Bananagrams is a fast and fun word game that requires no pencil, paper or board. All you need is a table. One hand can be played in as little as five minutes. It is a great for family fun as well as being educational. Bananagrams portability makes it perfect for travel. Just grab the pouch and go.

Abe Nathanson, a graphic artist from Cranston, along with his daughter Rena and her kids Ava and Aaron, developed Bananagrams, a new word game. “We are a game-playing family,” said Abe Nathanson.

As is the case for many game fanatics, there is the problem of having a game that can be played by every member of the family, from five to 95, and still be challenging for them all. The Nathansons also wanted something that moved a little faster than most games.

“I once said to my family, ‘What we need is an anagram game that goes so fast it drives you bananas,’ and Rena took it up from there,” said Nathanson. “Actually, the whole family added ideas and parts and we put it all together in Bananagrams. This was truly a family project.”

There are no special squares, no points on the letters (all are worth the same) and no time to waste. You are rewarded for speed and flexibility in making your own crossword.

Place all 144 tiles face down on middle of table. These tiles are known as the “Bunch.” For games of 2 to 4 folks, each player takes twenty-one letters from the bunch, keeping them face down. For 5 to 6 players, fifteen letters are taken. For 7 to 8 or more players, eleven letters are taken. Any one of the players announces, “Split,” whereupon all players turn their tiles face up and go on to form their own collection of connecting and intersecting words.

The words could be horizontal or vertical, reading left to right or top to bottom. Each player may arrange their own words as frequently as desired. Players don’t take turns, but play independently of one another and at the same time. When a player has not one of the original letters left, that player announces, “Peel” and takes a tile from the bunch. At that point, all of the other players must also take a tile from the bunch and add it to their letters. At any point, and as frequently as desired, any player may return a hard to use letter back to the middle of the Bunch, face down, but must take 3 letters in return. The player must declare this action to the other players by asserting, “Dump.” This exchange doesn’t affect the other players. Play continues till there are less tiles in the bunch than there are players.

The 1st player with no remaining letters screams “Bananas” and is the winner of that “banana game”.

It is exciting and challenging to play this game with adults, but it can be fun to include the kids. You can easily adapt the rules to suit yourself. For example, “handicap” the adults by drawing two tiles for every one the kids draw. You can play solitaire or have several players.

A family favorite portable game that fits in a purse, backpack, or car glove box.