the game humming along. Not sure how much playtesting was done - but obviously enough to promote what is a very smooth/fluid experience.

From our ruleset point of view (personally speaking) - what ELEVATES IT ABOVE OTHER WORD GAMES are the team play rules. It becomes almost like a party game! With the interaction among team members - people with different lines of thought, dismantling someone else's fantastic word only to come up 1 letter short... makes for some frustrating/funny and interesting moments!

Summary
We cannot recommend Bananagrams highly enough - it's relatively cheap, good quality, plays quick, accommodates 2-12 (team play) people with no down time, can be educational and most of all JUST PLAIN FUN!!

It has been used as a starter, filler while waiting for others to finish and even to finish off a gaming night. Go "peel" a bunch NOW!!

Thread: Competitive Adult Play and team play!

sevoman — 2008-04-12T00:32:57+00:00

Refer to downloadable files for our ruleset which features a competitive scoring system (adapted from 6 Nimmt) including variant allowing team play and tweaks to reduce luck at the finish. We have had a blast with this game and it fills a niche in our game collection - a modernised word game to rival scrabble which rewards speed (read - no DOWN TIME!) and a strong vocabulary with a flexible approach.

Team play can accommodate probably up to 12 people in pairs, and even odd numbers eg teams of 2v2v3 making it flexible for various sized gaming groups. The rules also provide an end point (obviously adjustable) for a game that should last approx 20-40 mins depending on numbers and dexterity of the mind!javascript:emoticon(document.MESSAGEFORM.body,'')

Thread: Re: Getting a small jump on the competition.....

ackmondual — 2008-03-24T22:49:40+00:00

grandslam wrote:
Heh. We put our tiles into rows of 4 tiles each and push the two ends to flip the whole row.

Didn't think of that. Gotta try that if I play this game again!

Thread: Re: Getting a small jump on the competition.....

grandslam — 2008-03-24T22:13:08+00:00

Heh. We put our tiles into rows of 4 tiles each and push the two ends to flip the whole row.

Thread: Getting a small jump on the competition.....

ackmondual — 2008-03-24T20:14:05+00:00

A tip that I devised while playing back to back sessions of this game

ackmondual wrote:
Halfway through the game, I thought up of an ingenious (though a bit ridiculous looking) way to get a jump start on the competition. I would put up to 14 tiles in the palm and fingers of one hand, and 2 to 5 in the other. When it was time to start, I would simply "slap them over rightside up" to reveal almost all the tiles at once. Sure, everyone else initially scoffed at this idea, but when going up against another good "word builder" in the 5p games below, 2 other players were also doing the same thing to get whatever edge they couldhttp://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/297650

In more ridiculous moments, I'd propose a "tile griddle" where you could just flip over all the tiles at once like a pan where you could flip whatever you're cooking in it all at once. This gives you a 8 to 13 second lead on players who don't do this (given all the time flipping individual tiles with two hands), but when you're up against tough competition in a cutthroat game, those 10s could make all the difference in the world.

Thread: Re: Session report, tips, and a cartoon

ackmondual — 2008-03-24T20:09:32+00:00

Inkygirl wrote:
David and ack: thanks for the extra advice!Likewise! I would actually suggest you repost your tips in the strategy section of this game. AFAIK, Bananagrams doesn't seem to be a "high traffic" game, but anyone looking for tips would likely look in the strategy section for this game and not bother with session reports.

Thread: Re: Session report, tips, and a cartoon

Inkygirl — 2008-03-24T19:55:36+00:00

David and ack: thanks for the extra advice!

Thread: Re: Session report, tips, and a cartoon

ackmondual — 2008-03-24T19:04:05+00:00

Here's another tip that I devised

ackmondual wrote:
Halfway through the game, I thought up of an ingenious (though a bit ridiculous looking) way to get a jump start on the competition. I would put up to 14 tiles in the palm and fingers of one hand, and 2 to 5 in the other. When it was time to start, I would simply "slap them over rightside up" to reveal almost all the tiles at once. Sure, everyone else initially scoffed at this idea, but when going up against another good "word builder" in the 5p games below, 2 other players were also doing the same thing to get whatever edge they couldhttp://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/297650

In more ridiculous moments, I'd propose a "tile griddle" where you could just flip over all the tiles at once like a pan where you could flip whatever you're cooking in it all at once.

Thread: Re: Session report, tips, and a cartoon

dagibbs — 2008-03-24T18:09:06+00:00

I like this game too -- an awesome quick filler.

One other strategy bit, I try to get a vowel/consonant feel in my initial draw quite early, to decide which/either I need to try and conserve in building my initial words.

Sometimes "stocks" is a really useful word, other times you need to burn vowels.

Thread: Session report, tips, and a cartoon

Inkygirl — 2008-03-24T13:57:23+00:00

]]>

Erin Whittey has already posted a great review of this game which includes an overview of the rules, so I won't duplicate that here.

Because my sister loves this game, I've ended up playing Bananagrams at least 50 times in the past month. My sister's VERY good at this game. In the session we played last night, she (as is often the case) won.

Here are a few things I've learned by watching her as well as through trial-and-error:

Dump bad letters early in the game.
My own inclination was to keep the Q and Z, for example, if I got them early on, because I figured that I had more of a chance of using them. The problem: I spent precious seconds trying to figure out how to use them when I could have been focusing on building longer words (see next tip).

Focus on building longer words.
It's worth the extra effort, because it will give you more letters to build off of when things get more difficult later in the game and you HAVE to play shorter words.

Watch where your opponent dumps his/her bad letters!
I've been burned by this several times because I wasn't paying attention, dump a bad letter, then end up scooping up an "X", "Q" and "Z". Very frustrating!

Dump your bad letters in the area that your opponent tends to draw his/her letters.
Then enjoy their cries of frustration as they pick them up. Heh.

Don't panic when your opponent keeps calling "PEEL."
Once someone starts calling PEEL, they're much more likely to do so again, often within a second or two. It can get frustrating if you're trying to finish off your own letters, only to be repeatedly interrupted by having to pick up another letter every couple seconds. My strategy: Keep my eyes on my own words as I continue to work on them, reach out and grab a tile without focusing on it until I'm finished with what I'm doing.

]]>

Have fun!

Thread: First game of Bananagrams, two players: More tense than I expected

Martin Ralya — 2008-03-19T16:31:57+00:00

My wife, Alysia, and I played our first game of Bananagrams last night. We both love word games, and we wanted something quick before bed -- this seemed like a good fit, especially since we'd never tried it before. We opted to play one "hand" and then see how were doing on time, and wound up playing two hands.

Our first hand took 15 minutes, and was a lot of fun. It took us several minutes to use up our first few letters, which was a surprise, and we both dumped tiles multiple times throughout the game. Being behind wasn't always a bad thing, either, since a lucky tile or two drawn when the other player Peeled beat out taking three tiles in a Dump.

In the end, it came down to the wire: I Peeled with two tiles left in the Bunch, and Alysia had just used her last tile. Since the game ends when there are fewer tiles in the Bunch than there are players, we figured that as long as I could place my tile it was over with me winning by the thinnest margin.

Looking at our crosswords afterwards, I noticed that I'd built mine as though I were playing Scrabble, bunching up two-letter words and keeping things compact, while Alysia had adapted better to the actual game and built a more sprawling crossword with fewer clusters of letters.

Our second hand took 10 minutes, and I consistently got better (easier to use) letters. After a few dumps I took the lead, and I won while Alysia still had a handful of tiles to play.

For being a textbook example of multiplayer solitaire, Bananagrams was surprisingly fun -- and surprisingly tense, with the pressure of the race and knowing that every time you rearranged your letters you were losing precious seconds. We both enjoyed it, and I think it's a safe bet we'll play it again.

I think playing with more than two players would amp things up even more, since everyone's crosswords would be smaller and take less time to assemble.

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ackmondual — 2008-03-17T08:15:05+00:00

"oi" is a word right? That would've finished this game and put me in first.

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Inkygirl — 2008-03-11T11:26:41+00:00

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Inkygirl — 2008-03-11T11:25:25+00:00

Thread: Bananagrams - 7 [session report]s

ackmondual — 2008-03-03T06:42:51+00:00

Word games, especially those with tiles are usually enjoyable for me, although whether I do good or not is another thing entirely. I can handle Scrabble in smaller doses, but for a game that plays like it, but only at a fraction of the time, that piqued my interest

Games #1 - #4
All 4p games. We started off each of them with 21 tiles.

When we started, it seemed like such a waste of time to have to individually flip over your hand tile-by-tile, but not much could be done about that. The table we played didn't drop off at a 90 degree angle. It sloped down before dropping off, making it unpractical to scoop the tiles across the table into my other hand and just plop them all face down at once.

Unfortunately for me we had several Scrabble players with us. One of whom was VERY good, 1 other who may not have been that good, but was definately better than me. Our resident 'Scrabble master' won all of these rounds. At the very least, I did better each time, reaching a level of endgame that was pretty good considering how my "wordtile skills" aren't as well trained nor honed as others. I went from ending the game with about half my pile left to 10 or less tiles left. Game, I had just 1 tile left. I was in the 'peel zone' until I hit a road block for my last tile. Like a tortoise vs some hare, someone else then sprinted past me for the last tile.

Halfway through the game, I thought up of an ingenious (though a bit ridiculous looking) way to get a jump start on the competition. I would put up to 14 tiles in the palm and fingers of one hand, and 2 to 5 in the other. When it was time to start, I would simply "slap them over rightside up" to reveal almost all the tiles at once. Sure, everyone else initially scoffed at this idea, but when going up against another good "word builder" in the 5p games below, 2 other players were also doing the same thing to get whatever edge they could

Games #5 & #6
5p game. This time, we start off with 18 tiles per player,

I actually would've won one game, but one of my words was "debatable". Whatever. We didn't really handle challenges officially, and just knowing that I used up all the tiles successfully was a win for me

Game #7
3p game. Still 21 tiles per player, same as a 4p game

Due to the slower drawn tiles from the pool for each "peel", this game relatively dragged on. I was struggling a good deal when the first peel was announced, and continued to do so until the very end.

.

Fun game. Great for Scrabble lovers who want a lighter game, more games in shorter time, and/or that's more portable for travel.

Thread: Point Variant

kathn — 2008-02-27T23:22:12+00:00

We play this variant and like it a lot. We call it the Point Variant.

We play the Banana Cafe' variant, as listed in the rules, with these changes:

Each player takes 21 tiles(15 for 5-6 players and 11 for 7-8 players)from the pouch. Players then proceed to play by using their letters to create their own collection of connecting and intersecting words. There is no "peeling" (taking new tiles) and when you "dump" (get rid of an unwanted letter) you put the letter you don't want to the side of your puzzle, so it can be used in the count at the end of the round, and take 3 new tiles from the bag and use them in your Bananagram.

The first person to use all his letters yells, "Bananas". At that point everyone stops. Points are awarded as follows:

1st person to use all their letters, 5 points;
Each word in your puzzle, 1 point;
Each word of 5 or more letters, 1 point more (above the word point); Each letter traded, minus 1 point.

We play to 50 points.

We also have the rule that if you get a Q without a U you can exchange it even-up for another letter from the bag.

We feel this game variant is a little gentler and less chaotic.

Thread: Re: Fun With Words

LarryKruger — 2008-02-05T03:51:02+00:00

Nice review for an excellent game! I would add that although there is little direct player interaction, there is quite a bit of 'manic' energy in the game as your opponents 'peel' creating the need to pick an additional letter on each peel. I love the challenge!

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keith hunt — 2007-10-27T17:49:55+00:00

Bag full of bananagram goodness

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keith hunt — 2007-10-27T17:49:11+00:00

Bananagrams meets board game geek

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keith hunt — 2007-10-27T17:48:26+00:00

Showing the distribution of all 144 letter tiles

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sk8rat12 — 2007-10-14T16:42:36+00:00

I used all 144 letters

Thread: Re: Lettercount

eisenphx — 2007-08-01T06:48:41+00:00

Thanks Erin!
This means I should probatly order two copies. Ah, well the little bananabags look cute anyway.
Frank

Thread: Re: Lettercount

singingdragon — 2007-07-31T20:29:16+00:00

I am a geek.
I have counted them for you.

A - 13
B - 3
C - 3
D - 6
E - 18
F - 3
G - 4
H - 3
I - 12
J - 2
K - 2
L - 5
M - 3
N - 8
O - 11
P - 3
Q - 2
R - 9
S - 6
T - 9
U - 6
V - 3
W - 3
X - 2
Y - 3
Z - 2

For a grand total, if my math is correct, of 144 tiles.

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SeleneCorvinus — 2007-07-25T16:07:32+00:00

Game and Accessories

Thread: Re: Lettercount

eisenphx — 2007-07-14T11:30:31+00:00

True, but in order to make a german copy it would help to have lettercount first so I can decide on how many copies I would need to order.

Thread: Re: Lettercount

pallwood — 2007-07-14T11:26:31+00:00

I know that it is different to Scrabble. It's cheap enough to be worth buying a copy anyway.

Thread: Lettercount

eisenphx — 2007-07-14T10:26:34+00:00

Anybody know what the distribution of letters is?

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dyfrgi — 2007-07-13T19:55:50+00:00

Bananagrams is a bit too long for a banana hanger

Thread: Fun With Words

singingdragon — 2007-07-13T17:00:20+00:00

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.

Thread: Bananagrams - Family Gamer Review

Lisif — 2007-03-16T03:15:07+00:00

A small paper tag attached to the banana-shaped cloth case holding the Bananagrams game promises it to be "the anagram game that will drive you BANANAS!!!" The components looked solid, and I am a sucker for word games, so I figured I'd take the risk (what else is disability insurance for, after all?) This review covers my first impressions and experiences from two games with a different mix of players, and my thoughts on how Bananagrams stacks up as a family game.

THE COMPONENTS:

Bananagrams comes in a sturdy banana-shaped zippered cloth bag. It has a small paper tag that indicates it is designed for 2 to 6 players or more - yes, it actually says "or more", and since there is a solitaire variant in the rules I suppose it should really say "1 or more players" - from 7 to 97 years old. The lack of excessive packaging is refreshing, but if you have young children you'll probably want to keep the bag out of reach to avoid missing letter tiles. Inside the banana bag is a plastic bag holding a set of 144 letter tiles and one folded rules sheet that is printed in type that may be too small for some to easily read. The letter tiles are off-white bakelite with black incised letters and are really quite nice. There is no board - to play the game, each player lays out tiles directly on a table or similar surface.

THE RULES:

The rules sheet says that each game can take as little as five minutes - both games we played took longer.

All 144 tiles are laid out in the middle of the table and then each player takes a set number of tiles (according to the number of players). The rule sheet states that any one player can begin the game by saying "Split!" but we decided that it made sense to have the youngest person start the game. (We also decided not to use the inane phrases suggested by the rules, and stuck with "Ready, Set, Go".) Every player then turns their tiles over and starts assembling words out of them, crossword-style (reading left to right or up to down). A player may rearrange their words at any time. When any player has used all of their letters in connecting crossword format, that player says "Peel" (or "Draw", in our case) and every player must take another tile from the center. This continues until there are fewer tiles in the center than there are players. Any player may return a difficult-to-use letter back to the center, but must draw three tiles in exchange. There are no turns. The first player to use all their tiles says "Bananas!" (or "Done!") and is the winner, as long as their words are all correctly spelled. As in Scrabble, proper nouns are not allowed. There are a few variations in the rules, including one where the tiles are divided evenly among the players at the beginning and there is no drawing of tiles during the game.

PLAYING WITH CHILDREN:

Although the game is designed for ages 7 and up, it seems to be a little tough for the under 10 crowd. The time pressure in particular may be unpleasant for competitive children, and adults with larger vocabularies have a distinct advantage. However, the free-form nature of the game allows for plenty of variation to help children compete. I wouldn't recommend the base game for children under 10. From a child's point of view, this is strategically lighter than Scrabble (no board positioning strategy involved) but may be more frustrating.

OVERALL COMMENTS:

The game's components have a nice look and feel, although the banana theme is goofy. The minimal packaging is convenient - the bag can be tucked into the corner of a game shelf, or on top of a bookcase. The base game and variations are very simple. We didn't like the silly words for standard game actions like drawing tiles, etc. At $15, the price was not a problem.

I'm not really sure how to rate this game for family play, ultimately. Using some creativity, the tiles could be useful for plenty of word-related play. If the children in your group enjoy reading, spelling competitions, or the like, they will probably enjoy this game. Keeping track of all the tiles and separating the center pile from each player's work in progress requires plenty of table space, and for some reason the minimal tiles-and-bag packaging makes me nervous about losing tiles (my only reservation about the lack of a box).

It's an OK game for adults, particularly those who enjoy Scrabble. I bought the game planning to play it with my mother between Scrabble duels, and I think it will work well in that situation. As games go, it's a light filler, with no points to track, no strategic considerations beyond basic crosswording strategy, and it plays quickly. That being said, there's certainly plenty of space on my game shelf for light filler games. I don't think it will be hitting the table on family game night with my daughter for a few years yet, though I may use the tiles to demonstrate anagrams. I'd resist buying this as a gift for other families unless you know them well and their kids are "wordy".