Bananagrams!

The underrated game of Bananagrams deserves much more credit. In the sister that Scrabble never had, players build their own individual word grids (like scrabble, minus the board) and race to finish first. Encompassing the same wordplay as scrabble, the game is more competitive and fast-paced, keeping players on the edge of their seats. 

How to play: 

Place all tiles face down in the middle of the table, forming the bunch, and each player takes 21 tiles each (but this amount will vary depending on the number of players). When someone shouts the word “split”, all players turn their tiles over and the race begins to start forming words – these are made horizontally and vertically. If at any point in the game a player wishes to get rid of a tile, they shout “dump” – this means they can put this tile back in the centre bunch but must take 3 back in exchange. This only affects the person who calls “dump”. Whenever someone uses up their last tile, they shout “peel”, meaning everyone must take one tile from the middle. This continues until a player has a complete grid and there are no tiles left in the bunch – the winner is then declared “top banana”. 

The game is easily transportable (it lives in my friend’s bag for emergency games) and is therefore a perfect source of entertainment for any occasion. Pub? Bananagrams. Quiet night in? Bananagrams. Basically, just buy it.