Bananagrams | Word Game | Ages 7+ | 2-6 Players | 15 Minute Playing Time, Yellow

This seems to have become our "default" game as a family now as we all enjoy it so much! My youngest is 10 (and has been playing it since around the age of 7 or 8, with a little help) and my eldest is 22, so it's a good game to bring the whole family together - even my dad, who mostly hates things like board games, seemed to have fun when we got him playing! It's easy to learn the rules and anyone who is literate can play it, including primary aged children if they have a reasonably good vocabulary and can spell.The physical game itself is very nicely made, with tiles which have a very satisfying feel to them (nice and smooth, and they make a satisfying sound when you place them on a hard surface or rustle the bag!), and a very handy and uniquely designed bag they come packaged in, which seems to be well made (my older daughter has now owned her set for about 5 years and the bag is still going strong).It's a great game to take on your travels, as it's fairly small & light, with no excess packaging, and the soft fabric bag squishes into awkward spaces in luggage easily. Just be careful not to lose any tiles!I suppose the only downside is it's not the most sociable game in some respects, as each player tends to be "in their own world" when focused on the game, so you're not really interacting much with each other for a lot of the gameplay, but it at least gets everyone around the table engaged in an activity together, which can be hard enough in itself sometimes! And in fact the low demand for interaction can suit some people, we have some autistic family members who don't always want to be forced into more "full on" social interaction so this is a nice "bridge" activity to get everyone together.When my older daughter left home and took her set with her we bought another one for our youngest, as we missed having the game in the house.

Good to use for groups, easy and good value for money. Easy to pack, if going on trips etc.

Great little game with different variations on how to play, depending on the time you have. Well made storage bag. The novelty look of the banana appeals to the younger members of the family and encourages them to think of new words. It’s a good buy.

I love this game, it gets your brain working but it's also really fun. It's small so you can take it wherever you go and have fun playing it. It's very fast paced which I like as it really challenges you.

My 8 year old really loves playing scrabble with us, so I decided to buy him another spelling type game for Christmas. Its a bit more challenging than scrabble for him because you have to use all the letters in your pile to make as many connected words as possible but I think its good for his imagination and thinking.To play the game, depending on the number of people playing, you have to pick up a certain amount of letters (letters are all face down at the beginning when you choose) so for eg 2 players pick up 21 random letters. If you can't use a letter then you can put it back into the pile by shouting "dump," but then you have to pick up 3 new letters. If you use all the letters in your pile you shout "peel," and everybody has to pick up 1 new letter. Game has to continue playing until there are less letters compared to the amount of players. The one who uses all their letters shouts out "banana," and is crowned "top banana," if all the words they have made are correct.I gave the game 4 stars because to the points value for each letter isnt printed onto it (like in scrabble) so it can be abit tedious to keep having to reference back to the intructions to figure out how many points each letter is worth.I think we will continue to play this again and again. But scrabble has abit more ease of play and fun to it compared to this.

Came quickly and is quite fun, there's a lot of tiles that can be played with

Well packed and well made. The game made a group of strangers laugh and enjoy themselves and good time had by all. I also love the smooth texture of the tiles, they feel very pleasant in the hand.

I was given this game as a Christmas present and thought it looked like a down market Scrabble but gave it a go. It's wonderful. Much faster than Scrabble, and at times quite exciting. I will not go through all the rules here, they are simple enough to learn very quickly. Each player makes their own freestyle X-word type matrix which they can alter any time they like, but that takes time - can you alter your matrix quickly enough to stay in the running? There is no mucking about with scoring and the long pauses you get with Scrabble, especially when more than two people are playing. I think that Bananagrams is more fun than Scrabble whilst being equally mind exercising.Children can also join in and enjoy the game once they have at least a basic vocabulary, although they might appreciate a little help if they are playing with adults. An eight year old grandchild who likes reading was able to join in with only minor help from the rest of us.Bananagrams is very reasonably priced, but beware - it may become addictive. I thoroughly recommend this game and have purchased a number of them as presents for other people.