Written by 
We got this board game for games night recently and had a blast playing it. I ordered it as I wanted something that we could quickly learn the rules to bananagrams and have fun with. Anyway the game doesn’t need pencils, boards etc., comes in a neat carrying pouch, all you need is a table and some friends.
I would recommend a small bananagrams dictionary to ensure people don’t cheat.
I threw out the bananagram rules booklet by mistake and decided to give a quick run down on how to play bananagrams for those that need it :p
Rules to Bananagrams
1.
Place all of the tiles facing downwards on the table. These tiles are referred to as the “BUNCH”. For games of 2-4 people, each player takes 21 letters from the bunch, keeping them face down. For 5-6 players, 15 letters are taken. For 7-8 (or more) players, 11 letters are taken.
2
Any one player says “SPLIT” whereupon all players turn their own tiles face up and proceed to form their OWN collection of connecting and intersecting words. The words may be horizontal or vertical, reading left to right or top to bottom. Each player may rearrange his/her own words as often as desired. Players DO NOT take turns, but play independently of each other and at the same time.
3
When a player has none of his/her original letters left, that player says “PEEL” and takes a tile from the bunch. At this point ALL OF THE OTHER PLAYERS MUST ALSO TAKE A TILE FROM THE BUNCH and add it to their collection of letters.
4
At any time, and as often as desired during play, any player may return a difficult-to-use letter back to the center of the BUNCH, face down, but MUST TAKE THREE LETTERS IN RETURN. The player must declare this action to the other players by saying “DUMP”. This exchange does not affect the other players.
5
Play continues until there are fewer tiles in the BUNCH than there are players. The first player with no remaining letters shouts “BANANAS” and is the winner of that hand. The other players may now inspect the winning hand for misspelled or incorrect words. Proper nouns are not acceptable. Any available dictionary may be used. If all words are acceptable, that player is the WINNER OF THAT HAND. If any word in the “winning” hand is found to be unacceptable, that player becomes the “Rotten Banana” and is OUT OF THAT HAND, and must return his/her letters, face down to the center bunch and the game now resumes for the remaining players.
