Fun for children of all ages from 7-107
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Bananagrams® (RRP £14.99) was named Toy Fair 2009 “Game of the Year”.
Bananagrams® is a very interesting fun game, similar to the well-known Scrabble®, but can be played with several players (with the large version with up to 16) but you can also, something which you cannot do with Scrabble®, play it on your own in a solitaire version.
The game requires no pencil, paper or board (and also no batteries, which are not included) and comes in a small portable banana-shaped pouch and is perfect for at home and on the go.
The game was created by a word-game obsessed family of three generations and is a real labor of love that has quickly become an international phenomenon.
A word of warning though! Playing Bananagrams® in solitaire – and otherwise, I should guess – is highly addictive. You have been warned.
Bananagrams®, I should think, is the only game of letter tiles that is actually possible to be played in a solitary version and what is especially great is that you do not, unlike with others such games, need a board or batteries.
Thus, Bananagrams® can be played equally well at the dining room or kitchen table, a coffee table, on a car, train or plane journey or even in a tent in the wilderness or on a mountain.
I must say that I have fallen in love with this game as, as a writer and journalist, I love playing with letters and words and you don't play for points here, unlike in Scrabble®, for example, and, if you just play Bananagrams® in solitaire, it can just be used to play for fun and to pass the time and relax.
Another timely and appropriate warning here: It is very easy to forget the time when playing Bananagrams®.
Bananagrams® is available online as a free Facebook Application and on the iPadTM, iPhoneTM and iTouchTM as well as in a series of books and the game is also available in Hebrew, Spanish, French, Norwegian and German. It also comes in a larger version – DOUBLE Bananagrams®, the big banana for the larger bunch (for up to 16 players).
So, you may now ask as to what is my verdict on Bananagrams®? Great to brilliant, I'd say. Time to go Bananas.
© 2011
