Never ever would you get tired of repeatedly playing Bananagrams! As the Bananagrams is a wonderful family, friends, get-together sport that everybody loves to explore!
Below here, we have covered a complete Bananagram players guide, Bananagrams rules & regulations, strategy, game setup, 2,3,4 & players rules, wild tiles, and house rules, etc.
Bananagrams is an interesting word game that is invented by Abraham Nathanson and Rena Nathanson of Cranston, Rhode Island.
In this game, lettered tiles are used to spell the words. Once, Nathanson was playing a game of scrabble with his grandsons.
According to the story, he realized it would be more fun to play an anagrams game so fast it would drive you bananas. Thus, the game is named “Bananagrams.”
How to Play Bananagrams?
Contents
Bananagrams is a word-building game in which each player draws letters from 144 tiles present in the Bananagrams pouch.
All of them try their best to form correct and appropriate words. The game is won by that person who uses all his tiles first and calls bananas!
- Players Range It can be played between two to eight (2-8) players.
- Time Range: Each game takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
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Equipment Needed to Play
- Players: The game can be played between 2 to 8 players.
- Bananagrams Pouch: In order to play the game, one must have the Bananagrams pouch having 144 tiles of words.
- Spacious Surface
Starting The Game: Steps to Play Bananagrams
1. Tiles Dumping
All the 144 tiles present in the Bananagrams pouch are dumped on any spacious surface like a table or floor with their faces down.
Each player is provided with tiles. How many tiles each player would be given will depend upon the number of players.
- 2 to 4 Players: 21 tiles to each player
- 5 to 6 players: 15 tiles to each player
- 7 to 8 players: 11 tiles to each player
All the players should collect their tiles, and the game will be started when any player calls “split.” At this point, everyone turns their tiles over and begins to form the words into crosswords in horizontal
rows or vertical columns.
All you have to do is to lay out appropriate words and build your free-form grid as fast as possible.
Words can be rearranged at any point. Each player must have to lay out appropriate words before their opponents.
2. Peel Call
When a player is left with a tile faced up, he or she can call out “PEEL,” and the other players each can take an additional tile out of the piles of letters.
3. Dump Call
In order to return one of your tiles to the pile, a player can call Dump! But then the player must pick up three more tiles in order to continue the game.
4. Winner
The winner is that player who forms his words grid first by utilizing all his tiles and calls Bananas!
5. Additional Rules:
When a player calls Bananas i.e, announces his victory, his words grid is checked in order to find the incorrect and in unacceptable words.
Unacceptable Words
The following can be unacceptable words;
- Misspelled words
- Proper Nouns
- Abbreviations
- Words not found in the decided dictionary
- Words not in accordance with any other rules set out before the start of the game.
If the unacceptable words are found, one should call out “Rotten Bananas,” and that player with inappropriate words is then out of the game.
His or her tiles are sent back to the pile face down, and the game is resumed.
Bananagrams Rules For 2 Players:
No. Of players: 2
Tiles: 21 tiles for each player
The game between the two is played with the same rules as described above.
Bananagrams Rules for 4 Players
No. Of players: 4
Bananagrams pouch having 144 tiles is taken, and all the tiles are laid out on the spacious surface. Each player is dealt with 21 tiles with their faces down from the Bananagrams pouch.
Then the Bananagrams is played in a usual way with dumping but no peeling.
The player who will utilize all his tiles first, forming a suitable words grid, will win the game. al his tiles to use all the letters and call out Bananas win the game.
Bananagrams Rules For 5 Players:
No. Of Players: 5
Tiles: 15 tiles to each player.
When playing with 5 Players, each individual player takes 15 letters. All other rules are the same as described above.
Bananagrams House Rules
Bananagrams is a simple game that uses only a set of tiles of letters.
The general rule is to use all of your own tiles to make real words from left to the right or from top to bottom in a connected grid. Shuffle all the tiles around with their faces down in a pile.
Each player then gets 40 tiles of their own. When the game starts, each player can flip over their tiles and tries to use them to make connected words at least four letters long.
At any time, a player can say peel and grab a tile from the middle, and all other players still in the game can also grab a pile.
At any point in the game, a player can say dump and put a tile back into the middle, replacing it with three other tiles. The winner is the first person to use up all the tiles.
The game ends when all the players have used all their tiles. Lastly, you can take five minutes for every player to write a poem in all of their words.
Bananagrams Rules For 2 Letter Words:
The game is played by following the regular Bananagrams rules, but words must be three lettered or more. No two-letter words are allowed in the game.
Bananagrams Rules For Repeat Words:
Words can be horizontal or vertical from left to right or from top to bottom. In case of repetitive words, players can rearrange their words as many times as they want.
But there are no turns in the Bananagrams. Everyone should form their word grid independently of one another.
Rules For Bananagrams Wild Tiles:
Introducing Bananagrams wild tiles is putting on a new spin on the original Bananagrams words game.
As the player’s race to build a crosswords grid, there are six special tiles they can pick up and play as many times as they need, standing in for any letter.
Wild tiles change the game, but you don’t need to monkey around; the speed still counts. The first to use all their tiles wins.
Everything you need to play is included in the themed banana pouch.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can you use a word twice in the Bananagrams?
Players can rearrange their words in the Bananagrams as often as they want.
But there are no turns in the Bananagrams. All they have to do is to work on their crosswords independently of one another.
2. What are the letters in the Bananagrams?
The game consists of 144 letter tiles that are placed face down on the playing surface. This is called the bunch.
The letters distribution is as follows:
•2: J, K, Q, X, Z.
•3: B, C, H, M, P, V, W, Y.
•4: G.
•5: L.
•6: D, S, U.
•8: N.
•9: T, R.
•11: O.
•12: I.
•13: A.
•18: E.
3. How many Bananagrams do you start with?
The game starts with 144 tiles. You can spread these out with their faces down on the spacious surface. For up to 4 players, each player is going to take 21 letters face down.
When playing with five to six Players, each player will take 15 letters, and when playing with seven or more players, each individual will have to take 11 letters.
4. How to play zip it by Bananagrams?
Each player takes 12 cubes, then takes a zipper color (green or yellow) to keep score. Move the zipper along each time you score a point.
To start the game, any player calls out GO! Players simultaneously start to make their own interconnecting words grid using any side of their cubes.
Words must read horizontally or vertically, left to right or top to bottom, to form one unified words grid. Grids can be rearranged at any time.
Proper nouns and abbreviations are not allowed. If any player’s grid includes misspelled or nonexistent words, he will receive no points for that round, and the opponent will receive one point.
The first player to complete a word grid with no remaining cubes calls ZIP! and moves their pouch zipper one point.
At the end of each round, mix all the cubes and redistribute 12 cubes to each player. The first player to win ten rounds and reach the star on the scoring track wins the game.