Word Games
How to play Bananagrams
Race simultaneously to use all your letters in a connected crossword. The first valid completed grid when another shared peel is impossible wins.
What you need
Classic 144-tile set, table and agreed dictionary
Set up the game
- Mix tiles face down as the Bunch. Take 21 each for 2–4 players, 15 for 5–6, or 11 for 7–8.
- Agree word restrictions. At SPLIT, everyone turns over their letters.
Playing Bananagrams
- Build a connected personal crossword with words reading left-to-right or top-to-bottom. Rearrange freely; every touching letter sequence must be valid.
- Use every personal tile and call PEEL: everybody, including the caller, draws one tile.
- Call DUMP to return one unwanted tile face down and take three; only you draw.
- When fewer tiles remain than active players, a completed player calls BANANAS instead of PEEL. Check that grid.
- A valid grid wins. Invalid spelling or forbidden words make the player Rotten Banana: return their tiles to the Bunch and continue without them. Proper nouns, abbreviations and hyphenated words are excluded.
Peel affects everyone; dump does not
Four players remain with five letters in the Bunch. Your completed grid triggers PEEL; four draws leave one. You fit your tile first and call BANANAS because one is fewer than four. Had you dumped earlier, only you would draw three; dumping cannot force the other players to exchange letters.
Inspect the small crossings
Before announcing, scan every row and column for accidental two-letter words and check for loose tiles. Leave space between unrelated word ends while building so they do not silently form an invalid sequence. A spelling-practice group can remove elimination as a house rule, but it should be agreed before the race, not after a disputed finish.
Beginner decisions
- Leave flexible crossing points rather than building a rigid dense cluster.
- Dump for a reason: exchanging one awkward letter for three increases your unfinished work.
Common rule mix-ups
- Taking turns or using Scrabble points.
- Failing to draw when another player calls PEEL.
Questions about this game
May I move finished words?
Yes. Rearrangement is central.
Must the Bunch be empty?
No; fewer tiles than active players is the finish threshold.
Sources and edition notes
Classic English BANANAGRAMS, 144 tiles. Party Edition, Duel, Wild Tiles and My First versions have separate rules.
Sources and stated format checked October 14, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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