We're BANANAS over Bananagrams!

BANANAGRAMS is so much fun for both adults and kids! We play it quite often, and it's a great game to have in my bag for waiting at restaurants, doctor offices, etc. I recently found out that there's much more to Bananagrams than the original game... there's several other versons out there, and now I want to try them all! 

Original Bananagrams In this addictive word game, speed wins, not points. Race to build joined up words using all of your tiles.When any player uses all of their letters, they shout 'peel!' and every player takes on a new tile - meaning everyone has to quickly rebuild their word grid!

This game can be played several ways.
RULES FOR BANANAGRAMS (original verson)
Everyone then takes tiles from the bunch and puts them in front of them, face-down. The number of tiles you take depends on the number of people playing: 
2-4 People: each player takes 21 letters. 
5-6 People: each player takes 15 letters. 
7 People: each player takes 11 letters. 
Once everyone’s ready, any player can start the game by saying “SPLIT!” Everybody then turns their tiles face up and starts forming their own crossword collections of intersecting and connecting words.  IMPORTANT: Words can be horizontal or vertical, going from left to right or top to bottom. Players can rearrange their own words as often as they want. There are no turns in Bananagrams, everyone works on their own crossword independently of each other. It’s a race to the finish!!! When a player successfully uses all their letters in a crossword, he or she says “PEEL!” and takes a tile from the bunch. When this happens, everybody has to take a tile and add it to their collection of letters. 

At any time (and as often as they like), a player can return a troublesome letter back to the bunch (facedown, of course). The catch is that they must take three letters in return. The player declares this by saying “DUMP!”. This doesn’t affect any of the other players. 
Play continues until there are fewer tiles in the bunch than there are players. At that point, the first player with no remaining letters shouts “BANANAS!” and is the winner! But it’s not home free for the winner yet! The other players now inspect his or her hand for misspelled 
or incorrect words. (You can’t use proper nouns like names, and we recommend using a print or online dictionary to keep things fair). If the words are acceptable, than that player is the WINNER. If any word is unacceptable, that player becomes the “ROTTEN BANANA” and is out of that hand. He or she returns all their letters face down to the bunch and the game resumes for the remaining players. 

BEST OF..."
A hand can take as little as 5 minutes, so players, if desired, could play for the "best of five" or "the best of ten".

BANANA SMOOTHIE (For those who want to play a less hectic game)
All tiles are placed face down on the table The letters are divided equally among the players, remaining face down. Players then play the regular BANANAGRAMS game, but there is no "peeling" or "dumping". The first player to use all his/her letters shouts "BANANAS" and is the winner of the hand. If the game ends in a stalemate, the player with the fewest remaining letters is the winner.

BANANA CAFÉ (Play in restaurants while waiting for service)
The BANANAGRAMS pouch is placed on the table. Each player takes 21 tiles from the pouch. Players then proceed to play the regular game with "dumping" but NO "peeling". The first player to use all his/her letters says "BANANAS!!!" and is the winner.

BANANA SOLITAIRE (One player)
Place all letters down on center of table. Take 21 letters and proceed to play the game. Only peel when needed. Try to beat your own best time in using all 144 letters, or try making as few words to use all 144 letters. This can be a relaxing way of honing your Bananagrams skills.

BANANA CHALLENGE
Play the regular Bananagrams rules but words must be three letters or longer. NO two letter words. When a player has used all their letters, they say "peel" and all players have to draw another letter. When a player has a letter that they don't want to keep, they say "dumping" and turn in the letter and draw 3 more

Double Letters: The anagram game that will drive you bananas. The award-winning word game that needs no pencil, paper, or board. Fast and fun. Players race against each other to build crossword grids and use all their letter tiles first. Great for travel. The big banana for the larger bunch of up to 16 players, with twice as many letters as the original verson.

Bananagrams Kids:Bananagrams for Kids has Lower Case and Combo-letters To Help With Word-Building. When you're new to spelling and word-building, it can be tough to remember which letters often go together.

My First BANANAGRAMS gives learners a helping hand, with combo tiles of common letter combinations such as 'qu' and 'ch'.

Jumbo Bananagrams:  Just like regular bananagrams but with GIANT letters that are 3” x 3”!

Spanish Bananagrams:  Same as regular bananagrams, but with added spanish letters: Here’s the breakdown: 143 TOTAL; it has the following: A:17, E:17, I:8, O:12, U:7, CH:2, RR:2, LL:2, Ñ:2, B:3, C:5, D:7, F:2, G:3, H:2, J:2, K:1, L:5, M:3, N:7, P:3, Q:2, R:6, S:8, T:6, V:2. W:1, X:1, Y:2, Z:2 

Wild Tiles:  The game gets even better with WildTiles! This spin on the original game comes with 6 of these unique pieces. If you pick up a tile with a monkey on it, you may use it as any letter. This is a game changer! 

Party Edition:  This exciting new edition of the game features 14 Party Power tiles that add a hilarious and energetic new dimension to the classic game. Players racing to complete their word grids are now faced with challenges and hijinks! From racing around the table, to destroying an opponent’s word grid—no two games will ever be the same! 

Big Letter: BIG Letter was inspired by 85-year-old Chicago resident and avid BANANAGRAMS player Jan Siemsen who suffers from Macular Degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in the elderly, affecting more than 10 million Americans overall. A portion of the BIG Letter sales proceeds will benefit the American Macular Degeneration Foundation to help further their dual mission of educating people about how to thrive despite having the disease and supporting research to prevent, treat and cure it.

Pairsinpears:  Fresh Fun comes in pears. Race to make pairs of connecting words in matching patterns. A great way for children to develop memory and cognitive skills while learning the alphabet, pattern recognition, vowels, vocabulary, rhyming, and more. Advanced players can use semi-palindromes and palindromes to win extra points. The pear-shaped pouch contains four full alphabet sets in four distinct patterns. 

Appletters: Create a continuous word snake by adding your word to the head or tail. Orginally designed with younger players in mind, APPLETTERS features three levels of play to amuse children and challenge adults. The free-standing tiles are easy to handle and can be used to play three different games. In comparison to bananagrams where you can make a word anywhere from another word, you can only add word at the beginning or the end of the word. While some people would find this rather limiting to gameplay & word expansion, I think it’s a great way to REALLY work with what you have, and to work around what’s in front of you.

Word a Melon: Players take turns rolling the die, flipping the letter chips and creating words with the overturned letters. The unused letters get flipped back over so players must be sure to use their melon to remember where they are. The player with the most chips wins the game! The challenge: You can't see all of the letters until you roll the dice and flip them over! The key is to remember where you've seen the letters you need, based on you and your opponent's previous turns.

Comparing the tiles between BANANAGRAMS, APPLELETTERS and PAIRSINPEARS for anyone who is curious, as I was: The tiles are different in each game. Appletter tiles are thicker than Bananagrams tiles, making them easier to pick up. This might be important for small children and for people with arthritis in their fingers. The Pears tiles are thin like the Bananagrams tiles, maybe even a hair thinner. But the Pears tiles are longer and wider than the Appletters and Bananagrams tiles, making them easier to pick up. The APPLETTERS game has 110 tiles: 1 each of J, K, Q, V, W, X, Z. 2 each of B, C, F, G. 3 each of H, M, U, Y. 4 each of D, P. 5 L. 7 N. 8 each of O, R, S, T. 9 I, 10 A, 12 E. The BANANAGRAMS Game has 144 letter tiles. (Certain Banana games also have 5 "WILD" tiles or the extra party tiles.) 144 letter tiles: 2 each of J, K, Q, X and Z, 3 each of B, C, F, H, M, P, V, W, and Y. 4 G. 5 L. 6 each of D, S and U. 8 N. 9 each of R and T. 11 O. 12 I. 13 A. 18 E. The PEARS Game has 104 tiles: the entire alphabet in each of the four styles of letters in the game. 

The game rules are different for each game, of course, and instructions are included in each game. 

What kind of games are your favorite? Card games, board games, logic games, etc?