greenmamato3 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 so today we received our Timberdoodle order (!!) and in there was my beloved bananagrams game. so DS and i sat down to learn about how to play it this afternoon. it didn't go so hot . . . we ended up just scrappin' the rules and doing our own collaborative word-building game. :) he needs to get the hang of the idea of words not just going left to right :) LOL. but as i was sitting there, i thought to myself," hmmm.... wonder if anybody's family has come up with other unique ways of using these fabulous letter tiles." so that's my question: give me all your greatest ideas on bananagrams! thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraceinMD Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Well, if it's the game I'm thinking of, we always called it "Rapid Scrabble," and used Scrabble tiles without the board. When it got particularly heated, we called it "Rabid Scrabble." That was always excitement enough for us (you can actually draw blood :) !), so I'll be looking forward to seeing how others use the tiles.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmamato3 Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Well, if it's the game I'm thinking of, we always called it "Rapid Scrabble," and used Scrabble tiles without the board. yah, unfortunately, i didn't realize that that's ALL bananagrams was or i would've just saved the $10 :( oh well. it's got a cute little carrying case, right? :) LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraceinMD Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Oooh - sorry - I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about your purchase! It's much more fun than Scrabble, imo - and with a cute case - well, you'll definitely get $10 of enjoyment out of it! (Hey - ADD the Scrabble tiles to the Bananagram tiles and play a marathon, or add a lot more people - that cd be v. fun!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmamato3 Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Oooh - sorry - I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about your purchase! It's much more fun than Scrabble, imo - and with a cute case - well, you'll definitely get $10 of enjoyment out of it! (Hey - ADD the Scrabble tiles to the Bananagram tiles and play a marathon, or add a lot more people - that cd be v. fun!) HAHA. thanks for clarifying. i wish DH LOVED scrabble like i do. it's like my ALL TIME FAVORITE GAME. yes, that SCREAMS dork!!! :) he just rolls his eyes at me, joking of course! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 :lurk5: I just discovered we have bananagrams (a thrift store find of my wife's) so this is a subscription to the thread. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caraway Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 We mostly lose ours under the couch and behind the books. :D I am interested to hear what others do... I know that there must be some great ideas. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia in WA Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 We use our Bananagrams to play fun game called Pirate Scrabble. I am not sure if I will explain this well but here goes...... Place all the tiles in a circle with the center empty (think donut) letters faced down. You can start with whatever player wishes to go first. This person picks any tile and turns it over in the center. Try to not peak at the letter before everyone else gets a chance to see it. We usually cover the tile with one hand and flip with the other and then take away the hand covering it. Once you have three or more tiles flipped over you can start calling out words. The first person to call out a word gets to take those tiles and place them in front of them. Whoever called the word gets to flip the next tile until someone calls out another word or adds to a word already called. If you add to a word you get to steal the word from its previous owner. So for example, say "a" "n" "p" gets flipped and someone calls out "pan" they get it. Then say the next tile turned over is "i" someone can steal "pan" and turn it into "pain" and they get to put the word in front of them. Then a "l" can turn it into "plain" or a "t" can turn it into "paint" and whoever calls it gets to steal it yet again.....hence PIRATE scrabble. You keep flipping until all tiles are flipped over and all words to be made are made. The winner is the person who has the most words in front of them. Rules are: 1. Words must be real words and you must know what they mean. 2. No proper nouns. 3. No plurals, meaning you can not steal "cat" with an "s" by making it "catS" but you can steal it by making it "scat" 4. No abbreviations or initials. For example, Dr. or CIA are a no. Variations: 1. When playing with my daughter or with my oldest son we try to add Latin and Spanish words since they are both studying these languages. I hope I explained that well. To be honest, I did not get it until I played a round. I will share an added bonus..... if you have competitive children as I do, then it will push them to beat you. My middle child was a terrible speller (and still can be) but when he plays Pirate Scrabble he can spell unbelieveably well. The competitive nature gives him a reason to spell correctly instead of phonetically as usual. He gives me papers he has written which have all manner of misspellings but once I say, " What if we were playing Pirate Scrabble, how would you spell........?" He always gets it right! Can be frustrating, but at this point....what ever works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 This isn't really a game...but I have had my children spell their spelling words with the tiles...connecting them as they can. It is a fun variation to spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich in Wi Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 We LOVE Bananagrams at our house. It is hands-down, our favorite game currently! We play pretty much according to the directions. What might make it more fun at our house than at yours is that I have an 8, 10, and 13 yr old who can play and make it competitive (ie: fun). Playing JUST with my 6 yo who is only beginning to read isn't fun--it's practice for him with me playing along. Variations we play: The original game with each person making their own "board" 6 yo makes just words, not connected while the rest of us play the regular game. 6 yo makes small boards (of just two or three words in each), rest of us normal Often, if I am ready to "peel" (used up all my tiles) I will help the kids catch up instead of peeling More interesting variations: We all play cooperatively on one big board The kids play where they spell things phonetically. This is very goofy Oldest plays in spanish The pirate game sounds fun. My kids tend to cry when things get too competitive, but maybe we could play it taking turns so it goes a little slower. I just bought a SECOND Bananagrams so more people can play and so we can take it places. Scrabble has a new apple game in a zippered apple that seems similar but with points. Blessings, Sandwich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich in Wi Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Oh, I should mention that in 6 mos or so, the 6 yo has progressed from playing words only to small boards of two or three words to playing the regular way. it has REALLY helped his spelling and reading skills! He is actually an expert at making tight, crossword-style boards (where all the letters interact and fit together). Don't know how he does it. blessings, Sandwich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caraway Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Looks like there is a book coming out with some additional suggestions: http://www.amazon.com/BananaGrams-Official-Abe-Rena-Nathanson/dp/0761156356/ref=pd_sbs_t_12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmsmama Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 If you don't have Bananagrams but do have Scrabble, can you just play it with the same rules as Bananagrams but with Scrabble tiles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K&Rs Mom Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I saw this weekend (Target maybe?) that Scrabble has come out with their own version in an apple shaped case. :tongue_smilie: We don't have either fruit set, but I have letter dice that I use when they're first learning to read & spell. I colored all the vowels blue with a Sharpie, and we just roll all the dice and put a blue between two whites, sound it out and see if it makes a word. I think the dice were about $4 from Rainbow Resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmamato3 Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 wowsahs! this is so great to have all these suggestions!!!! thanks SOOO much!! i'm thinking i'm going to incorporate bananagrams into our homeschool game days, b/c DD and DS both love our math games and such that we do, and i figured we cna just devote one entire afternoon to all KINDS of learning games :) so this is great to have in my arsenal of ideas! [it cracks me up, though, that scrabble has come up with an apple idea. LOL.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Scrabble has a new apple game in a zippered apple that seems similar but with points. But they didn't call it Scrapple! Too bad. I liked Patricia's Pirate alternative, too. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaissance Mom Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 ... with Bananagrams to make acrostics, too. Monica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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